Columbia Sportswear Company (COLM) Earnings Call Transcript

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Columbia Sportswear Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Matt Tucker. Sir, the floor is yours.

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us to discuss Columbia Sportswear Company's Third Quarter Results. In addition to the earnings release, we furnished an 8-K containing a detailed CFO commentary and financial review presentation explaining our results. This document is also available on our Investor Relations website, investor.columbia.com. With me today on the call are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tim Boyle; Co-Presidents, Joe Boyle and Peter Bragdon; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jim Swanson; and Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, Richelle Luther. This conference call will contain forward-looking statements regarding Columbia's expectations, anticipations or beliefs about the future. These statements are expressed in good faith and are believed to have a reasonable basis. However, each forward-looking statement is subject to many risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from what is projected. Many of these risks and uncertainties are described in Columbia's SEC filings. We caution that forward-looking statements are inherently less reliable than historical information. We do not undertake any duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this conference call to conform the forward-looking statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. I'd also like to point out that during the call, we may reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including constant currency net sales. For further information about non-GAAP financial measures and results, including a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures and an explanation of management's rationale for referencing these non-GAAP measures, please refer to the supplemental financial information section and financial tables included in our earnings release and the appendix of our CFO commentary and financial review. Following our prepared remarks, we will host a Q&A period, during which we will limit each caller to 2 questions so we can get to everyone by the end of the hour. Now I'll turn the call over to Tim.

Thanks, Matt, and good afternoon. For the third quarter, we're pleased to report results that exceeded our quarterly revenue and earnings guidance. Our better-than-expected revenue growth primarily reflected a portion of delayed fall '26 wholesale orders shipping earlier than expected, coupled with improved underlying business trends in the U.S. Our operating margin also exceeded expectations. Gross margin upside was driven by higher full price realization and favorable U.S. EPC freight costs despite elevated fuel prices. SG&A expenses were lower than planned, declining year-over-year and demonstrating healthy operating leverage on disciplined spend management. Our business outside the U.S. and Canada, which represents roughly 35% of global net sales, continues to lead our growth and maintained its strong momentum with sales up 9% versus the prior year. Our U.S. business declined 1%, but would have grown if not for the supply chain-related delays impacting the timing of wholesale shipments. We're particularly pleased with the momentum we saw in DTC e-commerce, which provides the pinnacle expression of our brands. U.S. e-com grew mid-single-digit percent in the quarter, including high single-digit percent growth for the Columbia brand. This momentum accelerated through the quarter, including strong early sell-through of fall '26 products. Importantly, it also came with reduced promotions, consistent with our strategy of repositioning e-com as a more full-price channel. Our U.S. brick-and-mortar sales grew modestly. Stronger productivity more than offset continued traffic headwinds at our outlet doors amid a challenging macro environment. Overall, we're highly encouraged by our third quarter performance in the U.S. Trends for the Columbia brand are stabilizing, and we're seeing continued tangible signs of progress with the Accelerate growth strategy. We are seeing this progress not only in the quality of our U.S. e-com business, but also the consumers we are attracting. Over the past 2 quarters, growth of new consumers has accelerated, and the third quarter represented the strongest growth in new consumers since 2023. An increased share of our e-com sales can be attributed to purchases by our target dynamic active and professional consumer groups. This momentum in e-com reflects the combined progress we're making in elevating our brand, product, marketing and marketplace through ACCELERATE, not any single factor product or marketing campaign. We have been building that foundation since launching our Engineered for Whatever marketing platform last August and relaunching columbia.com last September. Earlier this year, we began amplifying our mid-funnel marketing engine