Nike Inc. faced a downgrade by Piper Sandler on Friday amid unrelated reports that the brand’s chief innovation officer, Tony Bignell, is departing the company after less than a year in the role.
An internal memo attained by the Wall Street Journal indicated that Andy Caine, Nike’s VP and creative director for sportswear, will succeed Bignell, effective Sunday, April 12. Like Bignell, Caine will report to Phil McCartney, who last year was appointed to the newly created position of chief innovation, design and product officer.
Bignell, who spent 30 years at Nike, was elevated to the chief innovation officer position last June. Before his promotion last year, Bignell had been VP in charge of men’s performance footwear for about five years.
His departure makes the third innovation chief to leave the role in less than three years.
In the acquired memo, McCartney credited Bignell with advancing innovations, including Nike Shox and the Next% VaporMax, React and Joyride.
“His fingerprints are on ideas and products that pushed sport forward and expanded what athletes can expect from Nike,” McCartney said of Bignell.
He credited Caine with guiding the development of Mercurial cleats and amplifying the Air franchise with the launches of Air VaporMax, Air Liquid Max and Air Max 1000.
“Andy brings a rare mix of athlete obsession, creative ambition and product conviction,” stated McCartney. “He is known for his curiosity, his high standards and his ability to develop strong talent around him. He pushes for better, and he brings others with him.”
Meanwhile, Piper Sandler on Friday downgraded Nike to “Neutral” from “Overweight,” and lowered its price target to $50 from $60, due in part with challenges scaling innovation.
Analyst Anna Andreeva wrote in a note, “While we expect momentum in Performance across the industry to continue, Nike is a quarter away from lapping big gains in Running, and we worry that Athleisure (also known as Sportswear for NKE) is becoming too saturated across the industry, with frequency metrics at peak-like levels.”
Andreeva pointed to Circana data showing that in the U.S. market, performance running (representing 24 percent of the market) grew high-single digits in 2025 and Piper Sandler sees gains in the category of 8 percent in 2024. However, Sports Lifestyle footwear (or Athleisure, representing 37 percent) grew 4 percent and Piper Sandler forecasts 2 percent growth for the category in 2025.
The analyst noted that the athleisure category is “becoming more mature, with many brands looking similar and demand driven more by new entrants (like Solomon) as opposed to legacy players.” She also noted that fashion footwear is seeing leaner declines, indicating a “return of the dressy cycle could shift some of the demand from Athleisure.”
Andreeva cited the significant decline of Nike’s Classics business with Nike management amid aggressive inventory liquidations as a key concern, estimating the category will represent just 10 percent of sales by fiscal 2027, down from 21 percent in FY24. She wrote, “The company does not appear to have sufficient innovation to fill that volume void.”
Andreeva added that given the “fragile” consumer, any reduction in the currently all-time high purchase frequency of footwear post-pandemic would make innovation a more critical factor in driving sales and Nike has lately only shown the capacity to scale innovation in running footwear.
She questioned whether Nike’s largely veteran team can drive innovation at scale. The analyst said, “Across Hill’s new leadership appointments, the vast majority have been with NKE for about 20 years, and we question whether fresh blood is needed.”
Finally, Andreeva noted that while Nike’s shares are down about 20 percent since issuing disappointing guidance when reporting results for the fiscal third quarter ended February 28 and are off about a third for the year, the stock’s multiple is still elevated compared to competitors.
Andreeva wrote, “The stock reset after the fiscal third quarter of 2026 print, but it is still not cheap at 22 times our fiscal year 2028 estimated earnings per share, and given the absence of a catalyst (Investor Day not until the second half of 2026), it is likely in the penalty box for now.”
LeBron James Innovation Center image courtesy Nike
