Stock Alert: Nike Inc.

(RTTNews) - Nike Inc. (NKE), one of the largest retailer of sports apparel in the world, has witnessed nearly 17% drop in stock price since January, largely due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought severe damage to the sports apparel industry. All major retailers have been forced to close their stores across the globe, especially in Europe and the U.S., one of the key markets for these apparel companies.

Cancellation of all major sporting events including the football and basketball leagues, Olympics, Euro Cup 2020 are expected to make significant dent on the top line of sports apparel makers.

Shares of Nike closed Monday's trading at $84.46, down $2.33 or 2.68%. The stock has been trading in the range of $105.62 - $60.58 in the year-to-date period. NKE is currently trading at $84.63, up $0.17 or 0.20% in after-market hours.

Nike has more than 1,100 branded stores globally and almost all of the company's growth last year came from direct to consumer sales at its retail stores, factory outlets and Nike.com.

The company has closed all of its stores in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. However, China, which is Nike's most profitable geographical segment, has almost fully recovered from coronavirus pandemic. This could help the company to generate sales in the coming quarter.

Nike will be releasing its full-year results in June, with Wall Street analysts estimating earnings of $2.26 per share on revenue of $39.08 billion. Nike last year reported earnings of $2.49 per share on revenues of $39.12 billion.