Nike the Top Dow Stock Today After Goldman Says "Buy"

NKE calls have picked up in popularity lately

The best Dow stock this morning is Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), after Goldman Sachs upgraded the retail icon to "buy" from "neutral," added it to its conviction list, and boosted its price target to $112. The analyst in coverage thinks Nike is on the verge of big earnings growth, and sees China revenues as a big driver going forward, especially with younger consumers.

At last check, Nike stock is up 1.9% to trade at $95.52, just a chip-shot away from its Oct. 21 record high of $96.87. The shares pulled back after that late-October peak, but the retreat was quickly contained by their 60-day moving average. NKE is up 29% year-to-date, and is cruising toward its fifth straight weekly win.

There's still room for more bullish analyst attention that could funnel the security higher. Of the 22 brokerages covering NKE, seven still rated it a "hold" or "strong sell" at last night's close, while the consensus 12-month price target of $102.97 is a slim 7.8% premium to its current perch.

Options sentiment has been overwhelmingly bullish lately. This is according to data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which shows a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 1.89. Not only does this mean long calls have nearly doubled puts in the past two weeks, but the ratio ranks in the 79th percentile of its annual range, indicating this rate of call buying relative to put buying is unusual.