Nike may sponsor France – the bookies’ favourite to win the World Cup – but off the pitch Wall Street traders have been betting heavily against the US athletic wear group.

Nike’s share price has tumbled by more than a third so far this year and, at $41, is now down by almost three-quarters since 2021.

Sales have failed to grow thanks to Nike’s lack of success in the hard-fought sneaker wars.

The current leader in this global contest is Nike’s German rival Adidas, whose state-of-the art running shoes were worn by the winners of this year’s London Marathon. But Nike hopes to change hearts and minds with its fourth-quarter results on Thursday. ‘Expectations have been set sufficiently low for a positive reception,’ said broker AJ Bell.

Nike last week appointed David Denton of drugs giant Pfizer as its finance chief with a brief ‘to move faster, stay close to athletes and consumers, and be better and more consistent in how we operate’.

Investors will be looking for profit margin recovery this year and ‘a credible path to sustainable sales growth’, said AJ Bell.

Analysts expect last year’s sales to be flat at $46 billion and net profit to have slid by $1 billion to $2.2 billion.

This is Money podcast