Nike (NKE) Stock vs. Lululemon (LULU) Stock: Which Is the Better Sports Apparel Buy?

Nike (NKE) has been king of the sports apparel market for decades, swatting away challengers as easily as Dikembe Mutombo might redirect a Muggsy Bogues layup attempt. Under Armour (UA) has failed to overtake them. Adidas (ADDDY) has faded a bit. You don’t even hear about Reebok anymore. Nike is still the king. Lululemon (LULU), a far more niche apparel company, may be its closest challenger. I thought it might be worthwhile to compare Nike stock vs. Lululemon stock.

In terms of size, there’s no comparison. Nike is a $118 billion market cap company and Lululemon is a $40 billion market cap company.

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And yet, on an average day, you might see as many people (men and women) wearing Lululemon yoga pants and pullovers as you see people wearing Nike gear. Ten years ago, that wasn’t the case.

The numbers support the anecdotal evidence. In 2010, Lululemon did just $411 million in sales. In 2020, net revenue increased 11% to $4.4 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of the company to pull in $4.14 billion in revenues, even with the nationwide shuttering of non-essential retail stores putting a dent in those estimates. In fiscal 2023 the company reported $9.6 billion in full-year revenue, a 19% increase over the prior year.

Nike’s sales and earnings growth have taken more of a hit the last couple years. But in fiscal 2021 EPS ($3.56) more than doubled the prior year’s results ($1.60). Granted, any year-over-year comparisons to 2020 are tricky. But for the most part, Nike is still growing.

Fiscal 2024 saw Nike’s revenues rise only 1% (to $51.4 billion, more than 5x Lululemon’s totals), but that came on the heels of a year that saw a 10% bump to total revenues due to stronger direct-to-consumer sales.

The general disparity in sales growth in NKE vs. LULU is no surprise given that Nike is the much older company, and perhaps the most universally recognized sports brand on the planet.

Even if it eventually expands beyond its yoga roots, Lululemon may never catch Nike in terms of sales, global reach, or popularity across all demographics (Lululemon’s customers tend to be white and higher-income, whereas Nike gear is worn by all). That said, with the sports apparel segment expected to continue growing for the rest of the decade, which apparel company is the better investment right now: Nike stock vs. Lululemon stock?

Let’s break it down!

Nike Stock vs. Lululemon Stock

From a value investing perspective, Lululemon has a bit of an edge, with LULU trading at 21x forward earnings and NKE trading at an elevated 28x. In the long term, Lululemon is growing faster than Nike. What’s telling is that institutional ownership in the two stocks is very strong; NKE currently boasts 82% institutional ownership, whereas over 89%(!) of LULU’s stock is held by institutions and hedge funds, which means Wall Street still thinks highly of both.

LULU is down 9.7% in the last two years while NKE is down 25.2%. Over the last five years, LULU has significantly outperformed NKE, up 44.6% vs. a decline of 15.3%.

Will that continue over the next five years? Probably not to that degree, especially with the possibility of a recession tightening consumers’ purse strings. But with analysts expecting faster growth from Lululemon, I expect LULU will continue to outperform NKE in the next half-decade. Sure, the valuation is a bit high, but not that high given the growth trajectory.

As for Nike stock, it remains a rock-solid, long-term investment, and likely a safer short-term play if we run into more volatility. If you add NKE to your portfolio and stash it away for 10 years, you’ll probably do just fine (it pays a modest 2% dividend yield too, which helps over the long haul). But LULU is the better growth stock.

Lululemon may never knock Nike from its sports apparel perch, no matter how many people you see wearing yoga pants to the local coffee shop. But in terms of Nike stock vs. Lululemon stock, it’s no contest. Buy LULU.

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*This post is periodically updated to reflect market conditions.