Consumer Discretionary

Nike (NKE) needs to find its “next big thing” following the “highly disappointing” Q4 results as investors are focused on what it will take to boost the stock price, Wedbush Securities said in a note Wednesday. Analysts, including Tom Nikic, said that previously, products like the Air Vapormax and Air Max 270 helped Nike out of a rut in 2017. Introducing a new retro trend, like revitalizing the Dunk franchise in 2019, could also prove beneficial, following Adidas’s success with models like the Samba and Gazelle, analysts said. The company also needs to restore the exclusivity of the Jordan brand and the Dunk franchise, which have lost appeal due to oversaturation in the market. Nike must rebuild its relationship with wholesale partners to boost demand, according to the note. In June, there were only 16 “high heat” sneaker launches, a significant drop from 31 a year earlier. Among these, only

RBC Capital analyst Piral Dadhania maintained Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) with a Sector Perform and lowered the price target from $100 to $75. Dadhania noted some complacency in assessing Nike’s equity story in recent months. A combination of the Fragmentation Hypothesis, turning the fashion cycle away from Nike’s core competency, and tougher comparatives than peers has created a perfect storm. Dadhania had been cautious about Nike, noting that the product transition would be a multi-quarter process with guidance risk, confirmed by material earnings dilution post fiscal 2025 guidance. Nike should emerge as a stronger company pursuing a more radical overhaul, which is necessary, as per the analyst. Nike has some heavy lifting to right-size key product franchises that are in decline and replace them with new styles, including refreshing entry-level ranges. Nike requires better product visibility for the analyst to turn positive. The analyst also noted potential 2025 second-half earnings risk.

Nike reported fourth-quarter results after market close Thursday Nike Inc. is entering a transitional year, say analysts, after the athletic-wear giant tempered its outlook amid wobbling consumer demand. Speaking on a conference call to discuss Nike’s (NKE) fourth-quarter results Thursday, CEO John Donahoe said said the company saw strong gains in performance products, although this was more than offset by declines in Nike’s lifestyle segment. These declines, he added, had “a pronounced impact” on Nike’s digital results. “These factors when combined with increased macro uncertainty and worsening foreign exchange have caused us to reduce our guidance for FY2025,” he added. “NKE’s 4Q24 print was very choppy, and the challenges facing the company are clearly more impactful than we (or management) expected,” wrote Wedbush analyst Tom Nikic, in a note released Friday. “After the company missed Q4 sales and meaningfully cut FY25 guidance, shares are likely to open meaningfully lower on

Nike’s latest guidance cut, its second in about six months, is severely straining management’s credibility, and the potential for changes within the C-suite are only adding more uncertainty to the outlook, Stifel analysts say in a research note. The company is now forecasting a mid-single-digit decline in sales for the fiscal year that started about a month ago, effectively pushing prospects for a growth inflection deeper into 2025 and asking investors to underwrite the success of still-unproven styles amid a risky discretionary spending backdrop through the rest of the year, the analysts say. They’re giving Nike a cut of their own, downgrading the stock to a hold rating. Shares open 18% lower at $77.13.

Nike is one of the most mentioned companies in the U.S. across all news items in the past 12 hours, according to Factiva data. The sneaker maker reported a drop in quarterly revenue and warned that sales could fall significantly in the current fiscal year, prompting a raft of Wall Street analysts to take a dimmer view of the company’s shares. Nike shares fall 17% to $77.36. Dow Jones & Co. owns Factiva.