Nike heads into fiscal Q1 earnings with little room for error. Management guided for revenue to fall by a low- to mid-single-digit percentage, while Wall Street expects roughly $11.3 billion in sales and $0.44 per share in earnings.
Last quarter, Nike’s Q4 gross margin jumped 890 basis points to 49.2%, but almost all of that improvement came from a roughly 900-basis-point tariff refund benefit.
This quarter should give investors a much clearer view of whether the company’s underlying turnaround is actually improving profitability.
Greater China revenue fell sharply last quarter, and current estimates call for another 12.6% decline in Q1.
With Nike shares already reflecting considerable skepticism about the turnaround, clean margin improvement and signs of stabilization in China could be among the most important factors to watch tonight, besides the EPS number.