In recent times Nike (NKE 6.17%) stock has had plenty of lousy trading sessions, but Wednesday's sure wasn't one of them. After publishing its latest set of quarterly results after market close Tuesday, investors raced into the athletic apparel maker's shares to push them to a more than 6% gain. That gave the stock an easy victory over the S&P 500 index, which posted a 0.3% increase on the day.
Twin beats
For its fiscal first quarter of 2026, Nike earned revenue of $11.7 billion. That represented an increase of 1% on a year-over-year basis. Of this, wholesale revenue was a standout, as it leaped 7% higher to come in at $6.8 billion. On the flip side, the company's direct-to-consumer service Nike Direct saw its top line sag by 4% to $4.5 billion.
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Nike suffered a steeper fall in GAAP net income; this declined by 31% over the one-year stretch to $727 million, or $0.49 per share.
However, analysts tracking the company were expecting it to do notably worse. Their consensus estimate for revenue was just under $11 billion, and that for per-share net income was well under the actual figure, at $0.22.
Referring to Nike's turnaround program, the company quoted CEO Elliott Hill as saying that it made good "progress through our Win Now actions in our priority areas of North America, wholesale, and running."
More races to run
Hill tempered this by stating "While we're getting wins under our belt, we still have work ahead to get all sports, geographies, and channels on a similar path as we manage a dynamic operating environment."
In the conference call discussing the quarter, Nike's CFO Matt Friend proffered selected guidance for both the current (second) quarter and the entirety of fiscal 2026. For the latter period Nike is expecting the key wholesale business to get back to "modest" growth in the year, although Nike Direct likely will not see higher revenue. Friend did not get more specific.
