Nike’s (NKE) outlook for H1 2025 implies no revenue growth for calendar year 2024, which “leaves little to play for in the near
term,” RBC Capital Markets said in a note to clients on Friday.
The company is “prudently” projecting sales to be down by low-single-digits for the first six months of its following fiscal year, Nike Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend said during a late Thursday conference call to discuss fiscal Q3 financial results, according to a Capital IQ transcript.
The guidance “reflects near-term headwinds from life cycle management of our key product franchises, more than offsetting the scaling of new products as we shift our product portfolio toward newness and innovation,” Friend said. “This also continues to reflect the subdued macro outlook around the world.”
RBC said that “organizational restructuring [plus] product transition over the next few quarters add further uncertainty and guidance risk in our view.”
“We have no doubt Nike will emerge on the other side a better company in a better phase of its business cycle; however, for now we prefer to follow the momentum, which we believe is stronger at adidas,” the investment firm said.
RBC downgraded Nike to sector perform from outperform and cut the price target to $100 from $110.
Nike shares were falling more than 8% in recent Friday trading.