NEW YORK — Nike Inc., the world’s dominant athletic company, reported a 36.5 percent rise in third-quarter earnings, with results coming in ahead of the Wall Street consensus.
The Beaverton, Ore.-based maker of sneakers and athletic apparel said that the relative weakness of the dollar compared with the euro and some Asian currencies contributed to strong growth in its foreign operations. That’s because sales made in foreign currencies would be boosted by this year’s weaker exchange rate when converted into dollars versus last year.
For the quarter ended Feb. 28, Nike posted earnings of $273.4 million, or $1.01 a diluted share, up from $200.3 million, or 74 cents a share, in the prior-year quarter. The First Call consensus had been for earnings of 98 cents a share.
Revenues were $3.31 billion, up 13.9 percent from $2.9 billion.
Sales in Europe and the Middle East rose 17.7 percent, to $1.03 billion. The company noted that almost half the growth rate was the result of the appreciation of the euro versus the dollar.
Asia-Pacific sales were up 17.6 percent, to $472.8 million. Without the dollar’s decline, the company said sales in this region would have been up about 12.6 percent.
U.S. sales were up 8.7 percent to $1.27 billion.
“This was our sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue and earnings per share growth,’’ Nike’s new president and chief executive officer, William D. Perez, said in a statement. “These consistently strong results were driven by excellent performance across geographies and brands, coupled with favorable trends in foreign exchange rates.’’
Perez, the successor to Nike co-founder Philip Knight, who retained the title of chairman, said, “Emerging international markets such as China, Russia and Brazil produced significant growth. While the core Nike Brand fueled the majority of our growth, Nike Golf, Converse and Cole Haan were also major contributors to our positive results.”
For the first nine months of its fiscal year, Nike’s earnings were $862.1 million, or $3.18 a diluted share. That’s up 34.6 percent from $640.6 million, or $2.38 a share, a year earlier. Revenues came to $10.01 billion, up 14.3 percent from $8.77 billion.