What Is NKE Stock? NIKE, Inc. Explained

Key Takeaways

• NKE is the ticker for NIKE, Inc. on the New York Stock Exchange, and it specifically represents the company's Class B common stock. Class A shares are not publicly traded.
• NIKE sells under three brands: the NIKE Brand, Jordan Brand, and Converse, with footwear its largest product category by revenue.
• Fiscal 2026 revenue was $46.4 billion, flat on a reported basis and down 2% excluding currency effects. Net income fell 3% to $3.1 billion.
• Revenue has not returned to growth since fiscal 2024, and the stock reached 12-year lows in 2026, down roughly 78% from its November 2021 peak.
• NIKE has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years, but in fiscal 2026 cash from operations no longer covered dividends and capital expenditures.
• NKE leaves the S&P 100 before the open on September 21, 2026, but remains a member of the S&P 500.

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is the American sportswear company behind the NIKE Brand, Jordan Brand, and Converse, a wholly owned subsidiary brand. It is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, and sells through both retail partners and its own stores and apps. Elliott Hill is President and Chief Executive Officer, and David Denton is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

The ticker NKE covers only the company's Class B common stock. NIKE has kept two classes of voting stock since it went public in 1980, and only Class B trades on an exchange, so every price, volume, and index figure published under NKE refers to Class B.

What does NIKE do?

NIKE designs and sells athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment. Footwear is the largest of the three by revenue.

It sells under three brands:

• NIKE Brand. Footwear, apparel, and performance equipment, built around named technology platforms such as Nike Air, Dri-FIT, Flyknit, and Air Max.
• Jordan Brand. Sport performance and streetwear product under the Jumpman trademark.
• Converse. A wholly owned subsidiary brand selling casual sneakers and apparel.

It reaches consumers two ways:

• Wholesale. Selling to retail partners, distributors, and licensees, who sell on to consumers.
• NIKE Direct. Selling directly through NIKE-owned stores and NIKE's own digital platforms.

Nearly all products are made outside the United States by independent contract manufacturers, concentrated in a small number of Asian countries, with Vietnam the largest source of both NIKE Brand footwear and apparel.

Why has NKE stock fallen so far?

NKE's decline tracks three things in the business: revenue that has not returned to growth since fiscal 2024, a sharp contraction in Greater China, and falling traffic to NIKE's own stores and apps.

Revenue has not recovered. NIKE, Inc. revenue was $51.4 billion in fiscal 2024, $46.3 billion in fiscal 2025, and $46.4 billion in fiscal 2026. NIKE attributed the fiscal 2025 drop to a set of actions it called Win Now, aimed at clearing inventory and resetting its product portfolio. The top line has since stabilised rather than rebounded.

Greater China has contracted. Regional revenue fell 11% in fiscal 2026 and regional EBIT fell 20%. NIKE's filings state that wholesale growth in North America was primarily offset by lower revenues in Greater China.

NIKE Direct is losing traffic. NIKE Direct revenue fell to $17.7 billion in fiscal 2026 from $18.8 billion, which NIKE attributes primarily to a decrease in traffic. NIKE Brand Digital fell 12%, while wholesale grew 6%.

NKE traded at 12-year lows during 2026 and was removed from the S&P 100 effective September 21, 2026. Both are consequences of the decline rather than causes of it. NKE remains in the S&P 500.

How is NIKE performing financially?

NIKE reported fiscal 2026 results on June 30, 2026, for the year ended May 31, 2026.

Full year fiscal 2026:

• Revenue was $46.4 billion, flat on a reported basis and down 2% on a currency-neutral basis
• Converse revenue fell 31% to $1.2 billion, and its segment EBIT fell to $18 million from $240 million
• Gross margin rose 20 basis points to 42.9%
• Net income was $3.1 billion, down 3%, and diluted earnings per share was $2.10, also down 3%
• EBIT margin was 8.3%, and return on invested capital fell to 18.7% from 20.2%
• Inventories closed at $7.5 billion, flat year over year
• Cash and short-term investments stood at $9.0 billion, against $2.0 billion of long-term debt now due within a year, up from none a year earlier
• Share repurchases nearly stopped, at $123 million against a four-year, $18 billion authorization

Fourth quarter figures look far stronger than the year. Net income rose 407% to $1.07 billion, but almost all of that came from a one-off $986 million tariff recovery after a February 2026 Supreme Court ruling voided tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Does NKE pay a dividend?

Yes, a quarterly cash dividend paid on both Class A and Class B common stock. The current rate is $0.41 per share.

• 24 consecutive years of increases. NIKE last raised the quarterly rate in November 2025, from $0.40 to $0.41, a 3% increase.
• The dividend has kept growing while the business has not. NIKE paid $2.4 billion in dividends in fiscal 2026, up 5% on the prior year.
• Cash flow no longer covers it. NIKE reports that cash generated from operations in fiscal 2026 was more than offset by cash dividends and capital expenditures, leaving cash and short-term investments down about $0.1 billion.

The yield has risen, but that is because the share price fell rather than because the dividend grew. A high yield on a falling stock is a different signal from a high yield on a growing one.

What to consider before buying NKE

• Turnaround execution. NIKE describes fiscal 2026 as a year of decisive actions to reposition the business for long-term growth. Whether that works is the thesis for owning the stock.
• Gross margin is the profit lever. With revenue close to flat, earnings growth has to come from margin, and tariffs, discounting, and product mix all feed into it.
• Competition. NIKE's filings name eleven competitors, among them adidas, lululemon athletica, New Balance, On, and Puma, in an industry it describes as highly competitive with new entrants arriving frequently.
• Converse. NIKE's second brand has been contracting while the NIKE Brand has held roughly flat. NIKE reports Converse separately, so its trajectory is visible in each quarterly release.

How to buy NKE on Backpack

NKE is available on Backpack as a traditional stock.

• Real ownership. Stocks bought on Backpack are held as real security entitlements, governed by New York law under UCC Article 8, the same property rights you would have at a conventional broker.
• Instant, quote-based trading. Backpack shows a live quote, you confirm, and your balance updates. There is no order book to manage.
• One account. Your crypto, your stablecoins, and your stocks sit in the same account, so you are not moving money between a brokerage and an exchange to rebalance.
• Extended hours. Stocks trade across US market sessions well beyond the regular 9:30am to 4:00pm ET window. Fractional shares are available during regular hours only.

Backpack also offers tokenized NKE on Solana. Each tokenized share is backed by a real share held in custody rather than by exposure to the share price, which is why it is redeemable 1:1 for real underlying shares through Backpack. Tokenized shares can be transferred between compatible wallets and used in DeFi applications.