Nike director Tim Cook and CEO Elliott Hill coughed up about $1 million each in another round of insider stock buying. The market and Jim Cramer applauded the moves. Cook, also the longtime CEO of Apple, bought 25,000 shares of Nike at an average price of $42.43 each last Friday. Hill bought just over 23,660 Nike shares at $42.27 on Monday. The purchases were revealed in separate regulatory filings after Tuesday's closing bell. Nike shares shot up 3% on the news Wednesday, adding to a 3% gain in the prior session during a strong overall market rally. These new buys are signs that Hill's plan to turn around Nike, which is nearly 18 months in the making, is "very real and working," Jim said on "Squawk on the Street." Insider purchases are generally viewed as a bullish sign. Back in December, Cook bought 50,000 shares of Nike, and Hill bought nearly 16,400 when the stock was around $60. We bought alongside the insiders for the Club after a post-earnings slump. But it doesn't always pay off to follow the sign, as the Club has learned the hard way. We are not buying any more Nike shares this time around. With the stock lower since December and down roughly 28% year to date, we want to see Hill's turnaround efforts show up in the numbers. The Club has a hold-equivalent 2 rating on Nike.
Jim has been frustrated with the slower-than-anticipated timing of Nike's comeback and recently debated what to do with the position. Ultimately, he said he would give Hill until October, which will be two years since he became Nike CEO with a mandate to fix the missteps of his predecessor and get the iconic brand back to its former glory. "I think that Elliott can do it. I really do. Tim Cook wouldn't be buying otherwise," Jim said, noting that he would like to see Nike CFO Matthew Friend make a purchase.
Since Nike's latest earnings report in March, some analysts are no longer as bullish on the sportswear and sneaker giant. The Street is still pretty evenly split on buy and hold ratings, with about 5% sell. On Monday, HSBC downgraded Nike to a hold equivalent rating. "Nike's turnaround thesis has gone from 'not if, but when' to a 'show me' story with no short-term catalysts, in our view." Last week, the stock also got hit with what Jim called a "damning" downgrade by Piper Sandler, whose analysts cited concerns about Hill's leadership appointments and oversaturation of athleisure wear.
Jefferies, however, is still bullish on the stock. "We continue to believe the company is taking the right approach of fixing one geo [geographical region] and one product category at a time," analyst Randy Konik told CNBC on Wednesday. Jefferies has a buy rating on the stock.
(Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long NKE. See here for a full list of the stocks.)
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