Rough Sales For Nike; Upbeat Talk From Dicks CEO

Brian Sozza at The Street reports on the 8% drop in business for Nike Golf, which accounts for about 3% of Nike's overall business.

He writes:

Sales for the Nike golf division fell 2% to $771 million for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2015. Excluding the impact of the strong U.S. dollar, sales were unchanged from the prior year. Nike golf didn't light up it up on the sales line the year before, either. Nike's golf division saw sales relatively unchanged at $792 million for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2014. Excluding the impact of the strong U.S. dollar, sales rose a meager 1%.

Adding insult to injury for Nike here? People are back out playing more rounds of golf, which is spurring sales of new drivers, shoes and irons.

Sozza noted the uptick for others and highlights this from last month, which I didn't see:

"Some brands came out with some really great product that captured the imagination of the golfer," said Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) CEO Ed Stack on a May 19 call with analysts. Stack praised all of the big names in golf product manufacturing but Nike for their latest innovations. "Taylor Made with the M1 and the M2 [drivers and irons], Callaway with the Great Big Bertha [driver], and there has been some new shoe designs out from FootJoy -- so, there has been some good products out there."