Nike Stock Capital Return Hits $43 Bil
In the last decade, Nike (NKE) stock has returned $43 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.
As it turns out, NKE stock has returned the 68th highest amount to shareholders in history.
| NKE | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $8.2 Bil | $4.5 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $35 Bil | $5.7 Bil |
| Total Returned | $43 Bil | $9.4 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 43.5% | 25.7% |
Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more stocks like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.
Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return
| Total Money Returned | As % Of Current Market Cap | via Dividends | via Share Repurchases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $847 Bil | 20.7% | $141 Bil | $706 Bil |
| MSFT | $368 Bil | 10.4% | $169 Bil | $200 Bil |
| GOOGL | $357 Bil | 9.6% | $15 Bil | $342 Bil |
| XOM | $212 Bil | 42.7% | $145 Bil | $67 Bil |
| WFC | $212 Bil | 72.1% | $58 Bil | $153 Bil |
| META | $183 Bil | 11.1% | $9.1 Bil | $174 Bil |
| JPM | $181 Bil | 20.8% | $0.0 | $181 Bil |
| ORCL | $161 Bil | 30.1% | $34 Bil | $126 Bil |
| CVX | $157 Bil | 55.0% | $99 Bil | $58 Bil |
| JNJ | $157 Bil | 31.1% | $104 Bil | $52 Bil |
For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking
What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.
That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for NKE. (see Buy or Sell Nike Stock for more details)
Nike Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: -7.1% LTM and -0.3% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly 6.5% free cash flow margin and 7.4% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for NKE was -7.1%.
- Valuation: Nike stock trades at a P/E multiple of 35.6
| NKE | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Discretionary | – |
| Industry | Apparel, Accessories & Luxury Goods | – |
| PE Ratio | 35.6 | 23.5 |
|
|
||
| LTM* Revenue Growth | -7.1% | 6.0% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | -0.3% | 5.4% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | -7.1% | 0.1% |
|
|
||
| LTM* Operating Margin | 7.4% | 18.8% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 10.2% | 18.3% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | 6.5% | 13.4% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
The table gives good overview of what you get from NKE stock, but what about the risk?
NKE Historical Risk
Nike isn’t immune to market shocks. It fell about 59% during the Dot-Com bubble and dropped 44% in the Global Financial Crisis. The 2018 correction? Roughly a 21% dip. Covid took it down nearly 40%, and the recent inflation shock slashed over 52%. Even solid companies like Nike face steep sell-offs when panic hits. Good fundamentals matter, but risk is always there.
But the risk is not limited to major market crashes. Stocks fall even when markets are good – think events like earnings, business updates, and outlook changes. Read NKE Dip Buyer Analyses to see how the stock has recovered from sharp dips in the past.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.