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Earnings documents stored for CAL.
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-05-28Caleres Inc. (CAL) Earnings Expected to Grow: What to Know Ahead of Next Week's Release
Zacks
Caleres Inc. (CAL) Earnings Expected to Grow: What to Know Ahead of Next Week's Release
The market expects Caleres Inc. (CAL) to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended April 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates. The earnings report, which is expected to be released on June 4, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise. This footwear wholesaler and retailer is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.37 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +68.2%. Revenues are expected to be $667 million, up 8.6% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 3.8% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's...
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-05-28Caleres Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend
Business Wire
Caleres Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend
ST. LOUIS, May 28, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Caleres (NYSE: CAL), a market-leading portfolio of consumer-driven footwear brands, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.07 per share to be paid on June 26, 2026, to shareholders of record as of June 11, 2026. Caleres has paid consecutive quarterly dividends for over a century, reflecting a core commitment to shareholders and a testament to the company’s financial strength. About Caleres Caleres is a market-leading portfolio of global footwear brands that includes Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Stuart Weitzman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer, Vionic, and more. Our products are available virtually everywhere – in the 1,000+ retail stores we operate, in hundreds of major department and specialty stores, on our branded e-Commerce sites, and on many additional third-party retail platforms. Combined, these brands make Caleres a company with both a legacy and a mission. Our legacy is nearly 150 years of craftsmanship and our passion for fit, while our mission is to continue to inspire people to feel great…feet first. Visit caleres.com to learn more about us. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260528663491/en/ Contacts Investor Contact Liz [email protected]
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-05-14Wolverine World Wide (WWW) Tops Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
Zacks
Wolverine World Wide (WWW) Tops Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
Wolverine World Wide (WWW) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.25 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.22 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.18 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +12.61%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this footwear maker would post earnings of $0.44 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.45, delivering a surprise of +2.27%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Wolverine, which belongs to the Zacks Shoes and Retail Apparel industry, posted revenues of $457.6 million for the quarter ended March 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.42%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $412.3 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Wolverine shares have lost about 14.4% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.8%. While Wolverine has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Wolverine was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Stro...
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-05-07Tapestry on Top: Q3 Earnings Easily Beat Estimates
WWD
Tapestry on Top: Q3 Earnings Easily Beat Estimates
Updated 4:35 p.m. ET May 7 Time is moving fast for Tapestry Inc. More from WWD Tanger Raises Outlook and Dividend After Strong Q1 Estée Lauder Signals Confidence, Beats on Q3 Earnings Les Deux Delivers Double-digit Growth Amid Physical Retail Push The company not only turned in a breakaway fiscal third quarter with continued strength from Coach, but it raised its outlook for the year — putting the premium handbag giant on pace to hit its three-year financial targets after just one year. “We are just getting started,” crowed Joanne Crevoiserat, chief executive officer of Tapestry, in an interview with WWD. “Our success is by design. We are winning across the world.” Coach’s sales increased 29 percent in constant currencies to $1.7 billion for the quarter ended March 28. Kate Spade remains a work in progress with constant currency sales down 11 percent to $219.6 million. Excluding the Stuart Weitzman business, which was sold to Caleres in August, the company’s total sales rose by 23 percent in constant currencies. By region, those sales were up 20 percent to $1.1 billion in North America, up 55 percent to $432.2 million in Greater China, down 10 percent to $123.9 million in Japan and up 21 percent to $118.6 million in Europe. Adjusted operating income rose 55 percent to $430.1 million, with an operating margin of 22.4 percent. Net income jumped 69 percent to $343.8 million. And earnings per share totaled $1.66, with a 1 cent adjustment — well ahead of the $1.29 Wall Street analysts had penciled in, according to Yahoo Finance. But investor expectations proved to be even higher — or shareholders that have seen the value of the stock double in the past year, decided it was time to sell. Shares of Tapestry fell 12.3 percent to $130.52, leaving the company with a market capitalization of $26.7 billion on Thursday. Still, taken all together, the quarter represents the kind of growth fashion CEOs talk about and promise to investors, but rarely ever produce in any kind of a sustainable way. Even before the third-quarter report, investors recognized the company’s run, doubling the price of the stock over the past year. Crevoiserat said it’s all sustainable. “There are no shortcuts to what we’re doing. We’ve been disciplined in our approach to building this model, which is a very powerful growth engine. We know that we’ve built the capabilities and now it’s time for us...
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-05-06Steven Madden (SHOO) Q1 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
Zacks
Steven Madden (SHOO) Q1 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
Steven Madden (SHOO) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.45 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.42 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.6 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +7.99%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this footwear and accessories retailer would post earnings of $0.46 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.48, delivering a surprise of +4.35%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. Steven Madden, which belongs to the Zacks Shoes and Retail Apparel industry, posted revenues of $653.1 million for the quarter ended March 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.44%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $553.53 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Steven Madden shares have lost about 9.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 6%. While Steven Madden has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Steven Madden was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Z...
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-04-09CalBank AGM Confronts Earnings Slide Governance Strains And Turnaround Hurdles
Simply Wall St.
CalBank AGM Confronts Earnings Slide Governance Strains And Turnaround Hurdles
Find winning stocks in any market cycle. Join 7 million investors using Simply Wall St's investing ideas for FREE. CalBank (GHSE:CAL) used its recent AGM to confront years of contracting earnings and outline plans to address operational underperformance. Management highlighted governance reforms and a push for a shared vision across board, executives and shareholders to support a business reset. The AGM discussions focused on business fundamentals, including how to respond to ongoing pressure on the core franchise. For investors following Ghana’s banking sector, CalBank sits at the intersection of retail, corporate and SME financing, areas that have faced pressure from tighter regulation and changing credit conditions. The AGM comments bring the conversation back to how the bank’s core operations are holding up and what management is prepared to change after a period of earnings contraction. The renewed focus on governance, alignment and execution gives you more information to assess how GHSE:CAL is approaching its turnaround ambitions and related risks. Your next step is weighing whether the planned adjustments to oversight and business priorities meaningfully address the drivers of past underperformance or simply mark an early stage of a longer reset. Stay updated on the most important news stories for CalBank by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on CalBank. We've flagged 4 risks for CalBank. See which could impact your investment. The AGM comments point directly at the tension in CalBank’s story. On one hand, the bank has reported 13.9% earnings growth over the past year and maintains a solid net margin of 28.2%. On the other, earnings have fallen at an average rate of 9.7% annually over five years, shareholder dilution has already occurred and the bad loan ratio sits at a high 17%. When management talks about tightening governance and aligning the board, executives and shareholders, it is an attempt to show that capital allocation, risk appetite and growth priorities will be handled more tightly after this period of contraction. For you, the key question is whether governance changes and a sharper focus on the core franchise can translate into better credit discipline and more sustainable profit, especially with other African banks, such as Standard Bank, Ecobank and Absa, competin...
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-26The Top 5 Analyst Questions From Caleres’s Q4 Earnings Call
StockStory
The Top 5 Analyst Questions From Caleres’s Q4 Earnings Call
Caleres delivered fourth quarter results that exceeded Wall Street’s revenue and adjusted EPS expectations, prompting a positive market response. Management attributed the outperformance to continued strength in owned e-commerce and international sales, as well as robust performance from its lead brands such as Sam Edelman and Allen Edmonds. CEO Jay Schmidt emphasized that “brand portfolio gained significant market share in both women’s fashion footwear and total footwear during the quarter,” highlighting effective execution across digital and brick-and-mortar channels. The company also saw benefits from its edit-and-elevate strategy at Famous Footwear, with premium brands and new product launches resonating well with consumers. Is now the time to buy CAL? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $695.1 million vs analyst estimates of $685.4 million (8.7% year-on-year growth, 1.4% beat) Adjusted EPS: -$0.06 vs analyst estimates of -$0.40 (85.1% beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $4.58 million vs analyst estimates of $4.7 million (0.7% margin, relatively in line) Adjusted EPS guidance for the upcoming financial year 2026 is $1.50 at the midpoint, beating analyst estimates by 7.1% Operating Margin: -1.7%, down from 2.5% in the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $373.2 million While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Ashley Owens (KeyBanc Capital Markets) asked how Caleres offset potential sales volatility and about the sustainability of one-time impacts. CEO Jay Schmidt explained that strong performance in other business areas offset specific risks and cited better-than-expected tariff impacts on gross margin. Owens (KeyBanc Capital Markets) followed up on gross margin recovery drivers. Schmidt clarified that Famous Footwear margins are expected to remain flat, while Brand Portfolio margins should recover due to tariff mitigation and improved product mix, including contributions from Stuart Weitzman. Dana Telsey (Telsey Advisory Group) questioned market share gains and the impact of new brands at Famous Footwear. Schmidt pointed to premium brand strength and highlighted the positive effects of...
