Nobody wants to be like Mike anymore I guess.
Barrons points out today a tremendous amount of insider selling at Nike, notably by founder Phil Knight (750,000 shares since November 1) – suffice to say I’ve looked into this and it is looks pretty bad!
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB113215811213599078.html?mod=9_0030_b_online_exclusives_left
Insiders have shed 4.6% of their shares in the past 6 months, short interest is low with October 10th only showing 1 day to cover. Institutional 0wnership has increased 2% in the past 3 months but I think that’s a sector thing and no stamp of approval on Nike.
Howeve, it is a very good company and the analysts love it with not a sell in sight (so head for the hills!). I think a lot of this stock’s action was driven by anticipation of easier textile imports which may not end up being as easy as people think but the stock is only flat to last year and growth looks like at least 10%.
Nike’s performance is lagging the industry and with money flowing in I wouldn’t want to bet against them – maybe Knight just decided it was time to diversify his $3Bn worth of Nike stock…
While I think Barron’s may cause a short term drop to the 50 and 200 dma of $83 $85 being max pain on options I think I’ll be looking more for an entry point than the exit on this one.
