11:16 AM EDT, 09/12/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Nike ( NKE ) is expected to provide "disappointing Q2 guidance" driven by weak global sales growth that will further push the stock's price-to-earnings ratio lower, UBS Securities said in an earnings preview on Thursday.

UBS said it sees sentiment on Nike ( NKE ) leaning bearish, but that some investors are positioned for Nike's ( NKE ) stock price to rise in the near future with the company "potentially taking strategic actions."

The company's fiscal Q1 earnings will bring focus on the company's fundamentals and will result in a decline in its price-to-earnings ratio, according to UBS.

The investment firm said that Nike's ( NKE ) Q1 performance remained weak, with soft U.S. direct-to-consumer sales, underperformance in Europe, disappointing growth in China, declining global web traffic, weak Google search trends and underwhelming social media engagement.

UBS rates Nike's ( NKE ) stock at neutral with a price target of $78.

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