NEW YORK — Nike’s long slide on Wall Street has reached another milestone: the sportswear giant is being removed from the S&P 100 after roughly 18 years, with the change taking effect before trading opens on September 21, 2026.
S&P Dow Jones Indices said Palo Alto Networks will replace Nike in the blue-chip benchmark as part of its quarterly rebalance. Nike remains in the broader S&P 500, so the move is not a delisting and does not remove NKE from America’s main large-cap index.
Nike by the numbers
NKE close, Sept. 4: $38.40
52-week range: $37.95–$76.97
Market value: about $56.97 billion
Fiscal 2026 revenue: $46.40 billion
Fiscal 2026 EPS: $2.10
Five-year total return: -63.55%
S&P 500 return over same period: +93.80%
Nike’s S&P 100 exit follows a major valuation reset
Nike shares closed at $38.40 on September 4, down 0.95% for the session and near the bottom of their 52-week range.
The company’s market capitalization has fallen to roughly $57 billion. Nike was valued near $263.8 billion at the end of 2021, meaning more than $200 billion in equity value has disappeared from that level.
NKE also traded above $170 during 2021. At around $38 today, the stock is more than three-quarters below those record-era levels.
What S&P actually said about Nike’s removal
S&P did not attribute Nike’s deletion to a single business mistake, political controversy or a specific percentage drop in the stock.
In its official September rebalance announcement, S&P Dow Jones Indices said the changes are intended to make each index more representative of its market-capitalization range.
Nike’s loss of market value is important context, but S&P did not explicitly say the stock decline alone caused the removal.
The stock chart tells a bigger story
Nike’s own annual report shows how sharply shareholder performance has diverged from the broader market.
From May 31, 2021 through May 31, 2026, Nike delivered a total shareholder return of -63.55%, assuming dividends were reinvested. Over the same period, the S&P 500 returned +93.80%.
Five-year performance gap
Nike: -63.55%
S&P 500: +93.80%
Gap: 157.35 percentage points
Revenue has stalled while earnings have weakened
The pressure is not limited to the share price.
Nike generated $51.36 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024. Revenue then fell to $46.31 billion in fiscal 2025 before edging up to $46.40 billion in fiscal 2026.
Diluted EPS declined from $3.73 in fiscal 2024 to $2.16 in 2025 and $2.10 in 2026. Return on invested capital also fell from 34.9% in 2024 to 18.7% in 2026.
| Fiscal year | Revenue | EPS |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $51.36B | $3.73 |
| 2025 | $46.31B | $2.16 |
| 2026 | $46.40B | $2.10 |
Why Palo Alto Networks replacing Nike matters
Nike is being replaced by Palo Alto Networks, one of four technology companies moving into the S&P 100 in the September rebalance.
- Nike out — Palo Alto Networks in
- Honeywell Aerospace out — Dell Technologies in
- Simon Property Group out — Arista Networks in
- Colgate-Palmolive out — Sandisk in
All four additions are classified in information technology, underscoring how technology continues to gain weight among America’s largest companies.
The same trend is visible in semiconductors, where TSMC’s chip-equipment demand tied to AI growth reflects the scale of capital flowing into technology infrastructure.
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Is Nike being removed from the S&P 500?
No. Nike remains an S&P 500 constituent.
The S&P 100 is a smaller and more selective blue-chip index. Leaving it does not affect Nike’s New York Stock Exchange listing, ticker symbol or investors’ ability to trade NKE shares.
Will index funds sell NKE?
Funds that specifically track the S&P 100 generally need to adjust their holdings when the index changes, which can create mechanical selling of Nike and buying of Palo Alto Networks around the effective date.
That may increase trading volume near September 21, but the S&P 100 is far smaller than the S&P 500. The index change alone is unlikely to determine Nike’s long-term stock performance.
What the valuation says now
At about $38.40 per share, Nike trades at roughly 18 times trailing earnings and around 22 times forward earnings, based on recent market data.
That is well below the multiples Nike commanded during its growth years, but a cheaper valuation does not automatically mean the stock is undervalued.
The bigger question is whether earnings can stabilize under CEO Elliott Hill. Investors will be focused on revenue growth, margins, Greater China demand, inventory, wholesale performance and product momentum.
Broader U.S. market conditions also matter, including the valuation and sentiment risks discussed in our report on Trump’s 2026 stock-market outlook.
Nike’s S&P 100 exit does not decide whether NKE can recover. But the numbers show why the change is significant: a company worth more than $260 billion at the end of 2021 is now valued near $57 billion, while its five-year shareholder return has trailed the S&P 500 by more than 157 percentage points.
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