Sporting-Goods Stocks Tumble After Trump Unveils Tariffs on Key Manufacturers
NKE
By Andrea Figueras
Shares in sporting-goods companies plunged after President Trump unveiled new U.S. tariffs on foreign imports that target countries where the industry has key manufacturing hubs.
Stocks of German players Adidas and Puma dropped 10% and 8.9%, respectively, in European morning trading, while shares in U.K. retailer JD Sports fell 5.5%. Shares in Nike were 9.2% lower in pre-market trading.
The levies announced overnight are harsher than expected, especially for Southeast Asian countries with higher exposure to sporting goods, RBC Capital Markets analyst Piral Dadhania said in a note to clients.
Trump announced the latest round of duties he plans to implement in countries that he says treat the U.S. unfairly. These include 46% on Vietnam, 49% on Cambodia, 36% on Thailand, 32% on Indonesia, 48% on Laos, and 34% additional tariffs on China--on top of the already announced 20%. Other key trading partners for the U.S. that are subject to tariffs include Switzerland, the E.U. and the U.K.
The impact could be worse than anticipated, as nearly all footwear sold in the U.S. is imported, UBS analysts wrote in a research note.
The duties will be a concern for many brands that have shifted manufacturing from China to Vietnam in recent years. The growing role of the latter in footwear manufacturing as well as its meaningful contribution to U.S. footwear imports mean the tariffs represent a headwind to the sector that companies might not be able to fully offset, UBS analysts said.
Only a portion of the cost increases will likely be passed through to consumers, analysts at UBS said. They say that in order to fully mitigate the hit to Vietnam, companies would have to increase prices by between 10% and 12%.
Puma and Nike will likely suffer more relative to Adidas, due to their exposure to the U.S. and their sourcing, RBC's Dadhania said.
Write to Andrea Figueras at andrea.figueras@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-03-25 0546ET