NKE Shows Expense Discipline in Challenging Environment By Brian Gilmartin About this article: For Gilmartin's preview heading into the Nike conference call, please click here. Nike reported second-quarter 2009 earnings that beat expectations while revenue missed. EPS of 80 cents beat the 79-cent consensus estimate, thanks to a lower effective tax rate and good expense control, but revenue of $4.59 billion missed the estimate of $4.706 billion by $111 million. The biggest negative in the quarter was the U.S. pre-tax income, which fell by 18% year over year. While the U.S. is just one-third of Nike's total revenue, it is anywhere from 50% to two-thirds of the company's total operating income, and the 18% drop in profitability for the retailer was a function of lower gross margins and higher SG&A. Futures orders (constant currency) rose 6%, a little better than the 3% o 5% expected coming into the call. The prevalent theme during the conference call was expense management, and... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200. More Stories From RealMoney Durable Goods Up Move Down the Tech Food Chain Jobless Claims Still High Bulls' Tenacity Is the Big Question Mark Should You Buy It? Pharmaceutical Product Development Bad News Trumps All Support for Banks Holds, For Now Bummer, Yields Are on the Rise Money on the Line Makes a Big Difference Structured Products: Unsafe at Any Price MORE STORIES FROM REALMONEY

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