NIKE -- flies off from a great quarter!

Nike was appointed Zeus’s charioteer and road him to Victory against the Titans.
Our Nike’s revenue for the quarter rose to $5.8 billion from $5.08 billion beating analysts who expected $5.528 billion of revenue for the period.

Futures orders, a closely watched measure of demand in coming months, came in ahead of Wall Street estimates. Orders for June through November jumped 15 percent to $10.3 billion. Excluding currency effects, orders rose 12 percent, Nike said.

Barclays Capital analyst Robert Drbul expected futures orders to be up 8 percent to 10 percent in constant dollars. Arnold, the analyst at Edward Jones, was expecting future orders to be up at least 8 percent.

Strong futures orders suggest Nike will be able to raise prices later this year, Arnold added.

Fourth-quarter revenue generated from Nike brands jumped 22 percent to $2.1 billion in North America, the company reported. The strongest growth came from running shoes, men's training gear, sportswear, basketball and women's training, which were all up at least 10 percent in the period.

Footwear sales were up 20 percent, while apparel revenue rose 28 percent, "driven by strong category presentations, improved product lines and earlier shipments of summer season product," Nike said in a statement.

Sales were partly driven by Nike Free, a new line of shoe that mimics barefoot running, Arnold said.

Nike also highlighted its direct-to-consumer business, which includes online sales. Sales were up 23 percent in this segment, with online sales rising 31 percent

Investment ideas: Nike, VF Corp or Wolverine Worldwide