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-25Q4 Earnings Highlights: Caleres (NYSE:CAL) Vs The Rest Of The Consumer Discretionary - Footwear Stocks
StockStory
Q4 Earnings Highlights: Caleres (NYSE:CAL) Vs The Rest Of The Consumer Discretionary - Footwear Stocks
The end of the earnings season is always a good time to take a step back and see who shined (and who not so much). Let’s take a look at how consumer discretionary - footwear stocks fared in Q4, starting with Caleres (NYSE:CAL). The Consumer Discretionary sector, by definition, is made up of companies selling non-essential goods and services. When economic conditions deteriorate or tastes shift, consumers can easily cut back or eliminate these purchases. For long-term investors with five-year holding periods, this creates a structural challenge: the sector is inherently hit-driven, with low switching costs and fickle customers. As a result, only a handful of companies can reliably grow demand and compound earnings over long periods, which is why our bar is high and High Quality ratings are rare. Footwear companies design, manufacture, and market shoes across athletic, casual, and luxury segments. Tailwinds include the global athleisure trend, growing health and fitness awareness driving sneaker demand, and expanding direct-to-consumer digital channels that improve brand control and margins. However, headwinds are notable: the industry faces intense competition and brand-switching behavior, heavy marketing spend requirements to maintain relevance, and exposure to volatile raw material and freight costs. Tariff risk from concentrated overseas manufacturing, primarily in Asia, remains a persistent concern. Additionally, inventory management is challenging given seasonal and trend-driven demand, with markdowns eroding profitability when styles miss consumer expectations. The 7 consumer discretionary - footwear stocks we track reported a very strong Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 2% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 0.7% below. In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady. On average, they are relatively unchanged since the latest earnings results. The owner of Dr. Scholl's, Caleres (NYSE:CAL) is a footwear company offering a range of styles. Caleres reported revenues of $695.1 million, up 8.7% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 1.4%. Overall, it was a strong quarter for the company with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and full-year EPS guidance beating analysts’ expectations. “Caleres’ fourth quarter exceeded our earnings guidance with sales modestly above expectations and...
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-20Caleres Inc (CAL) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Brand Portfolio Growth Amidst ...
GuruFocus.com
Caleres Inc (CAL) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Brand Portfolio Growth Amidst ...
This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Revenue: $695.1 million, up 8.7% year-over-year. Brand Portfolio Sales: Increased 1.5% organically and 20.3% including Stuart Weitzman. Famous Footwear Sales: Decreased 1.2% with comparable sales up 0.1%. Gross Margin: 42.9%, down 10 basis points from the previous year. Operating Loss: $11.6 million with an operating margin of negative 1.7%. Net Interest Expense: $4.7 million, up $0.7 million from the previous year. Inventory: $610.5 million, up $45 million year-over-year, including $57 million for Stuart Weitzman. Cash and Borrowings: $29.8 million in cash and $29.5 million in borrowings. Store Locations: 111 Sam Edelman stores, 73 Stuart Weitzman retail locations worldwide. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with OONEF. Is CAL fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: March 19, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Earnings per share exceeded guidance with sales modestly above expectations and gross margin better than anticipated. Brand Portfolio sales increased 1.5% organically and 20.3% including Stuart Weitzman, with lead brands representing nearly 60% of sales. Famous Footwear gained market share in shoe chains, with e-commerce sales accelerating and up double digits for the third straight quarter. Successful integration of Stuart Weitzman onto Caleres platforms, with plans to bring the brand to breakeven in 2026. Allen Edmonds and Naturalizer showed strong performance with growth in e-commerce and wholesale channels, supported by effective marketing efforts. Famous Footwear sales decreased 1.2% with only a 0.1% increase in comparable sales, indicating challenges in store performance. Consolidated gross margin was down 10 basis points, reflecting lower margins in the Brand Portfolio segment. SG&A expenses increased by 18.3%, primarily driven by expenses related to Stuart Weitzman, leading to a deleverage of 70 basis points. Operating loss in the quarter was $11.6 million, with an operating margin of negative 1.7%. The company faces risks from geopolitical tensions and potential new tariffs, which could impact future performance. Q: Could you help us understand if there was any sales volatility in the quarter and what were the offsets? Is there a go-forward risk with ongoing issues? A: We did expect...
TranscriptFY2026 Q42026-03-19FY2026 Q4 earnings call transcript
Earnings source - 61 paragraphs
FY2026 Q4 earnings call transcript
Greetings, and welcome to the Caleres, Inc. fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn to your host, Liz Dunn, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Communications. Thank you. You may begin.
Thank you, Melissa. Good morning. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter earnings call and webcast. A press release with detailed financial tables, as well as our quarterly slide presentation are available at caleres.com. Please be aware today's discussion contains forward-looking statements which are subject to several risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially due to various risk factors, including those disclosed in the company's Form 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Please refer to today's press release and our SEC filings for more information on risk factors and other factors which could impact forward-looking statements. Copies of these reports are available online. In discussing our operational results, we will be providing and referring to adjusted operating earnings results, and in some cases, we will be discussing our results excluding the impact of Stuart Weitzman.
Additional details on non-GAAP measures, as well as others featured in today's earnings release and presentation, are available in the reconciliation tables on our earnings release and on caleres.com. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on this call at any time. Joining me today are Jay Schmidt, President and CEO, and Dan Karpel, Senior Vice President and Interim CFO and CAO. Our call will begin with prepared remarks followed by a Q&A session to address any questions you have. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jay. Jay?
Good morning. Earlier today, Caleres reported fourth quarter sales and earnings. Earnings per share exceeded our guidance with sales modestly above our guidance and gross margin better than expectations. Brand portfolio sales performance in the quarter was driven by continued strength in owned e-commerce and international performance, underscoring key strategic growth vectors for the company. Lead brands once again outperformed, reinforcing their role as Caleres' primary growth engine, and we once again gained market share. At Famous Footwear, we continue to see encouraging signs that our strategic initiatives are working. Our FLAIR remodels are consistently outperforming the fleet and remain an important growth lever as we elevate the in-store experience. We leaned further into our strategy to elevate and edit the brand and product assortment, and we're seeing consumers respond to a curated mix of premium and demanded brands. For the quarter, we gained market share in shoe chains.
We were pleased that Caleres ended 2025 with some momentum in both segments of our business. 2026 will be a buildback year where we begin to build back our earnings power driven by the strategic growth vectors and initiatives that are already in place and working. We'll say more on that in a moment, but first, let me provide more detail on fourth quarter performance. Brand portfolio sales on an organic basis increased 1.5% in the quarter and 20.3% when factoring in Stuart Weitzman. Lead brands in total were up 2% organically and represented nearly 60% of the brand portfolio sales. Owned e-commerce continued to see outsized growth, and our international business was strong. According to Circana, our brand portfolio gained significant market share in both women's fashion footwear and total footwear during the quarter.
Boots, particularly tall shaft, were a standout category complemented by strength in flats and loafers, solid performance in dress, and continued momentum in sneakers. Sam Edelman delivered another very strong quarter with sales growth that exceeded expectations and outperformed the broader premium market. Performance was broad-based across categories, anchored by exceptional results in dress, casuals, and boots, where the brand saw success in both proven icons and new styles. Wholesale sales exceeded plan, reflecting strong demand across core product franchises. Owned e-commerce saw double-digit growth and higher full price selling in the quarter, closing out a record-setting year. Sam Edelman's licensing initiatives added incremental growth and visibility, highlighted by a successful fragrance launch with rapid sell-through and expanded national distribution.
