Nike Q1 Earnings: Revenue Miss, EPS Beat, Teams 'Energized' Amid CEO Transition — 'A Comeback At This Scale Takes Time, But We See Early Wins'

Nike Inc NKE reported first-quarter financial results after the market close on Tuesday. Here’s a rundown of the report.

Q1 Earnings: Nike reported first-quarter revenue of $11.59 billion, missing analyst estimates of $11.65 billion. The athletic footwear and apparel company reported first-quarter earnings of 70 cents per share, beating analyst estimates of 52 cents per share.

Nike has now come up short of revenue estimates in four of the past five quarters, according to Benzinga Pro.

Total revenues were down 10% year-over-year. North America sales were down about 11%, Greater China sales were down about 4%, European sales fell 13% and Asia Pacific and Latin American sales were down 7%. 

Nike Direct revenues were $4.7 billion in the quarter, down 13%. Nike Brand revenues totaled $11.1 billion, down 10%, and Wholesale revenues were down 8% to $6.4 billion. Inventories came in at $8.3 billion, down 5% year-over-year. The company ended the quarter with $10.3 billion in cash, equivalents and short-term investments.

“NIKE’s first quarter results largely met our expectations. A comeback at this scale takes time, but we see early wins — from momentum in key sports to accelerating our pace of newness and innovation,” said Matthew Friend, executive vice president and CFO of Nike.

“Our teams are energized as Elliott Hill returns to lead NIKE’s next stage of growth.”

Hill, a longtime Nike veteran, is set to take over for exiting CEO John Donahoe on Oct. 14. Nike noted it will address its approach to guidance moving forward on the company’s earnings call, scheduled for 5 p.m. ET, given that its reporting earnings in the midst of a CEO transition.

Nike said it returned approximately $1.8 billion to shareholders in the first quarter, including dividends of approximately $558 million and share repurchases of approximately $1.2 billion. The company noted that a total of 99.7 million shares have been repurchased under its $18 billion buyback program for a total cost of approximately $10.2 billion.

NKE Price Action: Nike shares were down approximately 18% year-to-date heading into the print. The stock was down 2.84% in after hours, trading at $86.60 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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