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Nike's troubles go back to 2020 at the onset of COVID, compounded by a shift from wholesale to direct-to-consumer, and lack of product newness.

Nike Inc.’s turnaround is taking much more time than initially expected, and that brings with it two things investors dislike — slow growth and a lot of uncertainty.

Wall Street wants growth, and investors who focus on the short term tend to think along the lines of: “what have you done for me lately?” But even long term Nike investors might have something to gripe about.

Shares of Nike are trading in the $40 range, about 78 percent below its November 2021 high and along its trading price back in 2014. And Nike shares might even go lower. That could depend on what company executives, including chief executive officer Elliott Hill and new chief financial officer David Denton, disclose on the first quarter earnings conference call. Nike is expected to report earnings around the end of September or at the start of October.

As Footwear News has reported, Nike’s troubles started long before Hill rejoined Swoosh in October 2024 as the sportswear giant’s new chief executive officer. He was a former Nike executive who served in several leadership roles before retiring in 2020.

Former CEO John Donahoe pushed forth on a direct-to-consumer focus in June 2020 that saw Nike pull out of some wholesale channels. That paved the way for challengers such as Hoka and start-up On Running to gain some floor space at retail shelves and garner some much-needed marketing visibility. And as the downward direction of Nike’s performance continued under Donahoe’s tenure, the brand lost share in crucial categories such as running, compounding the criticism that the business also lacked innovative products.

The issues at Nike weren’t entirely Donahoe’s fault. He was serving as a director at the sports brand before taking on the CEO reins within weeks of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. And if Donahoe had the difficult task of steering Swoosh through the pandemic and the economic aftermath, Hill’s challenges were just as daunting, if not more so and are still ongoing.

Wall Street saw Hill as the best choice to become the athletic giant’s fifth chief executive. His institutional knowledge of the brands — both Nike and Jordan — and deep experience in the U.S. and overseas gave him a certain amount of credibility for the much-needed turnaround, as well as the recognition that there won’t be any quick fixes.

One success, as part of Hill’s “Win Now” strategy, has been the immediate focus on Nike Running, viewed by Wall Street as a definite bright spot. That turnaround success was confirmed by retailers in July 2025 with the successful launch of the Vomero 18 in February 2025 that has grown into at least a $100 million franchise. And in Nike’s fourth quarter conference call on June 30, Hill said: “Running grew $5 billion — $1 billion over the last five quarters, and we gained five market share points.”

Investors, of course, want to see more growth in other components of Nike’s business too, and perhaps on a faster timeline. But macroeconomic challenges are making that harder to do.

And Nike certainly has seen some hiccups. Just when it seemed China was the primary stumbling block overseas, European sales began faltering too as consumers pulled back due to inflationary pressures and higher promotional activity. The issues with the Chinese and European markets are being addressed, even if they aren’t yet fully fixed. With so many balls in the air that need turnaround attention, Nike at least does have other positives coming down the pike.

Hill also said during the June 30 conference call that the sportswear division will be introducing more than a dozen new footwear styles in the second half of fiscal year 2027, which starts next January. “And it’s not just going back to the Vault and doing old retro shoes. It is leveraging innovation, and you’ll see some newness and freshness coming in new silhouettes,” the CEO said.

Athletes don’t have to wait until next year for some of that newness. Earlier this month, Nike introduced a new training footwear system as Hyrox soars in popularity — the Hybrid Fly and Hybrid RN, available in men’s and women’s — giving Swoosh athletic performance shoes to help athletes move from running to lifting and dynamic movement without sacrificing speed, stability or traction.

And Hill also said the company sees “momentum gaining in training, tennis, golf and outdoor.” That traction follows the realignment of 8,000 employees last October to Nike’s Sport Offense initiative, which aligns the three brands — Nike, Jordan and Converse — “into more nimble-focused teams by sport.”

Jefferies equity analyst Randal Konik has a “buy” rating on shares of Nike. Following the fourth quarter earnings report for the three months ended May 31, Konik noted that the China cleanup is progressing while the performance business continues to scale. He saw sportswear in general and Jordan Streetwear as the two categories that still need work, adding that the “core is stabilizing” and “not getting worse.” And he noted that Sport Offense is the right approach.

Some investors wonder if it might be a tall order for Nike to get back some of the market share it lost to up-and-comers like running shoe brand On when Nike pulled back on wholesale accounts under Donahoe. Konik disagrees with that thinking. The Jefferies analyst has long stated that On’s wholesale growth — as well as that of other Nike running competitors, such as Hoka — was due to that pullback and that retailers are likely to pivot back to Nike with their open-to-buy dollars.

Konik’s not the only one who thinks that. Williams Trading analyst Sam Poser last week noted that the Swiss performance running brand could lose “share to Nike over the next six-to-nine months,” following concerns in On’s second quarter earnings report over its wholesale channel strategy. If both are right, that would be good news for Nike.

For now, with newly onboarded David Denton about to co-host his first earnings call as CFO, there’s been a greater focus on what it might mean to have a new financial sheriff in town, especially one who isn’t from Nike’s inner ranks.

While Wall Street analysts were surprised by the June disclosure that Denton on Aug. 17 would succeed Matthew Friend, the move was also seen as the natural progression of Nike’s ongoing turnaround strategy. BTIG analyst Robert Drbul noted that Nike’s last external CFO hire was in 1999 when Don Blair joined from Pepsi. “While Nike still faces many global challenges with its brand and an evolving, highly competitive industry, we would surmise that the company will likely benefit from fresh eyes from an external perspective,” Drbul said.

What investors see instead is potential caution ahead. Nike said Denton’s focus will be on “disciplined execution,” as well as on capital allocation and long-term value creation. For investors, bringing in an outsider suggests more conservative guidance is in the works. That kind of thinking is grounded in the belief that Nike’s turnaround is going to need much more time to effect, maybe through much of fiscal year 2027 — and that’s a no-go for anyone focused on a shorter time horizon. What they may not realize is that Denton’s mandate on “disciplined execution” and focus on capital allocation might be what the company exactly needs to support the next stage of Nike’s turnaround strategy and creation of long-term value for shareholders.