Financial Report Preview | Nike is about to "release" its report, can the Paris Olympics boost performance expectations

According to the Zhitong Finance and Economics APP, after the U.S. stock market closed on Thursday, global sports product giant Nike (NKE.US) will announce its financial report for the fourth quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. The company is looking for opportunities to boost sales, such as the upcoming Paris Summer Olympics next month, hoping that product launches and sports product marketing activities can boost sales that have been lower than management's previous expectations. Wall Street analysts generally expect Nike's latest quarterly sales and profits to be higher than the same quarter last year, but the company stated in March that it expects a single-digit decline in sales for the first half of the 2025 fiscal year.

Analysts generally expect Nike's sales and profits to show significant growth compared to the same period last year. According to Wall Street analyst expectations compiled by Visible Alpha, analysts expect a net profit of approximately $1.28 billion, or $0.84 per share, and sales of around $12.9 billion for the fourth quarter of the 2024 fiscal year. In the same quarter a year ago, Nike's sales were around $12.83 billion, with a profit of around $1.03 billion, or $0.66 per share.

Analysts from the well-known Wall Street institution Wedbush Securities wrote in a report last Friday that the performance data for Nike's fourth quarter may not have a significant impact on its stock price, as they expect Nike's core performance indicators to not deviate significantly from market expectations, and Nike has already provided some performance outlook data for the 2025 fiscal year in the previous third quarter performance conference call.

Analysts from Bank of America expressed a similar view in a recent report, stating that whether the performance guidance for the 2025 fiscal year catalyzed by the Olympics can be raised "will be the most important topic at Nike's performance conference call, and the final performance of the fourth quarter is just one of the indicative indicators for the sales and profit trajectory entering the new fiscal year."

Nike's Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend previously stated in the third quarter performance conference call that the company expects a single-digit percentage decline in sales data for the first half of the 2025 fiscal year. Friend stated that the reason for the relatively pessimistic forecast data is because Nike hopes to "shift the company's product portfolio towards new and innovative products," while emphasizing that "the global macroeconomic outlook is bleak."

In the second quarter performance report released in December last year, Nike management stated that the company has been facing intensified global "macroeconomic headwinds," especially in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, as well as in most parts of Asia, and announced plans to cut costs by up to $2 billion over the next three yearsMarket Focus on Olympics and Nike's Upcoming Products

Nike is one of the most famous marketing brands in the Summer Olympics held every four years, with Nike's brand logo appearing on uniforms and sneakers of dozens of Olympic events and multiple Olympic delegations. According to reports, the company's executives emphasized at an Olympic promotional event in April that the company plans to invest in a larger-scale marketing campaign during this year's Summer Olympics compared to previous years.

Analysts from Wedbush and J.P. Morgan wrote in recent reports that many of Nike's major retail partners, such as North American sports shoe retailers Foot Locker (FL.US) and Dick's Sporting Goods, have shown great optimism about Nike's upcoming products and innovations during recent earnings conference calls.

Foot Locker, a top partner of Nike, received positive feedback from Foot Locker management. Foot Locker executives recently attended a Nike innovation event held in Paris in April. They expressed excitement about Nike's innovation research and development pipeline, extending from the upcoming Paris Olympics to the second half of 2024 and 2025, supported by a strong narrative growth logic.

Foot Locker management is optimistic about jointly restoring growth with the Nike brand during the holiday shopping season. Nike plans to focus on basketball development business through The Clinic project, a collaboration project between Foot Locker and renowned sports brands like Nike and Jordan, which is expected to continue to grow optimistically.

In addition, the basketball shoe series of many basketball stars signed by Nike, including NBA stars Devin Booker, Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum, and Luka Dončić, is expected to drive Foot Locker's sales growth. In the long run, with Nike's renewed focus on wholesale channels, Foot Locker will be in a very favorable position.

According to analysts from J.P. Morgan, a Foot Locker executive stated that the situation they see clearly indicates that "Nike is on the offensive again." Wedbush also pointed out that a Dick's Sporting Goods executive believes that Nike's upcoming products will be "very exciting from a unique perspective for consumers in the coming years."

Nike's stock price has been declining since the release of the last two earnings reports, especially after announcing a weak financial performance guidance for the fiscal year 2025, falling over 10% year-to-date, with the latest closing stock price at $97.180