Pedestrians walk past a Nike store featuring a modern design and mannequins displaying winter apparel on December 5, 2024, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
Cheng Xin | Getty Images
Nike on Tuesday posted surprise sales growth in its fiscal first quarter, but the sneaker giant still has work ahead to execute its turnaround.
The company said revenue rose 1% in the three months ended August 31, after previously saying it anticipated sales would fall by a mid-single digit percentage in the period.
Here’s how Nike performed during the quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, according to consensus estimates from LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 49 cents vs. 27 cents expected
- Revenue: $11.72 billion vs. $11.0 billion expected
Nike’s reported net income for the period was $727 million, or 49 cents per share — a 31% drop from the year-ago period when the company posted earnings of $1.05 billion, or 70 cents per share.
Sales rose to $11.72 billion, up about 1% from $11.59 billion a year earlier.
During the quarter, Nike’s gross margin fell 3.2 percentage points to 42.2% — a warning sign to investors that its efforts to clear through old inventory is still ongoing. In a press release, Nike said the decline was driven by steep discounts and higher tariffs.
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