Strong Cash Flow: The company generates a lot of free cash flow, a good portion of which it uses to enhance shareholder value. Apart from a modest dividend payout (the Dow component typically yields between 1% and 1.5%), cash is used to fund an aggressive buyback program. In fact, stock repurchases typically approximate $2 billion annually, an activity that goes a long way toward supporting share net. There’s ample cash, in the meantime, for NIKE to maintain a large R&D budget. This ought to keep new and old rivals at bay in 2014 and beyond.