Nike’s stock faces another challenge in addition to the sportswear giant’s ongoing turnaround.
The company is preparing to leave the S&P 100 after an 18-year run. Now, its falling share price has investors looking more closely at Nike’s position in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Nike (NKE) is set to be removed from the S&P 100, S&P Dow Jones Indices said, effective before the start of trade, Sept. 21. It will be replaced by Palo Alto Networks (PANW).
Nike’s share price has collapsed this year, reducing the company’s impact on the Dow to a considerably lesser scale. And that matters, because the Dow is a price-weighted index, not a market-capitalization-weighted one.
S&P Dow Jones Indices says the Dow is a price-weighted average of 30 stocks of big U.S. firms.
That gives greater meaning to Nike’s share price of $36 or so than it would have in a traditional market cap weighted comparison.
Nike’s financial results show why the turnaround matters
Nike’s latest annual financial results provide a mixed picture.
Revenue was $46.4 billion in fiscal 2026, almost unchanged from $46.3 billion. Net income declined 3% to $3.1 billion, while diluted EPS fell to $2.10 from $2.16.
Nike Brand wholesale revenue rose 6% to $27.5 billion. Nike Direct sales fell 6% to $17.7 billion due to less traffic.
The end of fiscal 2026 saw inventories at $7.5 billion, unchanged from the year before.
The company’s fourth-quarter results showed a similar split. Revenue was $11 billion, down 1% year over year, while wholesale revenue increased 4%. Nike Direct revenue declined 7%.
Nike has continued returning money to shareholders. In August, its board declared a quarterly dividend of 41 cents per share, payable Oct. 1.
Nike’s low stock price puts its Dow position in focus
Nike’s share-price decrease is especially telling given the way the Dow is calculated.
The Dow is a price-weighted index, which means a company’s impact is based on its stock price in relation to the prices of the other components, S&P Dow Jones Indices notes.
Because of its low share price, Nike currently has the smallest weighting among the 30 Dow components, according to Reuters research cited for this story.
That doesn’t mean Nike will immediately be dropped from the index.
The Dow does not have a simple minimum share-price barrier that may drive a business out. The changes are made according to the methodology of the index and decisions of the committee responsible for maintaining the benchmark.
Nike also has to factor in the bigger consumer context.
U.S. retail and food-services sales increased 1.2% in August from July and 6% from August 2025 to $773.9 billion, the Census Bureau said.
At the same time, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal consumption expenditures increased 0.2% in July, while spending on goods fell $49.9 billion.
Nike faces pressure from consumers and the stock market
Inflation is another concern for a consumer brand like Nike.
The Consumer Price Index increased 3.4% over the 12 months through August. Apparel prices rose 3.6% over the same period, while footwear prices also increased 3.6%.
Consumers are still borrowing as well. On a seasonally adjusted basis, Federal Reserve statistics indicated that consumer credit expanded at an annual pace of 4.2% in July, while revolving credit grew 2.5%.
Nike’s balance sheet provides a financial buffer. The corporation closed fiscal 2026 with cash and equivalents of $7.56 billion, total assets of $38.4 billion, and shareholders’ equity of $14.9 billion.
But its return on invested capital decreased to 18.7% from 20.2% a year ago.
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Nike remains in the Dow and has not disclosed a schedule for taking it out.
But the combination of its falling share price, small Dow weighting, and imminent S&P 100 exit provides investors one more reason to keep an eye on the firm.
Nike investors now have 2 questions to watch
Nike’s immediate challenge remains its turnaround.
CEO Elliott Hill is attempting to restore growth while the company deals with weaker Nike Direct sales, changing consumer demand, and competition across the athletic-apparel market.
The financial outcomes explain why that effort counts. Nike’s yearly revenues are flat but still a long way from the $51.4 billion it reported for fiscal 2024. Net income, however, has plummeted from $5.7 billion in fiscal 2024 to $3.1 billion in fiscal 2026.
The second question is: what is Nike’s standing among blue- chip businesses on Wall Street?
Related: Nike lost its blue-chip badge but not its swagger
S&P 100 elimination is already planned. The Dow conundrum lingers.
The Dow is price-weighted; thus, Nike’s stock price counts less in the index than higher-priced companies. But there is no automated rule to remove it.
For now, Nike investors have two developments to monitor: whether Hill’s turnaround can improve the company’s financial performance and whether a recovery in the stock can strengthen Nike’s position in the Dow.