with more targeted marketing, increased influencer partnerships and creative activations. Our full funnel marketing strategy is reaching our target consumers and materially improving the sell-through of our featured products. Together, these efforts provide strong indications that the strategy is gaining traction and increases our confidence that we're on the right track. A key theme underlying our third quarter performance is the momentum we're building in fleece. We're thrilled with the sell-through we are seeing across multiple franchises. A major highlight within this category has been our Helvetia fleece, a style that first launched in 1991. This fall, we offered the Helvetia in several new bold colorways and prints, bringing new energy to an iconic legacy product, which appeal to younger targeted consumers. Additionally, to celebrate Helvetia's heritage and lean into the current '90s nostalgia, we launched our [ Fax 4 ] fleece campaign in early September, featuring a 1991 era fax machine, we challenged consumers through social media channels to be among the first 91 people to send us a fax if they could actually find a fax machine in order to receive a free fleece. The energy and engagement created by this campaign for both the Helvetia and the Columbia brand was incredible. To our surprise, we received over 8,000 faxes far exceeding our expectations. This energy has extended beyond the Fax for Fleece campaign. Our new MTR fleece, a more premium style launched this fall has seen strong early demand. Columbia Fleece has even been positively trending on TikTok as of late. Earlier this month, we launched a special edition of our Helvetia, featuring the iconic PDX airport color carpet. It sold out within minutes online and consumers lined up around the block at our Portland flagship store. Earlier this week, we launched our latest campaign with our Don't panic Room contest. Similar to our highly successful Expedition Impossible campaign, we are challenging consumers to submit videos, this time highlighting their survival skills. The winner will receive the actual Don't Panic Room Bunker. It's been modified as the shipping container and it's filled with essentials needed to survive anything that mother nature throws at you. The Don't Panic Room includes spacious living quarters, nonperishable supplies and most importantly, plenty of Columbia gear. We are seeing the momentum created by our innovative products and marketing translate into stronger marketplace positioning. The Amaze Puff launched in fall '25 continues to resonate with our target female consumers and retail partners alike. After largely selling out last fall, it's among our top sellers and biggest growth drivers for fall '26 with an expanded variety of styles and colorways. That product story will have prominent visibility within elevated retail spaces. For example, in Q4, the Amaze is being featured in dozens of [ DICK'S ] Sporting Goods House of Sport Doors and in [ Macy's ] flagship Herald Square Door in New York City. Beyond the Amaze Puff, we're highly encouraged by the momentum in products primarily designed for and marketed to our younger target consumers and especially women. Among newer products, the Amaze sweats introduced this year are already among our top-selling women's pants. We are seeing momentum in established and refreshed styles as well. This includes the men's Rock pant, a legacy style that we redesigned and relaunched last year, targeting the dynamic active consumer. The [ Siena Hill ] jacket, a legacy women's style also sold through exceptionally well in Q3, supported by strong mid-funnel marketing. We're also excited by the momentum we see building in PFG for Performance Fishing Gear. The PFG team is doing a phenomenal job of connecting with its target consumers and communities. We have renewed our focus on brand-enhancing specialty accounts and engaged in over 40 events and activations year-to-date with several more planned throughout year-end. In Q3, we continued bringing energy to the 30th anniversary of our iconic Bahama shirt, including a collaboration with country music superstar, Luke Combs that drove strong engagement for the brand. In June, we launched the Terminal Tech performance apparel line. It features our proprietary Omni-Shade and Omni-Wick innovations, providing all-day sun protection, breathability and comfort on the water. Terminal Tech largely sold out during Q3, and it's a key driver of our growth in PFG's Spring '27 order book. Another key growth driver for PFG in Q3 and Spring '27 is the [ Dry Tortuga ] boot. It contributed to another solid quarter of growth for Columbia brand footwear, which was up mid-single digits percent in Q3 overall. Importantly, this growth was led by more premium styles featuring our proprietary Omni-MAX technology such as the Peak Freak and the Tellurix families in hike and the Konos in trail running. A major highlight for our footwear business in Q3 was the continued success of our sponsored athletes on the trail, further demonstrating