Nike IncNKEHOLDMar 22, 2024Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 08, 2026. Market Open.
Several levels of trouble. He added recently ~$45. Not looking for homeruns. Potential for it to get back up to mid-upper $50s is realistic. Still very expensive at 30x forward PE. Unless they can figure out the China headwinds, it will struggle. Every time it rallies, it's likely to a lower high. Selloffs will be to lower lows.
Growth story for decades, but now a mature clothing company. A trade, not an investment.
He had bought NKE as a turnaround story, which didn't really play out so he exited. Both are retail turnarounds with very strong brands. Logistically, it's very hard to turn around a brand and rejig the supply chain. These turnarounds take longer, with significantly more risk. (Compare that to a TD, which just had to cope with the one-time charge of a financial penalty.)
For NKE, with growing anti-American sentiment it could be hard to turn things around. LULU could, sometime, be a takeout target by private equity or another retailer. But that's not a reason to buy, especially when earnings and cashflow are still declining.
The principle of buying stocks whose products you use makes a great deal of sense. Eventually these things will turn around. But a stock that's been in decline for half a decade usually takes a bit of time to bounce back, and would probably need to build a bit of a base. (Whereas short, sharp declines can have short, sharp rebounds.)
Insider buying is a good sign. Likes US brands. Notwithstanding sentiment toward the US at this time, there's still an interest in the US as more investors are able to invest (such as Korea).
She just bought Nike. She seldom buys retail names, but she feels the new CEO is on track to turn Nike around. Earnings were actually good, but the stock got hammered on its China numbers were a pure miss. Nike just needs to get incrementally better. World Cup numbers are up. Businesses in individual countries will be given more autonomy in branding and footprint. In the US, running shoes were up 20%. Are focusing more on women. She targets $75-80. It's cheap here. Board members are buying shares. If the Supreme Court goes against Trump in IEEPA (which grants him sweeping tariff powers), these retail stocks will fly.
EPS of 77c beat estimates of 74c; revenue of $12.42B beat estimates by 1%. Nike's better-than-expected fiscal 3Q results, coupled with its push on the AIR platform beyond basketball, could drive more product innovation and boost customer interest and sales. Still, guidance for fiscal 4Q sales to be up just slightly and 1H25 sales to fall by low-single digits amid global economic uncertainty is weaker than expected. Revenue for fiscal 2025 could still rise if momentum inflects and turns positive in 2H. A greater push into wholesale to raise visibility, along with product innovation to support the next three years and around the Paris Olympics, are catalysts for upside. Reported sales grew 0.3%, led by a 3% revenue gain in North America and a 4.5% increase in China. EMEA saw weaker results as increased macro volatility and softer customer demand weighed. We would be quite comfortable continuing to hold.
Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free