Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) issued its Q3 numbers on Wednesday, and they were impressive in that they beat the analysts by quite the wide margin. According to Trey Thoelcke's earnings preview, analysts were looking for the sneaker giant to do $0.79 per share. Well, on an adjusted basis, excluding an impairment effect related to the Umbro asset, Nike delivered $0.99 per share. That represents an 8% jump in the bottom line.

Nike (NYSE: NKE) will be reporting numbers for the second quarter on Wednesday, December 17. What should investors be expecting from the famous sneaker company?

Well, according to this earnings source, Wall Street thinks that Nike can deliver somewhere around $0.79 per share. If management hits this number, then we're talking growth of about 11%. Not the most exciting growth rate ever seen, but shareholders learn to appreciate low double-digit growth expansion in bad economic times. And judging by recent history, it seems like a good bet that Nike will, at the very least, meet expectations. The company has beaten the analysts on a pretty consistent basis, so even if the global recession has caught up to Nike, I'd have to assume that they'll at least deliver what's expected of the business (my guess is that we'll see a beat). Back in September, Michael Fowlkes wrote about Nike's beat in Q1.

Shareholders will be looking for clues as to how Nike is handling the tough climate. Margins will be looked at, and the effect of currency exchange rates will be scrutinized. The big question will center on what happens next. Will consumers still want to spend good money on expensive footwear? Nike does have great brand equity, as I noted back in the summer, but you pay up for its products. How attractive can that be with job cuts dominating the news flow? Shareholders should also see how many shares of stock management saw fit to take out of the float. That will indicate a level of confidence in its current business model.

According to Trey Thoelcke's coverage on earnings reports, Nike (NYSE: NKE), a competitor of Adidas (OTC: ADDDY), beat Wall Street expectations for its Q4 results. Analysts thought that Nike might be good for earnings of $0.96 per share, but the footwear entity booked $0.98 per share, beating estimates by two cents (thankfully, it wasn't the proverbial penny, which definitely gets boring after awhile). Investors didn't seem to be too keen on the results, as the stock sold off in after-hours trading on Wednesday, dropping almost 5%.

Let's take a closer look at the results. For the fourth quarter, the top line increased by 16% - not a bad revenue jump. And that $0.98 earnings per-share figure represented an increase of 14%. The fiscal year actually looked pretty good, too. Revenues increased 14%, and net income expanded by 28% to $3.74 per share. Gross margin expanded, and worldwide futures orders were up 11%. I like all these double-digit numbers, and I like the fact that the company paid out more in dividends this year than last, and I can see that Nike is taking advantage of the weak dollar through its international exposure.

Nike's stock has performed well, over the last five years, but lately it's not been as strong. Investors would certainly be justified in having a cautious stance with a company like Nike considering the current economic climate. Sneakers obviously might not be worth a lot of discretionary income in a time of high energy costs and slow growth. But with numbers like these, I have to say that Nike knows how to leverage its brand equity to full effect. This was a great yearly report, and if the stock pulled back a little further, I would definitely consider it.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned here; positions can change at any time.

Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) reported better-than-expected third quarter results and investors couldn't have cared less.

Net income was $350.8 million, or $1.37 a share, versus $325.8 million, or $1.24 a share, a year earlier. period. Revenue rose to $3.93 billion from $3.61 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected on average profit of $1.33 a share on revenue of $3.92 billion.

Shares of Nike, which are up more than 25 percent over the past year, barely moved in after-hours trading. They last traded at $110.65, up less than 2 percent.

Why did investors shrug their shoulders?

Perhaps they wondered whether or not consumers worried about their paychecks are going to be shelling out $175 for the Air Force 25 or the iPod-compatible shoes that lifted Nike's profit in the quarter.

Come to think of it, consumers also probably aren't going to be too keen on other trendy shoes like Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) and those awful wheeled shoes that kids in every mall wear made by Heely's (NASDAQ:HLYS).

We are in the dawning of the age of Payless ShoeSource Inc. (NYSE:PSS).