** Shares of Nike NKE.N up as much as 1.5% to 72.37 in early trading

** Brokerage Piper Sandler upgrades stock to "overweight" from "neutral", raises PT by $18 to $90

** Says CEO Elliott's "intensified urgency" to clean up the marketplace by taking product back and providing markdown support to partners should translate to a more visible recovery into fiscal 2026

** Sees co's return to healthy, profitable growth is likely three or four quarters away, helped by product innovation, strong marketing and franchise, inventory actions

** Brokerage also sees direct-to-customer digital sales decreasing by ~$6 bln along with co's "managed" decline of key classic footwear franchises as the right strategic moves

** 22 of 42 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 18 "hold" and 2 "sell"; with a median PT of $90

** NKE fell ~30% last year

(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru)

((Neil.JKanatt@thomsonreuters.com;))