Nike is Turning to Apple’s Tim Cook After an Avalanche of Analyst Downgrades

When you think of Tim Cook, you’re probably picturing iPhones, MacBooks, and maybe a keynote speech that feels like a Ted Talk. 

What you don’t picture is Tim Cook sitting in a boardroom, rocking Nike kicks, and plotting sneaker sales. But surprise, surprise… Apple’s CEO has been doing just that for the past 19 years as Nike’s independent board director. And right now, Cook’s side gig is getting pretty stressful.

Nike is having its worst year since Tim first laced up with the company in 2005. Last quarter, sales dropped by 10%. Yeah, that’s a whole lot of sneakers collecting dust on warehouse shelves (probably enough to fill a small country). And to make matters worse, Nike straight-up trashed its full-year guidance. They basically said, “We have no idea how much worse this could get.”

Since hitting its peak of $179.10 per share back in 2021, Nike’s stock has crashed 54.4% (22% year to date). And with analysts expecting sales to decline another 7.4% by the end of the 2025 fiscal year, the forecast isn’t sparking optimism. Revenue projections? $47.55 billion.

So, where does Cook fit into this sneaker nightmare? Well, aside from casually showing up to Apple events in custom Nikes designed on an iPad, he’s been tasked with leading the swoosh through the wilderness. His main job is to help Nike’s newly-appointed CEO, Elliott Hill who was just brought back from retirement.

Luckily for Nike, Cook’s no stranger to high-stakes situations. He’s guided Apple through China’s supply chain nightmares and plenty of “we’re doomed” moments. Overexpansion? Check. Market saturation? Double check. Now, Nike is seeing layoffs and has even postponed its Investor Day—originally scheduled for November—to give Hill more time to cook up a strategy. (Yes, pun intended.)

Nike’s operational slowdown over the last three years has been as an episode of The Golden Bachelorette. The company hit a slog in 2023, and 2024 hasn’t been much better. The Elliott Wave theory (you know, for all the technical analysis nerds out there) is signaling that Nike’s stock could take one more dip into the mid-$60s before staging a bullish reversal. So, if you’ve been waiting for Nike stock to go on sale, your time might be coming.

What’s fascinating here is that Nike’s struggles are eerily similar to the ones Apple has faced before. Cook built his reputation on keeping things simple at Apple. He didn’t let the iPhone become a bloated mess of useless features (looking at you, BlackBerry), and he seems to be nudging Nike in the same direction—back to basics. Fewer gimmicks, more focus on what made Nike Nike in the first place: great shoes and athletic wear.

So, can Tim Cook apply his Apple magic to a company that sells rubber soles instead of sleek tech? If anyone can, it’s him. After all, he’s been on Nike’s board for nearly two decades and helped Apple skyrocket to a trillion-dollar valuation.

And if the Wall Street analysts are right, that road may be rockier than expected. Following Nike’s full-year guidance cut and a brutal 10% projected sales drop for the current quarter (worse than the 3.2% decline analysts originally predicted), several big-name firms have downgraded the stock. UBS cut Nike’s rating from Buy to Neutral, slashing the price target from $125 to $78, citing “fundamental trends are much worse than we realized.”

Stifel also lowered its rating to Hold, trimming its target price to $88, while JPMorgan downgraded Nike to Neutral after the company missed profit estimates by $180 million. Even Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight, lowering its price target to $79. The consensus? There’s no quick rebound in sight, and Nike is looking at a multi-year reset to return to growth.

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Stock.News has positions in Apple.