This Analyst is Bearish on These 5 Retail Stocks Amid ‘Soft Landing’ Expectations

1. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is an Oregon-based accessory, apparel, equipment, and footwear company.

Duffy slashed the price target on NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by $5 to $130. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) posted its Q4 FY22 results and provided FY23 guidance on June 29. The company’s below consensus FY23 guidance reflects short-term inventory pressure from the Chinese market. The proprietary algorithm developed by NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is expected to remain intact till FY25, but the stock offers limited upside due to the broad market slowdown.

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was mentioned in the Q4 2021 investor letter of ClearBridge Investments. Here’s what the firm said:

“Nike is another play on e-commerce as well as the anticipated growth in consumer spending as we learn to live with COVID-19. After selling out of the stock in 2016 due to competitive concerns, we were motivated to repurchase shares because of optimism around a new management team’s focus on accelerating Nike’s shift toward e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution. Near-term supply chain issues in Vietnam and retail weakness in China that we see as ephemeral provided a good buying opportunity. We do not believe the market is giving proper credit to Nike’s potential to deliver attractive, high-single-digit revenue growth while delivering operating margin expansion as more merchandise is sold direct. Nike is also still underindexed to the women’s category, which we see as a significant ongoing catalyst.

Of the 912 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database, 67 funds held a stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) as of Q1 2022.

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