NEW YORK: Sports equipment giant Nike's shares have skidded in disappointment over its sales performance in the face of strong emerging competitors in North America.
Nike, sponsor of leading world sports names including Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo, revealed Tuesday a rise in quarterly sales -- but it was not as large as investors had anticipated.
"A lot of the initial fears investors had about the increasing competitive landscape, specifically around this quarter, actually came true," said Chen Grazutis, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Nike, which is up against rising competitors Under Armour and New Balance as well as a resurgent Adidas, suffered a seven percent decline in its share price at one point in after-market electronic trade.
By early Wednesday, the shares were down 2.1 percent at $50.95.
The sportswear and equipment manufacturer said sales rose six percent from a year earlier to $8.24 billion in the three months to the end of May.
That was slightly below average market analysts' forecasts for revenue of $8.28 billion, according to Consensus Metrix data cited by Bloomberg News.
Net profit fell 2.2 percent to $846 million over the same period.
In North America, Under Armour is eating into Nike's basketball business thanks in part to its sponsorship of NBA star Stephen Curry of the Gold State Warriors.
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