Two of the most recognizable shoemaking giants in the world – the German athletic apparel and footwear corporation Adidas AG (ETR: ADS) and America’s Nike (NYSE: NKE) – have taken a radically different stock market trajectory in 2024.
Indeed, while the European company has done little other than rise since January 2 and is slowly pushing to reclaim 2021 highs after remaining in a deep ravine through much of 2022 and 2023, Nike is trading near the lows not seen since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ballad of Nike stock
Nike’s weak performance in 2024 is being driven by several factors, with a slowdown in growth and weak guidance for the fiscal year 2025 – a fiscal year that already started by the firm’s reckoning – generally being considered the most important.
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In fact, the American shoemaker shocked investors and analysts in late June by predicting a 10% decline in sales in the ongoing quarter. For comparison, while experts expected a drop, they placed their forecasts around 3%.
The announcement made an already bad situation even worse for Nike stock. In the year-to-date chart, NKE is down a total of 31.71% but is as much as 23.39% in the red in the last 30 days.
The biggest drop for the company came in the 24 hours between June 26 and 27 as the company’s shares fell from $94.19 to $75.34 and Nike stock price today, at press time, stands at $72.78.
Adidas stock triumphant
The situation for Adidas in 2024 is, in many ways, a reversed mirror image of Nike’s. The German footwear giant has been recording a continuously strong performance since January 2.
Back in mid-April, it impressed investors with its then-new earnings report, showing strong growth – particularly thanks to its ‘retro’ style sneakers – and sending ADS shares rocketing from about €202 to approximately €226.
More recent guidance, published in mid-July, alleviated the hangup that lingered since the April report – a conservative forward-looking forecast for the firm – as it estimated Adidas would see its operating profits grow some €300 million and rise from €700 million to €1 billion.
Again offering a reverse mirror image of NKE stock, ADS shares are 30.12% in the green in the YTD chart for 2024.
While the biggest single increase came in April, more recent trends have also been promising, and early trading on July 17 hints at the possibility of another strong stock market day for the shoemaker.
Finally, Adidas price today, at the time of publication, stands at €237.10.
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