Key Points
- Nike guided to a 2% to 4% revenue decline next quarter, below expectations of about 2% growth.
- CFO Matt Friend said consumers are "under pressure around the world," hitting sportswear hardest.
- Fiscal Q4 revenue was $10.97 billion, beating estimates, aided by a roughly $986 million tariff refund.
- Friend, who steps down as CFO in August, said the environment won't improve for six months.
Nike offered a cautious outlook after its fiscal fourth-quarter results, guiding to a 2% to 4% revenue decline in the current quarter — well below Wall Street's expectation of roughly 2% growth — as executives warned that consumer demand remains weak, CNBC reported. "We are not expecting the environment to improve meaningfully over the next six months," outgoing chief financial officer Matt Friend told investors, adding that Nike's customers are "under pressure around the world," with "a larger impact on sportswear."
The quarter itself beat estimates — revenue of $10.97 billion and adjusted earnings of 20 cents a share — but the result leaned on a roughly $986 million tariff refund that added 52 cents to earnings per share, and sportswear sales fell by a double-digit percentage. Nike expects earnings to stay "flattish" through the first half of fiscal 2027 as tariffs and restructuring continue to weigh on results.
The message undercuts the optimism CEO Elliott Hill's team had projected. Months after insiders bought $4.45 million in stock to signal faith in the turnaround, the company is now telling investors the recovery is still quarters away — and doing it as David Denton prepares to replace Friend, the latest change in a front office Hill has reshuffled since taking over.
Source: CNBC.
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