We continue seeing positive results from our Sam Edelman stores. Which now tally 111 doors, 56 owned and 55 franchised with 107 of them international. Stuart Weitzman delivered solid fourth quarter progress as we continue strengthening the foundation of Caleres' newest lead brand. We successfully integrated Stuart Weitzman onto Caleres platforms as we completed the quarter, both on time and on budget. During this transition process, we implemented a new organizational structure, moved teams into new headquarters in New York and Shanghai, completed the relocation of our U.S. and Canadian warehouses, and liquidated a significant volume of aged inventory globally. Operationally, fourth quarter sales were driven by core boots and booties alongside new dress and social styles. As we clear out aged inventory, we are successfully reducing discounting and flowing newness to support improved specialty retail and e-commerce performance.
At quarter end, Stuart Weitzman operated 73 retail locations worldwide, including 50 in China and 23 in North America, with the latter spanning full price outlet and shop-in-shop formats. We remain committed and confident in our plan to bring the brand to break even in 2026. Allen Edmonds delivered a very strong fourth quarter with broad-based growth across all channels and continued momentum with the consumer. Performance was led by strength in brick-and-mortar stores, owned e-commerce and wholesale, with particularly strong demand for dress, loafers, sneakers and boots. Wholesale momentum, driven by key national partners, strong store-level productivity and expanded distribution continued. The Reserve collection, the most elevated product in the Allen Edmonds brand, continued to scale meaningfully, attracting a highly valuable customer who shops more frequently, spends more annually, and shows higher loyalty engagement.
This special collection is available at the majority of our 58 Allen Edmonds stores, including our 18 Port Washington studio stores, which continue to outperform, reflecting the power of an elevated store experience and recent enhancements to the format. Naturalizer made meaningful progress in the fourth quarter with improving e-commerce sales momentum and new and retained customer growth. Owned e-commerce performance was a standout, supported by strength across on-trend product categories including boots, dress, sport, and sandals, with particular success in tall boots. Marketing efforts were increasingly focused and effective, with refined targeting, strong influencer content, and compelling storytelling driving higher quality traffic, higher conversion, and higher average order value. These efforts translated into customer growth across both new and returning shoppers, with strong engagement from younger and core generations. Shortly after quarter end, we launched our newest collaboration with tastemaker and style icon June Ambrose.
June's collaboration is building awareness for the Naturalizer brand with new consumers, and June's STYLE-LETICS collection sells at significantly higher retails, mostly through naturalizer.com. Vionic closed the fourth quarter with strength in e-commerce and international channels, compelling new product launches, and growing interest in sport and performance walking. Vionic's wearable well-being positioning has high emotional resonance with consumers. We're pleased with the growing momentum in sport lifestyle and performance walking categories, underscored by Vionic's first sport collaboration with wellness advocate Gabby Reece, which we launched in January and supported with a robust marketing campaign. International bestsellers in the quarter closely mirrored those in the U.S., illustrating consistent global demand for the brand's key styles. Brand awareness is growing for Vionic, particularly with younger and more affluent consumers. Moving on to Famous Footwear.
In the quarter, total sales decreased 1.2% and comp sales increased 0.1% in line with our expectations. E-commerce outperformed stores, but average unit retails were up in both channels. We continued to see the Famous consumer respond strongly during peak shopping periods with more positive comps during the holiday period, followed by more modest results in January. E-commerce sales accelerated and were up double digits for the third straight quarter. The launch of Jordan earlier in the year contributed steady momentum throughout the holiday season, remaining a top 10 brand and reinforcing Famous's ability to launch leading brands and deliver powerful results. Famous continues to enhance its consumer experience through the FLAIR format. We ended fourth quarter with 57 FLAIR locations, which generated a 4.5-point sales lift overall and a 6-point sales lift for stores converted in the last year.
The success of FLAIR continues to underscore Famous's ability to amplify elevated brands and products. We plan to build on that momentum with additional FLAIR openings in 2026, ending with a range of 65 to 75 locations by year-end. From a divisional perspective, men's performed best in the quarter, kids performed in line with the total, and women's underperformed slightly. However, fashion boots were a standout category in total. Top growth brands for the quarter were Skechers, Jordan, Birkenstock, Timberland, Sorel, Brooks, and Columbia, while our Caleres brands outperformed at Famous Footwear with sales up mid-teens and saw a higher margin rate on lower inventory. We continue to make progress on our elevate and edit strategy at Famous with outperformance from premium brands. In 2026, we plan to accelerate this strategy by expanding higher demand brands and products while exiting underperforming labels.
We're also expanding immersive brand takeovers that have been driving outsized growth at key points across the seasons, with multiple takeovers planned for core brands throughout 2026. In summary, Caleres made progress on our strategic growth objectives in the second half of 2025, including lead brands, international, direct-to-consumer, enhanced customer experience, edit and elevate. Joining us today on the call is Dan Karpel. Dan returned to Caleres as Chief Accounting Officer in 2025 and has assumed the additional role of Interim CFO. He is well-versed in our company, and I am pleased to welcome him to the call. Dan will walk you through our guidance in detail, but I wanted to provide some color on what we are expecting for the year.
As we look forward, 2026 is shaping up as a build-back year, characterized by relatively modest organic sales growth but meaningful earnings recovery. We have several encouraging green shoots leading us to a place of optimism. Our market share continues to build. Our international business is up, and our own e-commerce business is up quarter to date across the brand portfolio. Famous Footwear is seeing slightly down comp store sales, with e-commerce up high single digits quarter to date. Our tariff mitigation strategies have taken hold, and we successfully completed our Stuart Weitzman systems integration, which sets the stage for improved profitability in the brand. We also made progress across our centers of excellence, which we have shifted internally to calling centers of expertise. We are finding the greatest success by deliberately leveraging Caleres' core capabilities at scale.
This includes expanding our international platform, accelerating owned e-commerce, and establishing more disciplined planning and costing capabilities. In addition, now that three of our five lead brands have brick-and-mortar stores, we have launched a specialty retail operations team to elevate performance and the consumer experience. We've also established a marketing operations center of expertise to enhance our data, analytics, and media buying. These centers of expertise are helping us move faster and operate more consistently and efficiently. International, specialty retail, and e-commerce are where we are seeing some of our earliest improvements with Stuart Weitzman.
We see a meaningful opportunity to build on this foundation, not just as it relates to Stuart, but for our whole company as we move through 2026 with more to come. While the market remains volatile, based on what we know today, we are providing guidance with a realistic view of the risks and the opportunities ahead of us, including geopolitical risk and tariff changes. Our sales growth is coming from our proven growth vectors and annualized benefit from our recent acquisition, and our earnings bridge is clear. With that, I will now hand it over to Dan for a more detailed view of Caleres' financial performance and our outlook for 2026. Dan?
Thank you, Jay, and good morning, everyone. During today's call, I'll provide additional details on fourth quarter results as well as our expectations for 2026. Please note that my comments will be on an adjusted basis, and I will note when they exclude Stuart Weitzman. For the fourth quarter, sales were $695.1 million, up 8.7%. Sales on an organic basis, excluding Stuart Weitzman, decreased 0.1%. Organic sales increased in the brand portfolio segment and declined at Famous Footwear. Notably, both segments saw an improvement in the trend versus the first half of the year. Sales for Stuart Weitzman were $56.3 million. Brand portfolio sales were up 1.5% on an organic basis and up 20.3% including Stuart Weitzman.
Lead brands in total, excluding Stuart Weitzman, grew about 2% with growth in both North America and international. Famous Footwear sales were down 1.2% with comparable sales up 0.1%. Comparable sales increased slightly in November and December and declined low single digits in January. Consolidated gross margin was 42.9%, down 10 basis points versus last year, reflecting lower margins in brand portfolio and relatively stable margins at Famous Footwear. Stuart Weitzman was modestly accretive to gross margin. Brand portfolio gross margin, excluding Stuart Weitzman, was down 130 basis points due to tariffs as well as markdown allowances somewhat offset by favorable channel mix. Brand portfolio gross margin was 41.6%, down 10 basis points from last year, including Stuart Weitzman.
