For the first time in two years, Nike failed to live up to Wall Street’s expectations for its revenue — but it still managed to exceed them in other areas.
For Q1 2024, Nike reported $12.94 billion in revenue — a 2% increase from a year prior ($12.69B), but short of the $12.98 billion Wall Street had anticipated.
However, the company offset that miss by exceeding expectations in earnings per share, which came in at 94 cents compared to the projection of 75 cents.
Nike shares rose about 8% in extended trading by the end of the day.
Nike also managed to post better-than-expected gross margin numbers after abnormally high inventory plagued the company near the end of 2022; gross margin fell slightly from 44.3% to 44.2% year-over-year — but that exceeded analyst expectations of 43.7%, per StreetAccount.
The Oregon-based manufacturer said that higher product costs and current exchange rates contributed to the deflated number but that price increases mitigated the fall.
Any perceived struggles overall could be chalked up to poor sales figures in North America, Nike’s biggest market, where revenue fell by 2%. However, the company offset that with sales increases in its other regions.
