LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Fourth quarter sales in the North American market had slowed "much more than anticipated" for footwear giant Nike according to Jay Sole, an analyst at investment bank Morgan Stanley.
Sole cut Nike's full-year 2017 sales forecast by five percentage points, from up 3% to down 2% loss, and dropped its earnings per share estimate from $2.58 down to $2.44.

The broker said it believed that Nike could may have lost many customers to Adidas on the back of high profile defections from previous Nike ambassadors such as Kanye West, who sold out his first line of Yeezy Boots in just ten minutes back in 2013.

The downgrade came after Indianapolis-based footwear retailer Finish Line severely decreased its forecast on Monday, leading to a drop of as much as 29.5% in its share price.

"The marketplace for athletic footwear became much more promotional as our second quarter progressed resulting in challenging sales and gross margin trends," Finish Line chief executive Sam Sato said in a statement.

He also noted that Nike's Jordan brand sneakers had a particularly weak showing in the quarter.

Sole remained confident that Nike shares were still deserving of an 'overweight' rating saying it's, "new product pipeline should bring innovation to the marketplace and the supply chain story is likely to be a major earnings catalyst 2-3 years from now."

As of 1530 BST, shares were down 2.49% to $52.39.

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