Famous gross margin was 42.5%, essentially flat to last year, with greater proportion of clearance sales to total offset by higher clearance margin. SG&A expenses increased $48.3 million or 18.3% to $310 million. The increase was primarily driven by expenses of $39 million related to Stuart Weitzman. As a percentage of sales, SG&A was 44.6% and deleveraged 370 basis points. Operating loss in the quarter was $11.6 million and operating margin was -1.7%. Excluding Stuart Weitzman, operating earnings were $0.5 million and operating margin was 0.1%. Operating margin at brand portfolio was 2.4% and was 6.8% excluding Stuart Weitzman. Operating margin at Famous was 0.8%.
Net interest expense was $4.7 million, up $0.7 million to last year due to higher average borrowings. Approximately $1.4 million was interest expense associated with the acquisition of Stuart Weitzman. The weighted average borrowing rate in the quarter was down about 25 basis points to last year. Tax rate was 25.4% for the quarter and 28.9% for the full year. Fourth quarter earnings per diluted share were a loss of $0.36 and earnings per diluted share excluding the acquisition of Stuart Weitzman were a loss of $0.06. For the full year, sales increased 1.3% in total and declined 2.5% on an organic basis excluding Stuart Weitzman. The acquisition added $102.2 million of sales during the year.
Brand portfolio sales increased 7.3% and declined 1% on an organic basis. Famous Footwear sales for the full year declined 3.6% with comp store sales down 2.3%. Gross margin for the full year was 43.5%, down 135 basis points. Brand portfolio gross margin declined 170 basis points to 42%, primarily reflecting a 160 basis point impact from tariffs. Stuart Weitzman added 40 basis points to the brand portfolio gross margin for the year. Famous Footwear gross margin declined 90 basis points to 43.2%. SG&A expenses for the full year increased $92.5 million or 7.4% to $1.2 billion, primarily reflecting $71 million of Stuart Weitzman expense.
As a result, SG&A was 42% and deleveraged 290 basis points. On an organic basis, SG&A expenses were $1.1 billion. Operating earnings for the full year were $43 million and operating margin was 1.6%. Excluding Stuart Weitzman, operating earnings were $66.3 million and operating margin was 2.5%. Brand portfolio operating margin declined 630 basis points as tariffs, SG&A deleverage, and Stuart Weitzman dilution all contributed similar amounts to the decline. Famous Footwear operating margin declined 250 basis points with both gross margin declines and SG&A deleverage on lower sales. Adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.61 for the full year and $1.19 excluding the impact of Stuart Weitzman.
Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the fourth quarter with $282.9 million in cash, $296.5 million in borrowings, and $238 million in liquidity. Inventory at quarter end was $610.5 million, up $45 million to last year, of which $57 million was for Stuart Weitzman. Excluding Stuart Weitzman, organic inventory was down $12 million with brand portfolio inventory down 6% and Famous Footwear up 2%. Now turning to our outlook. We continue to face an evolving tariff environment. Our guidance is built on the assumption that new tariffs will be enacted that will largely replace the prior IEEPA tariffs. This could prove conservative, but until we have clarity on the level of additional new tariffs, these assumptions appear prudent.
We are maintaining a flexible approach to sourcing and will continue to seek the best country matrix for our quality and price needs. Additionally, the conflict in the Middle East introduces risk to our outlook. As of today, we are experiencing modest business disruption with our Middle East business partners. The region is less than 1% of our total business, though an important part of our longer-term international growth opportunity. We are carefully monitoring the situation and working with our partners to mitigate risk. However, with oil prices on the rise, the risk of economic slowdown has increased. The low end of our guidance anticipates some slowdown related to the economic impact of the current geopolitical conflicts but does not anticipate growing issues. For the first quarter, we expect consolidated sales to increase mid to high single digits compared to last year.
For Famous, sales are expected to be down low single digits to flat, with comparable sales down 2% to up 1%. For brand portfolio, sales are expected to be up mid-teens, inclusive of low single-digit organic growth. Consolidated gross margin to improve 120 to 140 basis points compared to last year. Modest deleverage of SG&A compared to last year due to the inclusion of Stuart Weitzman. With discrete items impacting the quarter, we expect a tax rate of 30%-32%. GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.21-$0.26 and adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.25-$0.30 as we expect to incur approximately $2 million in remaining Stuart Weitzman acquisition and integration costs.
For the full year 2026, we expect consolidated sales up low- to mid-single digits compared to last year. Famous Footwear sales down low-single digits to flat compared to last year, with comp store sales down 1% to up 1%. Brand portfolio sales up low double digits compared to last year, inclusive of low- to mid-single-digit organic growth when excluding Stuart Weitzman. Gross margin up 140 to 150 basis points compared to last year, driven mostly by the brand portfolio as our tariff mitigation strategies improve and with favorable customer and brand mix. SG&A rate relatively flat compared to last year, with cost-saving measures largely offset by increases in incentive and merit build back and other selective investments. Interest expense of approximately $18 million and a full year tax rate of 28%-30%. As a result, we expect GAAP earnings per diluted share of $1.31-$1.61.
Adjusted earnings per diluted share of $1.35-$1.65 due to the aforementioned Stuart Weitzman acquisition and integration costs. CapEx of approximately $55 million-$60 million that we will continue to evaluate based on macroeconomic conditions and performance. With that, I'd now like to turn the call back over to the operator for Q&A. Operator?
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Our first question comes from the line of Ashley Owens with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Hi, thanks and good morning. Maybe just starting with the quarter, I know there was concern about potential risk to sales volatility in the bottom line, and that didn't really play out here. Could you just help us bridge if there was any volatility you recognized and what some of the offsets were? Then more importantly, is there any go-forward risk with the ongoing Saks bankruptcy here? How should we think about as more one-time in nature?
Okay, Ashley, we're having a little bit of a hard time hearing, but your question is, we expected more sales volatility in the quarter and it didn't come through, so talk about some of the puts and takes. Is that right?
Yes. Yes, please.
Okay. First of all, we did provide an estimate mid-January, and that did actually play out. We didn't ship Saks for the balance of the month, and we were fully reserved on the bad debt. However, other areas of our business were strong enough to offset the $0.06 that we did play out. I think that was a key reason for it. It just came in better. Our gross margin impact on tariffs was 40 basis points in the brand portfolio on the quarter, which was also better than our expectation.
Okay. Got it. Can you hear me clearly?
Yeah, we'll try. We'll clarify if we can.
Just as a follow-up then, as we think about gross margin in the embedded recovery story here, can you help us parse out what's already in the exit rate for the year versus what still needs to come through from either mix or a tariff mitigation standpoint in 2026? Thanks.
Yeah. On the margin, when we think about guidance in 2026, you'll see relatively flat margins on the Famous business. As it relates to the brand portfolio side, we'll see recovery around the tariff side of the business. Also with mix, we think about Stuart Weitzman is incremental margin accretion because of the margin levels that they play, as well as other mix in our lead brands driving that up.
Got it. That's super helpful. Thank you.
Thanks, Ashley.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group. Please proceed with your question.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. I like the term build back year for 2026. As you think about the build back year for 2026, on the brand portfolio side, how are you thinking about wholesale? With Saks, the $0.06 impact, I think you may have expected or up to $0.06 for the year, how are you planning that this year? Are you shipping them or not shipping them? With the market share gains that you saw in shoe chains at Famous Footwear in the fourth quarter, key drivers of that, new brands being added, how do you think about the addition of new brands and categories that you're adding in them? Then just lastly, the shaping or cadence of the year, anything on margin profile, whether it's lapping of tariffs that we should expect to see? Does the rising energy prices, how is that an impact? Thank you.
Dana, I'll start, and then we'll fill in along the way. First of all, you know, we are seeing our, you know, key points of our, business on the brand portfolio continue to point toward, you know, support our guidance. We said our order book is in line with that guidance right now. Our own e-commerce trend line right now looks very good for the brand portfolio, and we're seeing international up on it as well. That's been quite good. We're seeing those key, you know, drivers coming through with our lead brand, so we continue to see that come through. Otherwise, we feel pretty good all the way around.
