The Adidas logo is seen on a Gazelle sneaker for sale at a store in Berlin, Germany, on May 2, 2024.
Lisi Niesner | Reuters
Actions of adidas fell as much as 8% on Wednesday after offering a disappointing outlook for 2026, as it grapples with unfavorable currency swings and the impact of US tariffs.
The German sportswear company sees single-digit revenue growth in 2026 from a total of 24.8 billion euros ($28.86 billion) in 2025.
Operating profit is expected to increase to around €2.3 billion, despite a negative impact of €400 million from US tariffs and unfavorable currency developments.
Profitability prospects will “disappoint” investors as they were 15% below general expectations, RBC Capital Markets analysts said. “The question will be how conservative the EBIT guidance is given adidas’ preferred approach of being cautious at the start of the year,” they added.
An implied margin of 9% on operating profit of 2.3 billion euros is well below expectations, said Jefferies analyst James Grzinic.
Fourth-quarter sales and profits fell slightly short of the mark, at €6.1 billion and €164 million at constant currency rates, respectively, according to FactSet estimates.
“Driving double-digit growth in the fourth quarter despite all the external turbulence and more than doubling our operating profit in the quarter made the year end very well,” said Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden.
Adidas also laid out medium-term targets on Wednesday, seeing currency-neutral sales growing at a high single-digit rate in 2026-2028, with operating profits expanding at a mid-teens annual growth rate over that period.
Adidas shares last fell 6.7%, hitting a new 52-week low.
Adidas shares have nearly halved over the past year.
At the start of trading on Wednesday, Adidas shares had fallen about 43% over the past 12 months, as investors remain skeptical about Adidas’ future.
The growth prospects of the global sportswear industry, characterized by oversupply and changing consumer preferences in China, represent another pressure point for investors.
country couple Puma and largest American competitor Nike They have faced similar problems and are also in the midst of a turnaround. In October, Nike’s CEO told CNBC that the company would “take a while” to return to profitable growth.
Adidas on Wednesday also extended CEO Gulden’s contract until 2030, in an apparent vote of confidence in its strategy.
Gulden took the reins in 2023 to stabilize the company after his split with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, over anti-Semitic comments and triggering a crisis for Adidas, which had depended on sales of the Yeezy sneaker line that Ye spearheaded.
