Nike Misses on Q1 Revenue and Guides FY27 Sales Lower, Sending Shares to Lowest Since 2013

NKE reported fiscal first-quarter 2027 revenue of $11.21 billion after the close on Thursday, below the $11.33 billion analysts expected, while earnings of $0.48 per share beat the $0.44 estimate and compared with $0.49 a year earlier. Nike Brand revenue came in at $10.95 billion against $11.09 billion expected. The bigger blow was the outlook: Nike now expects fiscal 2027 revenue to decline by a high-single-digit percentage, with adjusted EPS of $1.15 to $1.35, well under the $1.66 consensus. Gary Black noted the Street had modeled roughly a 2% revenue decline.

The weakness was concentrated where CEO Elliott Hill has said the turnaround still has the most work to do. Management cited China, Sportswear and the Jordan brand, and Hill said "we have more work to do in NIKE Sportswear, Jordan Brand and Greater China," according to Investing.com. Greater China EBIT was $248 million, missing the $312.2 million estimate, and the company's release, as republished by StockTitan, put Greater China revenue at $1.18 billion, down 22%. Nike's release also showed NIKE Direct revenue of $4.1 billion, down 8%, and Converse at $263 million, down 28%.

There were offsetting positives. Gross margin rose to 42.8% from 42.2% a year earlier, which the company attributed mainly to lower warehousing and logistics costs, and inventory of $7.80 billion came in below the $7.96 billion estimate. Net income was $712 million, down 2% from $727 million. The adjusted EPS guide excludes about $0.15 per share of restructuring charges tied to Nike's new Pace program, which targets about $2.5 billion of cumulative savings through fiscal 2031.

The stock had closed the regular session at $35.15, down 0.7%, before the report. It fell about 4% in initial after-hours trading, and the Kobeissi Letter reported a decline of as much as 6% to the lowest level since September 2013. Before the print, analysts tracked by SentiSense rated the stock a consensus Hold, with an average price target of $45.63 across 36 analysts and 26 of 42 ratings at Hold.

What to watch: whether the lowered fiscal 2027 range resets expectations enough to stabilize the shares, the pace of decline in Greater China, and whether Pace savings show up in operating margins while revenue shrinks. Price-target cuts could follow the guidance reset.