With Stuart Weitzman, as you've noticed, you know, we feel like all of the work that was done in the back half of 2026 leads us to a place where they can start to build back their business, and that really goes straight across all of their channels and geography and everywhere. We'll, while we're not guiding specifically by, you know, brand, see good, I think, momentum coming through there, which is great. Then finally, on the Saks Fifth Avenue right now, we don't have anything new to report on that, but we're prepared to, you know, go forward at this moment with our wholesale book that we have, and then actually that does support at least our guide for the quarter.
We'll tell you more when we have more to say. Otherwise it looks pretty good. Then you also mentioned about Famous Footwear, what drove that market share gain back, and that was, as you had suggested, the lead brands coming through. Famous Footwear was actually the big driver for that. As we had said earlier, Famous Footwear had a nice lift in holiday, really going after that more gift-giving piece. We felt very good about it. All the brands that I did mention, we had good momentum from Skechers, Birkenstock, Sorel, Timberland, others. Obviously the big Jordan piece proved very powerful during holiday, so that was obviously a big win for us too. Again, it just supports, I think, our guidance going forward and the momentum we're seeing.
Dana, you had asked a little bit about the spread of margin during the quarter. Just to reinforce the guidance, we said consolidated in the first quarter was gonna go up, 120-140, and then for the full year, 140-180. You'll see it, you know, results kind of throughout each of those quarters as we look at the year.
Just Dana, one more thing on market share. You mentioned new brands. On the brand portfolio side, while Stuart Weitzman did add to our market share, we gained market share in women's fashion footwear on an organic basis as well.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mitch Kummetz with Seaport Research. Please proceed with your question.
Yes, thanks for taking my questions. Jay, in your prepared remarks, you talked a little bit about quarter to date performance, BP e-com and also at Famous. I was wondering if there's any way to kind of parse out, you know, the impacts that you might be seeing from kind of tax refunds versus more recently higher gas prices and maybe just the overall impact from the War in Iran. I do have a couple of follow-ups.
Just to characterize right now, we did see on our brand portfolio strong own e-com performance coming through, which supports our guide. The good news is that they're from all the key brands. We've seen it now on all four of our lead brands, Sam Edelman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer, and Vionic. We're also starting to see a nice turnaround at Stuart Weitzman on their e-commerce business, where that was not something that we saw in the back half of this year. It looks like a lot of the team's work there coming through is working. As it goes over to the Famous side, it's kind of a little different story.
We had a good February, I would say, and that was through some good performance on some of the big brands there that continues. Skechers being one of them where we did have a brand takeover there, and that worked very well. We also did sell through some clearance there too, which did support the business there. We walk into March, it's a little bit of a mixed story here right now, and we're monitoring it day by day, week by week. There's also, you know, in addition to the geopolitical situation, we did have some weather impact, and we do have an Easter shift timing. Right now, as I said, what we're looking at supports our current guide and, you know, we'll report more when we know it, but we are managing it week to week.
Between Famous and brand portfolio, could you talk a little bit about what you're seeing from a category performance quarter to date? I'm also specifically curious kind of what you're seeing in terms of sandals as we're, you know, entering the spring summer season, and any kind of sandal drivers there as you kind of see that playing out over the balance of the season. I have one last question.
Yep. On the Famous side, I mean, we continue to see a very strong Birkenstock business, and you know it well. It's clogs and sandals, that's where we are. We're seeing strength on both of them from that, and that continues every single week. We're also seeing some good selling on sandals from Crocs, which I think is very good and does, you know, I think will overall support that business trend as we look forward. On the BP, we are seeing some good sandal business, particularly in the thong category coming through on kitten heels, and that's been a key winner.
We're seeing it a little bit more on the fashion side, and even in Vionic, we're seeing a very nice sandals strength as of very recently with now that all the inventory is here with both casual thongs, and then we're also seeing casual footbeds work well in that business. I think it's it certainly wasn't supported by weather, Mitch, so we really think it's driven by newness right now. That does at least give us optimism as we look forward.
Then my last question, just on Stuart Weitzman. You talked about being break even for the year. Can you talk a little bit about how you see that playing out by quarter, especially in the first quarter? What's kind of embedded in the guidance in terms of Stuart?
Yeah, I'll start, and then Dan can cut in. You know, we have completed most of the cost-saving work. Getting it onto our systems was, you know, a big piece of that, moving the headquarters, getting off of the TSA, getting it into our distribution center. As we think about the Stuart Weitzman SG&A piece of the puzzle, we've got, you know, some big buckets, I would say, distribution and logistics being one, facilities being one. We did complete in January a restructuring, so that was a big piece of it. You know, those are the big pieces of the puzzle. You know, moving on to the gross margin side of things, we moved through a significant amount of aged inventory. We talked about that last quarter.
It was $25 million in inventory. I think you could see it on the balance sheet, that's where we are. That positions us a lot, you know, stronger place. If you think about Stuart Weitzman's business, it is a seasonal business. You know, there will be some movement there. In total, we feel very confident that we've positioned the business to return to, you know, break even. Longer term, as we've said, we don't think that there's anything we see with the business that wouldn't suggest it can operate at the profit margins we're quite comfortable earning for the rest of our brand portfolio. I don't know, Dan, if you would have anything to add there.
No, I think to your point, if you look at our Q3 and Q4, you know, we lay out in kind of the with and without the clarity there. You could see the impact of Stuart Weitzman on that business. To Liz's point, a lot of these significant changes have been made, we're on our systems now, and structurally we're there. You know, certainly not seeing, you know, those types of results that we saw in Q3 and Q4, as we walk back to kind of break even here in the full year 2026.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Mr. Schmidt for any final comments.
Okay. Thank you for your continued interest in Caleres. Before we close, I'd like to recognize the dedication of our teams across the company and across the globe who've shown tremendous determination and resilience this year. We are encouraged by the early momentum building in our business through all of our strategic initiatives, and we look forward to an improved, more profitable 2026. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
TranscriptFY2025 Q42026-03-19FY2025 Q4 earnings call transcript
Earnings source - 27 paragraphs
FY2025 Q4 earnings call transcript
Greetings, and welcome to the Caleres, Inc. fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, the conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Liz Dunn, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Communications. Thank you. You may begin.
Thank you, Melissa. Good morning. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter earnings call and webcast. A press release with detailed financial tables as well as our quarterly presentation are available at caleres.com. Please be aware today’s discussion contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to several risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially due to various risk factors, including those disclosed in the company’s Form 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Please refer to today’s press release and our SEC filings for more information on risk factors and other factors which could impact forward-looking statements. Copies of these reports are available online. Discussing our operational results, we will be providing and referring to adjusted operating earnings results and, in some cases, we will be discussing our results excluding the impact of Stuart Weitzman. Additional details on non-GAAP measures as well as others featured in today’s earnings release and presentation are available in the reconciliation tables on our earnings release and on caleres.com. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on this call at any time. Joining me today are Jay Schmidt, President and CEO, and Dan Carpel, Senior Vice President and Interim CFO and CAO. Our call will begin with prepared remarks followed by a Q&A session to address any questions you have. With that, I will turn the call over to Jay. Jay?
