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• NKE 75% Rate It

Athletic footwear and apparel maker Nike, Inc. ( NKE ) on Monday caught some mixed commentary from analysts at Sterne Agree.

The firm reiterated its "Neutral" rating on NKE but lifted its 2013/2014 EPS estimates from $4.64/$5.22 to $5.06/$5.67, respectively.

A Sterne Agee analyst commented, "While we view Nike as a great company and a clear global leader in the space, we would stay away from the stock at this point given uncertainties in international growth and gross margins. We expect to see continued weakness in China future orders due to the oversupply of apparel in the market. We believe that Nike did a great job recovering in China post the 2008 Olympics. It appears as if the Chinese consumer does not have the brand loyalty that consumers in other markets have. Thus far, Nike has not been able to translate its footwear's premium positioning in China to apparel."

Continuing, "For Western Europe, we expect the post-Olympics/EU Championships slump and weak economy to continue to pressure future orders. While the organizational realignment in WE is a step in the right direction, we believe that such moves take many quarters to bear fruit."

Nike shares posted small losses in premarket trading Monday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Nike ( NKE ) have a 1.49% dividend yield, based on Friday's closing stock price of $96.52. The stock has technical support in the $90-$92 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $101-$102 price levels.

Nike, Inc. ( NKE ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .

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