ADDYY vs NKE: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: ADDYY is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ADDYY and NKE share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ADDYY and NKE exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

adidas AG designs and sells athletic footwear, apparel and accessories under the adidas brand, from performance football boots and running shoes to lifestyle franchises such as the Samba, Gazelle and Spezial terrace silhouettes. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, it sells through wholesale partners, its own stores and a large e-commerce business across Europe, North America, Greater China, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, and it holds marquee sponsorships including the national football teams of Germany, Argentina and Spain. Footwear is roughly 60% of sales, and nearly all production is outsourced to contract factories in Asia, chiefly Vietnam, Indonesia and China. The group sold its Reebok business in 2022 and now runs essentially a single-brand model, which concentrates both the upside of a hot product cycle and the downside of a cold one. The 2023 end of the Yeezy partnership, which left hundreds of millions of euros of inventory to be sold down over two years, is the event that set the low point from which the current recovery is measured.

Full ADDYY guide

Nike is the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company, designing, marketing, and selling shoes, clothing, and equipment under the Nike and Jordan brands, plus Converse. Nike does not own most of its manufacturing: it outsources production to contract factories largely in Asia and focuses on design, branding, and marketing, where its swoosh logo and athlete endorsements give it unrivaled brand power. Revenue comes from two channels: wholesale (selling to retailers like Foot Locker and Dick's Sporting Goods) and Nike Direct (its own stores, the Nike app, and Nike.com), the latter carrying higher margins and direct customer relationships. The Jordan Brand is a major profit engine on its own. Nike's competitive advantages are its brand, scale, marketing reach, and innovation in performance products. In recent years the company has worked through challenges including a costly shift toward direct-to-consumer that strained wholesale partnerships, inventory and discounting issues, and competition from newer brands. Founded in 1964 (as Blue Ribbon Sports) and headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike is a large-cap consumer brand with a 24-year dividend-growth streak, undergoing a turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill.

Full NKE guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ADDYY drivers: Brand momentum and the turnaround; Margin recovery toward a 10% operating margin.
• NKE drivers: Dominant global brand; Direct-to-consumer and digital.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Sportswear is fashion-sensitive, and the lifestyle franchises that powered the recovery could cool as quickly as they heated up, leaving inventory and markdown pressure behind. For NKE, nike has faced disappointing growth, inventory and discounting pressure, and self-inflicted wounds from an overaggressive direct-to-consumer pivot that alienated wholesale partners.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ADDYY if you believe its drivers more; NKE if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ADDYY and NKE guides.

ADDYY. adidas trades at a modest discount to its own five-year history and roughly in line with European consumer peers, reflecting margins that remain below the company's past peak despite record sales. The next catalyst is the third-quarter 2026 report, scheduled for around October 29, 2026, where investors will focus on second-half growth (guided to roughly 6%), tariff refunds and early 2027 commentary. Figures are approximate and drawn from public reports and data providers, which differ slightly in timing and currency. Converted to ADR terms at the one-half ratio, the multiples are identical to the Frankfurt line, since both represent the same economic claim on adidas earnings.

NKE. Nike's valuation has compressed sharply, to about 1.2 times sales, as revenue shrinks and earnings fall. The forward P/E of about 23 times is higher than the trailing 18 times because analysts expect fiscal 2027 EPS to drop about 17% to roughly $1.28 before recovering, so the stock is cheap on sales but not on near-term earnings. The 36 analysts covering it lean Hold with a mean target near $37.67, about where the shares trade, and the November investor day is the next chance for management to reset the long-term targets.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): ADDYY shows revenue (ttm) ~€26 billion, q2 2026 revenue ~€6.7 billion (+~14% currency-neutral), fy2026 operating profit guidance ~€2.3 billion, market cap ~€27 billion; NKE shows revenue (ttm) ~$45.9 billion (latest quarter -4.3% YoY), gross margin ~43% TTM (~42.8% in Q1 FY2027, +60 bps), operating margin ~8%, eps (ttm) ~$2.08; FY2027 adjusted EPS guidance $1.15-1.35.

ADDYY and NKE are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ADDYY and NKE exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.