Good morning. Earlier today, Caleres, Inc. reported fourth quarter sales and earnings. Earnings per share exceeded our guidance, with sales modestly above our guidance and gross margin better than expectations. Brand Portfolio sales performance in the quarter was driven by continued strength in owned e-commerce and international performance, underscoring key strategic growth vectors for the company. Lead brands once again outperformed, reinforcing their role as Caleres, Inc.’s primary growth engine, and we once again gained market share. At Famous Footwear, we continue to see encouraging signs that our strategic initiatives are working. Our Flair remodels are consistently outperforming the fleet and remain an important growth lever as we elevate the in-store experience. We leaned further into our strategy to elevate and edit the brand and product assortment, and we are seeing consumers respond to a curated mix of premium and in-demand brands. And for the quarter, we gained market share in shoe chains. We were pleased that Caleres, Inc. ended 2025 with momentum in both segments of our business. 2026 will be a build-back year where we begin to build back our earnings power driven by the strategic growth factors and initiatives that are already in place and working. We will say more on that in a moment, but first, let me provide more detail on fourth quarter performance. Brand Portfolio sales on an organic basis increased 1.5% in the quarter and 20.3% when factoring in Stuart Weitzman. Lead brands in total were up 2% organically and represented nearly 60% of Brand Portfolio sales. Owned e-commerce continued to see outsized growth, and our international business was strong. According to Circana, our Brand Portfolio gained significant market share in both women’s fashion footwear and total footwear during the quarter. Boots, particularly tall shaft, were a standout category, complemented by strength in flats and loafers, solid performance in dress, and continued momentum in sneakers. Sam Edelman delivered another very strong quarter with sales growth that exceeded expectations and outperformed the broader premium market. Performance was broad-based across categories, anchored by exceptional results in dress, casuals, and boots, where the brand saw success in both proven icons and new styles. Wholesale sales exceeded plan, reflecting strong demand across core product franchises. Owned e-commerce saw double-digit growth and higher full-price selling in the quarter, closing out a record-setting year. Sam Edelman’s licensing initiatives added incremental growth and visibility, highlighted by a successful fragrance launch with rapid sell-through and expanded national distribution. We continue seeing positive results from our Sam Edelman stores, which now tally 111 doors—56 owned and 55 franchised—with 107 of them international. Stuart Weitzman delivered solid fourth quarter progress as we continue strengthening the foundation of Caleres, Inc.’s newest lead brand. We successfully integrated Stuart Weitzman onto Caleres, Inc. platforms as we completed the quarter both on time and on budget. During this transition process, we implemented a new organization structure, moved teams into new headquarters in New York and Shanghai, completed the relocation of our U.S. and Canadian warehouses, and liquidated a significant volume of aged inventory globally. Operationally, fourth quarter sales were driven by core boots and booties alongside new dress and social styles. As we clear out aged inventory, we are successfully reducing discounting and flowing newness to support improved specialty retail and e-commerce performance. At quarter end, Stuart operated 73 retail locations worldwide, including 50 in China and 23 in North America, with the latter spanning full-price, outlet, and shop-in-shop formats. We remain committed and confident in our plan to bring the brand to breakeven in 2026. Allen Edmonds delivered a very strong fourth quarter with broad-based growth across all channels and continued momentum with the consumer. Performance was led by strength in brick-and-mortar stores, owned e-commerce, and wholesale, with particularly strong demand for dress, loafers, sneakers, and boots. Wholesale momentum, driven by key national partners, strong store-level productivity, and expanded distribution, continued. The Reserve Collection, the most elevated product in the Allen Edmonds brand, continued to scale meaningfully, attracting a highly valuable customer who shops more frequently, spends more annually, and shows higher loyalty engagement. This special collection is available at the majority of our 58 Allen Edmonds stores, including our 18 Port Washington Studio stores, which continue to outperform, reflecting the power of an elevated store experience and recent enhancements to the format. Naturalizer made meaningful progress in the fourth quarter with improving e-commerce sales momentum and new and retained customer growth. Owned e-commerce performance was a standout supported by strength across on-trend product categories, including boots, dress, sport, and sandals, with particular success in tall boots. Marketing efforts were increasingly focused and effective, with refined targeting, strong influencer content, and compelling storytelling driving higher-quality traffic, higher conversion, and higher average order value. These efforts translated into customer growth across both new and returning shoppers, with strong engagement from younger and core generations. And shortly after quarter end, we launched our newest collaboration with Casemaker and style icon June Ambrose. June’s collaboration is building awareness for the Naturalizer brand with new consumers, and June’s Styletics collection sells at significantly higher retails, mostly through naturalizer.com. Vionic closed the fourth quarter with strength in e-commerce and international channels, compelling new product launches, and growing interest in sport and performance walking. Vionic’s wearable well-being positioning has high emotional resonance with consumers. We are pleased with the growing momentum in sport lifestyle and performance walking categories, underscored by Vionic’s first sport collaboration with wellness advocate Gabby Reese, which we launched in January and supported with a robust marketing campaign. International sellers in the quarter closely mirrored those in the U.S., illustrating consistent global demand for the brand’s key styles. Brand awareness is growing for Vionic, particularly with younger and more affluent consumers. Moving on to Famous Footwear. In the quarter, total sales decreased 1.2% and comp sales increased 0.1%, in line with our expectations. E-commerce outperformed stores, but average unit retails were up in both channels. We continue to see the Famous consumer respond strongly during peak shopping periods, with more positive comps during the holiday period followed by more modest results in January. E-commerce sales accelerated and were up double digits for the third straight quarter. The launch of Jordan earlier in the year contributed steady momentum throughout the holiday season, remaining a top-10 brand and reinforcing Famous’s ability to launch leading brands and deliver powerful results. Famous continues to enhance its consumer experience through the Flair format. We ended fourth quarter with 57 Flair locations, which generated a 4.5% sales lift overall and a 6-point sales lift for stores converted in the last year. The success of Flair continues to bolster Famous’s ability to amplify elevated brands and products. We plan to build on that momentum with additional Flair openings in 2026, ending with a range of 65 to 75 locations by year end. From a divisional perspective, men’s performed best in the quarter, kids performed in line with the total, and women’s underperformed slightly. However, fashion boots were a standout category in total. Top growth brands for the quarter were Skechers, Jordan, Birkenstock, Timberland, Sorel, Brooks, and Columbia, while our Caleres, Inc. brands outperformed at Famous Footwear, with sales up mid-teens and a higher margin rate on lower inventory. We continue to make progress on our elevate-and-edit strategy at Famous, with outperformance from premium brands. In 2026, we plan to accelerate this strategy by expanding higher-demand brands and products while exiting underperforming labels. We are also expanding immersive brand takeovers that have been driving outsized growth at key points across the seasons, with multiple takeovers planned for core brands throughout 2026. In summary, Caleres, Inc. made progress on our strategic growth objectives in 2025, including lead brands, international, direct-to-consumer, enhanced customer experience, and edit-and-elevate. Joining us today on the call is Dan Carpel. Dan returned to Caleres, Inc. as Chief Accounting Officer in 2025 and has assumed the additional role of Interim CFO. He is well-versed in our company, and I am pleased to welcome him to the call. Dan will walk you through our guidance in detail, but I wanted to provide some color on what we are expecting for the year. As we look forward, 2026 is shaping up as a build-back year, characterized by relatively modest organic sales growth but meaningful earnings recovery. We have several encouraging green shoots leading us to a place of optimism. Our market share continues to build. Our international business is up, and our owned e-commerce business is up quarter-to-date across the Brand Portfolio. Famous Footwear is seeing slightly down comp store sales, with e-commerce up high single digits quarter-to-date. Our tariff mitigation strategies have taken hold, and we successfully completed our Stuart Weitzman systems integration, which sets the stage for improved profitability in the brand. We also made progress across our centers of excellence, which we have shifted internally to calling centers of expertise. We are finding the greatest success by deliberately leveraging Caleres, Inc.’s core capabilities at scale. This includes expanding our international, accelerating owned e-commerce, and establishing more disciplined planning and costing capabilities. In addition, now that three of our five lead brands have brick-and-mortar stores, we have launched a specialty retail operations team to elevate performance and the consumer experience. We have also established a marketing operations center of expertise to enhance our data, analytics, and media buying. These centers of expertise are helping us move faster and operate more consistently and efficiently. And international specialty retail and e-commerce are where we are seeing some of our earliest improvements with Stuart Weitzman. We see a meaningful opportunity to build on this foundation not just as it relates to Stuart, but for our whole company as we move through 2026, with more to come. So, while the market remains volatile, based on what we know today, we are providing guidance with a realistic view of the risks and the opportunities ahead of us, including geopolitical risk and tariff changes. Our sales growth is coming from our proven growth vectors and the annualized benefit from our recent acquisition, and our earnings bridge is clear. I will now turn the call over to Dan for the financial results and our outlook for 2026. Dan?
