A Nike logo is displayed at a Nike store on Feb. 5, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Nike topped Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and revenue expectations on Tuesday, as growth in its key North America market helped to offset a hit from tariffs and another sales decline in its China business.
Here’s how the company did for its fiscal third quarter, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 35 cents vs. 28 cents expected
- Revenue: $11.28 billion vs. $11.24 billion expected
The sneaker giant continues to work through a colossal turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill. About a year and a half into his tenure, Hill has made strides in repairing parts of the business, but has been clear that it’ll take time for the entire company to improve given the retailer’s scale and complexity.
Nike’s Greater China market, a problem spot for the company in recent quarters, saw revenue fall 7% to $1.62 billion during the quarter. Even so, that total beat analyst estimates of $1.50 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Nike’s largest market of North America continued to show steady growth, as revenue climbed 3% to $5.03 billion. That was barely shy of Wall Street’s expectations of $5.04 billion.
Overall, Nike sales for its third quarter were roughly flat from the prior year at $11.28 billion.
Its net income for the period dropped to $520 million, down 35% from 794 million in the previous year.
That plunge came as Nike’s gross profit margin slid 1.3 percentage points to 40.2%. The company said the decline was “primarily due to higher tariffs in North America.”
Throughout the turnaround, the company has warned that progress would not be linear and some parts of the business would improve faster than others, making it difficult for investors to gauge how long recovery will take.
Nike’s turnaround attempt was already coming at a tough time as a global trade war dented its efforts to improve profitability and drive sales from inflation-weary shoppers. But now the athletic company will have to contend with a new war in the Middle East that’s already led to rising gas prices and is expected to send consumer prices even higher, which could push shoppers to cut back on nice-to-haves like new clothes and shoes to save money elsewhere.
Hill has focused in part of revitalizing Nike’s business with wholesale partners as opposed to direct sales on its website and in stores. Wholesale revenue climbed 5% to $6.5 billion.
Meanwhile, direct sales slid 4% to $4.5 billion.
Source: www.cnbc.com
