NIKE Inventory: Down 3% Year Over Year, Up $345M Since May

 NIKE's inventory headline and its quarterly balance sheet can point in opposite directions without contradicting each other. The useful research question is which earlier date each comparison uses.

Original SignalSage inventory comparison worksheet in oat, aubergine and rust. NIKE August 31, 2026 inventory is USD7,846 million. A prior-year comparison shows company-reported minus3 percent. A May31 comparison shows USD7,501 million to7,846 million, plus345 million or about4.60 percent by our arithmetic, rounded5 percent by NIKE. A separate cash-flow lane shows minus312 million inventory adjustment. Different dates and measures; not a cash reconciliation or an app result.

One ending balance, two comparison bases

The October 1, 2026 fiscal Q1 release covers the quarter ended August 31, 2026. It reports inventories of about $7.8 billion, down 3% year over year. The October 2 Form 10-Q compares August 31 with May 31, 2026: $7,846 million versus $7,501 million.

Rebuild the sequential change

Our arithmetic on the filed USD-million values: 7,846 - 7,501 = 345; 345 / 7,501 = approximately 4.60%. NIKE describes this as a rounded 5% sequential increase. The prior-year decrease and the sequential increase use different starting dates.

A balance change is not the cash-flow line

The same 10-Q shows a negative $312 million inventory adjustment in the three-month operating cash-flow reconciliation. It is not the same figure as the $345 million balance-sheet increase. Do not silently replace one with the other or invent a complete reconciliation. NIKE says product-mix shifts primarily explain the inventory increase.

What the disclosures do not settle

A year-over-year decline alone does not prove that inventory is newly clearing this quarter. A sequential rise alone does not establish weak demand, unit growth or a write-down. Dollar inventory combines quantity, valuation, mix and other accounting effects; this note does not estimate their individual contributions.

A research note you can reuse

Keep four fields together: ending date, comparison date, reported measure, and your calculation. Then check markdowns, channel trends and cash-flow commentary against the same period. This is a historical filing lesson, not a fresh October sales update, an app benchmark or a prediction.

Continue your research

SignalSage by MerlaTech supports US Stock Research / AI Stock Analysis. English UI; some features require in-app purchases or subscriptions. Explore the official iPhone and Android download options below. Educational research; no investment outcome is promised.

Official sources

October 1 earnings exhibit
October 2 Form 10-Q

SignalSage — iPhone & Android

Original sourced diagram; AI-assisted writing. Not an app screenshot.

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