Nike (NKE) stock fell about 5% after hours Tuesday evening as the company reported fiscal first-quarter revenue that beat estimates and pulled its forecast for the year amid a CEO transition.
The footwear giant reported first-quarter earnings per share of $0.70, above Wall Street estimates of $0.52 and down 26% from the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, Nike’s revenue of $11.59 billion was below analyst estimates of $11.65 billion and saw a 10% decline from the same period a year earlier.
Nike saw sales decline at both its direct-to-consumer business and its wholesale division. Nike Direct revenue was $4.7 billion, down 13% from the same quarter last year. Wholesale revenue was $6.4 billion, down 8% from the same period last year.
“A return on this scale takes time, and although there have been some early gains, we haven’t turned the corner yet,” Nike CFO Matthew Friend said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday night.
Nike’s report was “pretty much what people expected,” David Swartz, an equity analyst at Morningstar, told Yahoo Finance.
“Nike had actually been warning us since late last year, December 2023, that the athletic apparel market wasn’t very strong and that its innovation cycle wasn’t looking particularly good at the beginning of fiscal 2025 either,” Swartz said. “Right now, Nike is in a position where they don’t have a lot of new products, and they’re holding back on some other products.”
The quarterly report is Nike’s first since the company announced a CEO change amid weak sales growth. Elliott Hill, the former Nike executive who retired in 2020, will replace John Donahue as CEO on October 14. The news initially sent Nike shares up as much as 10%.
Nike shares have slumped this year, falling more than 25% before announcing a CEO change on Sept. 19 amid concerns about slowing sales growth and pressure from growing competitors in the space such as On Brand ( ONON ) and Deckers ( DECK ) Hoka.
“The sports apparel industry is more competitive now than it was five years ago,” Swartz said. “Donahue didn’t understand that until it was a little too late.”
Nike expects revenue to fall in a range of 8% to 10% for the current quarter, weaker than Wall Street’s initial forecast of a 6.7% decline, Friend said.
“Revenue expectations have declined year-to-date, given Nike traffic trends, digital retail trends across the market, and final order books for spring,” Friend said.
Tuesday’s print marks the sixth straight quarter in which Nike has reported single-digit revenue growth, or worse. The company also announced on Tuesday that its upcoming investor day has been postponed with no future date announced.
In a note to clients Monday morning, Jefferies analyst Randall Konik wrote that he doesn’t expect Hill to have an impact on Nike’s performance until fiscal 2026. Therefore, Konik believes the stock is in a “no man’s land and will likely remain range-bound.” For a number of quarters.”
Josh Schaeffer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer.
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