Thank you, Jay, and good morning, everyone. During today’s call, I will provide additional details on fourth quarter results as well as our expectations for 2026. Please note that my comments will be on an adjusted basis, and I will note when they exclude Stuart Weitzman. For the fourth quarter, sales were $695.1 million, up 8.7%. Sales on an organic basis, excluding Stuart Weitzman, decreased 0.1%. Organic sales increased in the Brand Portfolio segment and declined at Famous Footwear. Notably, both segments saw an improvement in the trend versus the first half of the year. Sales for Stuart Weitzman were $56.3 million. Brand Portfolio sales were up 1.5% on an organic basis and up 20.3% including Stuart Weitzman. Lead brands in total, excluding Stuart Weitzman, grew about 2% with growth in both North America and international. Famous sales were down 1.2%, with comparable sales up 0.1%. Comparable sales increased slightly in November and December and declined low single digits in January. Consolidated gross margin was 42.9%, down 10 basis points versus last year, reflecting lower margins in Brand Portfolio and relatively stable margins at Famous Footwear. Stuart Weitzman was modestly accretive to gross margin. Brand Portfolio gross margin, excluding Stuart Weitzman, was down 130 basis points due to tariffs as well as markdown allowances, somewhat offset by favorable channel mix. Brand Portfolio gross margin was 41.6%, down 10 basis points to last year including Stuart Weitzman. Famous gross margin was 42.5%, essentially flat to last year, with a greater proportion of clearance sales to total offset by higher clearance margin. SG&A expenses increased $48.3 million, or 18.3%, to $310.0 million. The increase was primarily driven by expenses of $39.0 million related to Stuart Weitzman. As a percentage of sales, SG&A was 44.6% and deleveraged 370 basis points. Operating loss in the quarter was $11.6 million, and operating margin was negative 1.7%. Excluding Stuart Weitzman, operating earnings were $0.5 million, and operating margin was 0.1%. Operating margin at Brand Portfolio was 2.4%, and was 6.8% excluding Stuart Weitzman. Operating margin at Famous was 0.8%. Net interest expense was $4.7 million, up $0.7 million to last year due to higher average borrowings. Approximately $1.4 million was interest expense associated with the acquisition of Stuart Weitzman. The weighted average borrowing rate in the quarter was down about 25 basis points to last year. Tax rate was 25.4% for the quarter, and 28.9% for the full year. Fourth quarter earnings per diluted share were a loss of $0.36 and earnings per diluted share excluding the acquisition of Stuart Weitzman were a loss of $0.06. For the full year, sales increased 1.3% in total and declined 2.5% on an organic basis excluding Stuart Weitzman. The acquisition added $102.2 million of sales during the year. Brand Portfolio sales increased 7.3% and declined 1% on an organic basis. Famous Footwear sales for the full year declined 3.6%, with comp store sales down 2.3%. Gross margin for the full year was 43.5%, down 135 basis points. Brand Portfolio gross margin declined 170 basis points to 42%, primarily reflecting a 160 basis point impact from tariffs. Stuart Weitzman added 40 basis points to the Brand Portfolio gross margin for the year. Famous Footwear gross margin declined 90 basis points to 43.2%. SG&A expenses for the full year increased $92.5 million, or 7.4%, to $1.2 billion, primarily reflecting $71.0 million of Stuart Weitzman expense. As a result, SG&A was 42% and deleveraged 290 basis points. On an organic basis, SG&A expenses were $1.1 billion. Operating earnings for the full year were $43.0 million, and operating margin was 1.6%. Excluding Stuart Weitzman, operating earnings were $66.3 million, and operating margin was 2.5%. Brand Portfolio operating margin declined 630 basis points, as tariffs, SG&A deleverage, and Stuart Weitzman dilution all contributed similar amounts to the decline. Famous Footwear operating margins declined 250 basis points, with both gross margin declines and SG&A deleverage on lower sales. Adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.61 for the full year and $1.19 excluding the impact of Stuart Weitzman. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the fourth quarter with $2.83 billion in cash, $296.5 million in borrowings, and $238.0 million in liquidity. Inventory at quarter end was $610.5 million, up $45.0 million to last year, of which $57.0 million was for Stuart Weitzman. Excluding Stuart Weitzman, organic inventory was down $12.0 million, with Brand Portfolio inventory down 6% and Famous Footwear up 2%. Now turning to our outlook. We continue to face an evolving tariff environment. Our guidance is built on the assumption that new tariffs will be enacted that will largely replace the prior IEPA tariffs. This could prove conservative, but until we have clarity on the level of additional new tariffs, these assumptions appear prudent. We are maintaining a flexible approach to sourcing and will continue to seek the best country metrics for our quality and price needs. Additionally, the conflict in the Middle East introduces risk to our outlook. As of today, we are experiencing modest business disruption with our Middle East business partners. The region is less than 1% of our total business, though an important part of our longer-term international growth opportunity. We are carefully monitoring the situation and working with our partners to mitigate risk. However, with oil prices on the rise, the risk of economic slowdown has increased. The low end of our guidance anticipates some slowdown related to the economic impact of the current geopolitical conflicts but does not anticipate growing issues. For the first quarter, we expect consolidated sales to increase mid- to high single digits compared to last year. For Famous, sales are expected to be down low single digits to flat, with comparable sales down 2% to up 1%. For Brand Portfolio, sales are expected to be up mid-teens inclusive of low single-digit organic growth. Consolidated gross margin to improve 120 to 140 basis points compared to last year. Modest deleverage of SG&A compared to last year due to the inclusion of Stuart Weitzman. With discrete items impacting the quarter, we expect a tax rate of 30% to 32%. GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.21 to $0.26 and adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.25 to $0.30, as we expect to incur approximately $2.0 million in remaining Stuart Weitzman acquisition and integration costs. For the full year 2026, we expect consolidated sales up low- to mid-single digits compared to last year. Famous Footwear sales down low single digits to flat compared to last year, with comp store sales of down 1% to up 1%. Brand Portfolio sales up low double digits compared to last year, inclusive of low- to mid-single-digit organic growth when excluding Stuart Weitzman. Gross margin up 140 to 180 basis points compared to last year, driven mostly by the Brand Portfolio as our tariff mitigation strategies improve and with favorable customer and brand mix. SG&A rate relatively flat compared to last year, with cost-saving measures largely offset by increases in incentive and merit build-back and other selective investments. Interest expense of approximately $18.0 million and a full-year tax rate of 28% to 30%. As a result, we expect GAAP earnings per diluted share of $1.31 to $1.61, or adjusted earnings per diluted share of $1.35 to $1.65 due to the aforementioned Stuart Weitzman acquisition and integration costs. CapEx of approximately $55.0 million to $60.0 million that we will continue to evaluate based on macroeconomic conditions and performance. With that, I would now like to turn the call back over to the operator for Q&A.
Thank you. To ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset. Our first question comes from the line of Ashley Owens with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Hi, thanks, and good morning. So maybe just starting with the quarter. I know there was concern about potential risk to sales volatility in the bottom line, and that did not really play out here. Could you just help us bridge if there was any volatility you recognized and what some of the offsets were? And then, more importantly, is there any go-forward risk with ongoing factoring reps here? How should we think about it as more one-time in nature?
Okay. So first of all, we did provide an estimate mid-January, and that did actually play out. We did not ship Saks for the balance of the month, and we were fully reserved on the bad debt. However, other areas of our business were strong enough to offset the $0.06 that we did play out, and I think that was a key reason for it. It just came in better. Our gross margin impact on tariffs was 40 basis points in the Brand Portfolio in the quarter, which was also better than our expectation.
Okay. Got it. And can you hear me clearly? So, for just as a follow-up then, as we think about gross margin in the embedded recovery story here, can you help us parse out what is already in the exit rate for the year versus what still needs to come through from either mix or a tariff mitigation standpoint in 2026? Thanks.
Yes. So, on the margin, we think about guidance in 2026, you will see relatively flat margins on the Famous business. And as it relates to the Brand Portfolio side, we will see recovery around the tariff side of the business. Also, with mix, we think about Stuart Weitzman as incremental margin accretion because of the margin levels that they play, as well as other mix in our lead brands driving that up.
