Nike Inc. shares continued a multi-month climb to hit a new high during Friday's trading session.
"You've got a whole laundry list of good things," said Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand. "They are all coming together."
The world's largest athletic shoe and clothing maker was already seeing the benefit of improved demand across the industry at the beginning of the year. Consumers seemed willing to absorb Nike's recent price increases, indicating that the company would be able to make up for last year's margin losses from higher commodity costs. Also, Nike stirred up excitement with new training products and unveiled items for the basketball season and the Olympics.
And of course, there's "Linsanity." Nike unveiled new shoe and clothing lines for basketball sensation Jeremy Lin last weekend that had fans flocking to stores. The New York Knick's basketball player's performance is making headlines, and that often draws more casual investors to buy stock.
Add to that the rumor that Nike's stock will split now that it's more than $100 per share, investors' appetite for topline growth and athletic retailer Foot Locker Inc., which works closely with Nike, reporting a major jump in fourth-quarter profit on Friday.
Nike shares were up 6 cents at $108.60 in afternoon trading. They rose as high as $109.06 earlier in the day, topping the previous high of $108.98.
Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., declined to comment on trading trends.
