Nike stock tumbled to its lowest level in more than 11 years on Wednesday after the shoe maker forecast declining sales in the current quarter, when analysts had expected growth

Nike's turnaround effort is taking longer than Wall Street had expected.

The road to Nike's turnaround looks bumpier after its latest quarterly report.

Nike (NKE) shares plunged more than 15% to $14.63 on Wednesday, hitting their lowest level since October 2014, after the athletic apparel giant issued a disappointing sales outlook.

After the closing bell Tuesday, Nike reported fiscal third-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations, but the company predicted that sales would decline 2% to 4% in the current quarter, while analysts had been projecting growth. Nike predicts that its sales in China will drop 20% in the fiscal fourth quarter, after a 10% decline last quarter, a slump that has offset gains in its North American business.

JPMorgan analysts downgraded their rating on Nike stock to neutral from "overweight," slashing their price target to $52 from $86. The analysts said they now expect Nike's operating margins to take longer to improve than they had previously expected, as Nike said it expects to see headwinds from its turnaround efforts through the end of this year.

Jefferies analysts kept their buy rating, but lowered their price target to $90 from $110 as they said Nike's current valuation offers limited downside, but noted that the "payoff likely requires patience" to at least fiscal 2028.

The sharp decline in Nike shares suggests investors are concerned about how long Nike's recent struggles with growing competition, tariffs and slumping sales in China will take to turn around.

CEO Elliott Hill said some parts of the company's turnaround effort, which kicked off when he took over in late 2024, are "taking longer than I'd like," but said he believes Nike is heading in the right direction, per an AlphaSense transcript.

Analysts had said ahead of the report that Nike's outlook would likely draw more interest from investors than the third-quarter results, and said that investors would be looking for evidence that Nike's turnaround plan is working.

While ratings could change following the report, the ten analysts with current ratings tracked by Visible Alpha are currently split between one "sell," five neutral, and four "buy" ratings. The average price target among those analysts is $64.

With Wednesday's move, Nike shares have lost 30% of their value since the start of the year.

UPDATE: This article has been updated to reflect the price of Nike shares at the end of Wednesday's session.

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