NEW YORK, April 2, 2026, 08:02 EDT
NIKE, Inc. rattled investors Wednesday, sliding 15.5% to $44.63—the lowest finish in over ten years—after the company flagged yet another drop in quarterly sales. The stock has now plunged nearly 71% since hitting its all-time high back in November 2021. Reuters
The warning lands as CEO Elliott Hill’s reset faces a sharper China slowdown, steeper markdowns, and new turmoil across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. China brings in roughly 15% of Nike’s yearly sales, but now the company is bracing for revenue there to drop around 20% this quarter. Reuters
The rebound gets delayed again. Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend projected revenue for the current quarter would drop 2% to 4%, missing analysts’ calls for a 1.9% increase. Hill told investors the turnaround “is taking longer than I would like.” Reuters
The quarter didn’t come in soft everywhere. Revenue landed flat at $11.28 billion, earnings hit 35 cents a share—both numbers topping analyst forecasts. Wholesale business climbed 5%, North America sales edged up 3%. But sales through Nike’s direct channels slipped 4%, revenue in Greater China was down 7%, and Converse took a sharper 35% hit. Reuters
Profit pressure hasn’t gone anywhere. Gross margin dropped 130 basis points to 40.2% — that’s down 1.3 percentage points — as tariffs and discounting weighed, leaving inventories at $7.5 billion. After months spent trying to clear excess, Morningstar’s David Swartz points out investors might still be left wondering, “Why wasn’t that enough?” Nike Investor Relations
China’s still the trouble spot. Nike is pulling back on sales in the region to clear out aging inventory, and a 20% slump would notch an eighth quarter in the red for that market. According to Reuters, Nike’s own stumbles have run into fiercer competition from Anta and Li Ning—local names that resonate more with Chinese shoppers. Reuters
Analysts kept their tone blunt. “If Nike’s recovery is a marathon rather than a sprint, then the company seems to be hitting a wall,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. Oppenheimer’s Brian Nagel voiced his own impatience, calling himself “somewhat frustrated” with what he described as the “seemingly slower-than-planned pace of recovery.” Reuters
There’s another challenge on the horizon. Friend pointed out that the conflict in the Middle East is upending shopping trends across Nike’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operations. eToro’s Josh Gilbert flagged that the unrest is stacking on top of traffic slowdowns and higher inventory levels. Both Nike and Adidas are also tied closely to manufacturing in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, so fresh U.S. tariffs on imports from those areas leave both companies in the firing line. Reuters
Nike insists the reset isn’t hitting a wall everywhere. “Meaningful actions” were taken to strengthen the business, according to Hill, and the running segment jumped more than 20% this quarter. Friend backed the company’s “Win Now” steps, saying the turnaround will keep shaping results through 2026, with leadership still betting on sustained profitable growth. Nike Investor Relations
The risks here are plain enough. Hill pointed to spring 2027 as the earliest window that investors might get a real look at the impact of Nike’s new product team setup. M Science’s Drake MacFarlane flagged U.S. consumer confidence as a key swing factor—if it drops, the comeback stalls. China’s sluggishness, persistent promotions, or a flare-up in conflict-driven disruptions? Any of those could push the turnaround even farther out. Reuters