Got it. That is super helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group. Please proceed with your question.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. I like the term “build-back year” for 2026. And as you think about the build-back year for 2026, on the Brand Portfolio side, how are you thinking about wholesale with Saks—the $0.06 impact I think you may have expected, or up to $0.10 for the year—how are you planning that this year? What are you shipping them or not shipping them? And with the market share gains that you saw in shoe chains at Famous Footwear in the fourth quarter, key drivers of that—new brands being added—how do you think about the addition of new brands and categories that you are adding in them? And then just lastly, the shaping or cadence of the year—anything on margin profile, whether it is lapping of tariffs, that we should expect to see, and does the rising energy prices—how is that an impact? Thank you.
Dana, I will start and then we will fill in along the way. So first of all, we are seeing our key points of our business on the Brand Portfolio continue to support our guidance. We said our order book is in line with that guidance right now. Our owned e-commerce trend line right now looks very good for the Brand Portfolio, and we are seeing international up on it as well. That has been quite good. We are seeing those key drivers coming through with our lead brands, so we continue to see that come through. With Stuart, as you have noticed, we feel like all of the work that was done in the back half of ’26 leads us to a place where they can start to build back their business, and that really goes straight across all of their channels and geography and everywhere. While we are not guiding specifically by brand, we will see good momentum coming through there, which is great. And then finally, on the Saks piece—right now, we do not have anything new to report on that, but we are prepared to go forward at this moment with the wholesale book that we have, and actually, that does support at least our guide for the quarter. We will tell you more when we have more to say, but otherwise, it looks pretty good. And then you also mentioned about Famous Footwear—what drove that market share gain back—and that was, as you had suggested, the lead brands coming through in Famous Footwear was actually the big driver for that. And as we had said earlier, Famous had a nice lift in holiday, really going after that more gift-giving piece. We felt very good about it and saw the brands that I did mention. We had good momentum from Skechers, Birkenstock, Sorel, Timberland, others. And, obviously, the big Jordan piece proved very powerful during holiday, so that was a big win for us too. Again, it just supports our guidance going forward and the momentum we are seeing.
And, Dana, you had asked a little bit about the spread of margin during the quarter. Just to reinforce the guidance, we said consolidated in the first quarter was going to go up 120 to 140, and then for the full year, 140 to 180. And so you will see results throughout each of those quarters as we look at the year.
And then, Dana, one more thing on market share. You mentioned new brands. On the Brand Portfolio side, while Stuart Weitzman did add to our market share, we gained market share in women’s fashion footwear on an organic basis as well.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mitch Kummetz with Seaport Research. Please proceed with your question.
Yes. Thanks for taking my questions. Jay, in your prepared remarks, you talked a little bit about quarter-to-date performance—Brand Portfolio, e-com, and then also at Famous. And I was wondering if there is any way to parse out the impacts that you might be seeing from tax refunds versus, more recently, higher gas prices and maybe just the overall impact from the war in Iran? And I do have a couple of follow-ups.
Yes. So, just to characterize right now, we did see on our Brand Portfolio strong owned e-commerce comp performance coming through, which supports our guide. The good news is that from all the key brands we have seen it now on all four of our lead brands—Sam Edelman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer, and Vionic. We are also starting to see a nice turnaround at Stuart Weitzman on their e-commerce business where that was not something that we saw in the back half of this year. So it looks like a lot of the team’s work there coming through is working. As it goes over to the Famous side—so kind of a little different story—we had a good February, I would say, and that was through some good performance on some of the big brands there that continued, Skechers being one of them, where we did have a brand takeover there, and that worked very well. We also did sell through some clearance there too, which did support the business there. As we walk into March, it is a little bit of a mixed story right now, and we are monitoring it day by day, week by week. In addition to the geopolitical situation, there was some weather impact, and we do have an Easter shift timing. So right now, as I said, what we are looking at supports our current guide, and we will report more when we know it, but we are managing it week to week.
And then between Famous and Brand Portfolio, could you talk a little bit about what you are seeing from a category performance quarter-to-date? And I am also specifically curious what you are seeing in terms of sandals as we are entering the spring/summer season, and any kind of standout drivers there as you see that playing out over the balance of the season? And I have one last question.
Yes. So, on the Famous side, we continue to see a very strong Birkenstock business, and you know it well. It is clogs and sandals—that is where we are—and we are seeing strength in both of them every single week. We are also seeing some good selling on sandals from Crocs, which I think is very good and will overall support that business trend as we look forward. On the Brand Portfolio, we are seeing some good sandal business, particularly in the thong category coming through, on kitten heels, and that has been a key winner. But we are seeing it a little bit more on the fashion side. And even in Vionic, we are seeing very nice sandal strength as of very recently, now that all the inventory is here, with both casual thongs, and we are also seeing casual footbeds work well in that business. It certainly was not supported by weather, Mitch, so we really think it is driven by newness right now, and that does at least give us optimism as we look forward.
And then my last question, just on Stuart Weitzman. You talked about being breakeven for the year. Can you talk a little bit about how you see that playing out by quarter, especially in the first quarter, and what is embedded in the guidance in terms of Stuart?
Yes. I will start, and then Dan can cut in. We have completed most of the cost-savings work. Getting it onto our systems was a big piece of that—moving the head TSA, getting it into our distribution center. As we think about Stuart Weitzman SG&A, we have some big buckets, I would say—distribution and logistics being one, facilities being one. We did complete, in January, a restructuring, so that was a big piece of it. And then, moving to the gross margin side of things, we moved through a significant amount of aged inventory. We talked about that last quarter—it was $25 million in inventory. You can see it on the balance sheet that that is where we are. So that positions us in a much stronger place. If you think about Stuart Weitzman’s business, it is a seasonal business, and so there will be some movement there. But in total, we feel very confident that we have positioned the business to return to breakeven in 2026. Longer term, as we have said, we do not think there is anything we see with the business that would not suggest it can operate at the profit margins we are quite comfortable earning for the rest of our Brand Portfolio. Dan, anything to add?
No. I think, to your point, if you look at our Q3 and Q4, we lay out the with and without with clarity there, and you can see the impact of Stuart Weitzman on that business. And to Jay’s point, a lot of these significant changes have been made. We are on our systems now and, structurally, we are there. So we are certainly not seeing those types of results that we saw in Q3 and Q4 as we walk back to breakeven in the full year ’26.
Alright. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I will turn the floor back to Mr. Schmidt for any final comments.
Thank you for your continued interest in Caleres, Inc. Before we close, I would like to recognize the dedication of our teams across the company and across the globe who have shown tremendous determination and resilience this year. We are encouraged by the early momentum building in our business through all of our strategic initiatives, and we look forward to an improved, more profitable 2026. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-02Caleres to Announce Fourth Quarter 2025 Results on March 19
Business Wire
Caleres to Announce Fourth Quarter 2025 Results on March 19
ST. LOUIS, March 02, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Caleres (NYSE: CAL), a market-leading portfolio of consumer-driven footwear brands, will release its fourth quarter and year-end 2025 financial results before market open on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Following the announcement, company executives will host a conference call at 10 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss results and provide a general business update. Investors, Caleres associates, media, and the public are invited to join the call. Participants in North America can dial (877) 704-4453, while international callers may use (201) 389-0920; no passcode is required. To participate, please dial in a few minutes before the scheduled start time. The live webcast will also be accessible through the Caleres Investors page. A replay of the call will be available through Thursday, April 2, 2026, and can be accessed by dialing (844) 512-2921 in North America, or (412) 317-6671 internationally, and using the pin 13758564. A webcast replay will also be archived for a limited period on the Caleres Events & Presentations page. About Caleres Caleres is a market-leading portfolio of global footwear brands that includes Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Stuart Weitzman, Allen Edmonds, Naturalizer, Vionic, and more. Our products are available virtually everywhere - in the nearly 1,000 retail stores we operate, in hundreds of major department and specialty stores, on our branded e-commerce sites, and on many additional third-party retail platforms. Combined, these brands make Caleres a company with both a legacy and a mission. Our legacy is nearly 150 years of craftsmanship and our passion for fit, while our mission is to continue to inspire people to feel great…feet first. Visit caleres.com to learn more about us. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260302331338/en/ Contacts Investor Contact Liz Dunn [email protected]

