Nike CEO Builds His Own Scaffold

The CEO of Nike (NKE) is projecting growth in excess of 50% between now and 2011. That would take the shoe company to $23 billion. It is a bit like Starbucks (SBUX) saying that it will eventually have 40,000 stores.

But, it is also reminiscent of claims from the CEO of a company called Dell (DELL) that in 2005 said that it was not irrational to think sales would hit $100 billion.

Long term projections can be dangerous. Mr. Rolling learned that and now he is out of a job.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.