adidas, Puma, Nike, Reebok All Take Hit From Footwear News

Shares in adidas-Salomon and Puma "limped on Friday after a duo of U.S. footwear retailers warned on earnings after weaker August sales," according to REUTERS. HVB Group analyst Peter-Thilo Hasler: "We had two profit warnings overnight, one from Footstar and one from Finish Line, and it seems back-to-school sales in the U.S. are going slower than expected. That hurts both Puma and adidas as they are both exposed to the U.S." adidas stock fell 4.6% yesterday to $70.08 while Puma fell 5.5% to $54.40. Analysts said that the news "rang warning bells as August sales were traditionally the second-most important period after the Christmas shopping season" (REUTERS, 8/30). Meanwhile, CNBC's Rebecca Quick reported shares of Nike and Reebok "both got tripped up pretty heavily" yesterday after the profit warnings from the retailers. Nike closed at $42.98, down 3.5% while Reebok closed at $24.63, down 11.1%. Quick: "Earlier this month we heard ... that business was down significantly with Foot Locker. They were looking at a sharp drop in orders for (September-November) as Foot Locker starts moving away from high-priced basketball sneakers like this. This is more bad news for them. They were hoping to get more business with Footstar and Finish Line. It doesn't look like that's happening at this point" (CNBC, 8/29).