that our trail running product is capable of performing at the highest levels of the sport. In August, Columbia athlete [ Gabriel Rolanda ] placed 20th at the UTMB Finals in Chamonix, France. The 108-mile race around Lon Blanc is considered to be the world's most prestigious and competitive trail running event. And last month, long-time athlete, [ Yassine Dbun ] claimed a spot on the podium in the Mammoth 200 in California, where he took third place in his first career 200 Miler. Competing for over 60 hours, his Columbia Konos Trillium footwear propelled him through the rugged terrain, while his Columbia apparel kept him protected and comfortable through a wide variety of challenging conditions. Big congrats to our athletes and product teams who continue to demonstrate that Columbia truly owns the trail. Turning back to third quarter financial performance. Net sales increased 2% to $963 million, driven by growth in international markets, partially offset by a modest decline in the U.S. From a channel perspective, our DTC business grew 5% globally, including 9% growth in e-com and 4% growth in brick-and-mortar. Our wholesale business was relatively flat versus the prior year. This primarily reflected double-digit percent growth in Asia direct wholesale and EMEA region distributors, offset by unfavorable shipment timing from supply chain delays impacting the U.S. and Europe direct wholesale. That said, these delays had less impact on Q3 net sales than we anticipated when we provided guidance 3 months ago. Wholesale delivery timing was the primary driver of upside versus our Q3 revenue guidance, followed by stronger-than-expected U.S. DTC performance. Third quarter gross margin declined 20 basis points to 49.8% on a reported basis. This includes a 50 basis point headwind from accommodations to our factory partners, net of tariff refunds recognized in the quarter. Excluding this impact, underlying gross margins expanded 30 basis points, primarily due to lower DTC freight costs. SG&A expenses declined 1%, primarily reflecting lower corporate overhead costs on disciplined expense management and some shift of planned marketing spend to the fourth quarter. This was partly offset by higher incentive compensation accruals and DTC expenses. The result was SG&A leverage of 140 basis points compared to the prior year, leading to the operating margins of 11.4%. As a reminder, our Q3 ' 25 operating income included $29 million in onetime impairment charges. Excluding this prior year impact, our underlying operating margin expanded by 120 basis points. This overall performance resulted in reported EPS of $1.66 compared to $0.95 in the prior year. Inventories increased 11% versus the prior year in dollar terms with units up 10%. This growth primarily reflects higher in-transit inventory from delayed Fall '26 receipts. Overall inventory composition remains healthy. We continue to maintain our fortress balance sheet, exiting the quarter with $230 million in cash and short-term investments and no debt. Looking at net sales by geography, U.S. net sales decreased 1%, reflecting greater wholesale shipment timing, partially offset by growth in DTC. Wholesale net sales declined low single-digit percent. DTC net sales grew low single-digit percent with brick-and-mortar up low single digits and e-comm growing mid-single digits. From our review of third quarter year-over-year net sales growth in international geographies, I will reference constant currency growth rates to illustrate underlying performance in each market. EMEA net sales increased 7% overall. Europe direct net sales increased low single-digit percent driven by strong double-digit percent growth in DTC despite unfavorable weather and a challenging macro environment. This was partially offset by a decline in wholesale, reflecting Fall '26 supply chain delays. The Europe team continues doing an incredible job of connecting with our target consumers, particularly on the trail. Our Hike Society events in Q3 remained highly popular and continue to sell out, driving energy and awareness for our brand. Key highlights in the quarter included full funnel marketing campaign around the launches of our [ Peak 3 ] hiking shoe and our Street Tech apparel line. Street Tech is an exciting new collection representing the evolution of outdoor sportswear, remixing technical outdoor function into streetwear-led styles for a youth audience. Street Tech launched recently and was sold into some of our leading partners such as [ JD Sports, Zalando and ASOS ]. Early indications show high consumer engagement and strong sell-through with the target demographic. Our EMEA distributor business grew in the high 30% range, primarily reflecting fall '26 shipment timing versus the prior year, which more heavily weighted Q2. Key growth drivers included hike, supported by Columbia Hike Society events sponsored in several countries. We also saw strong growth and sell-through in Outdoor Lifestyle, driven by Fleece and the Rock Path as well as in PFG. LAAP net sales increased 10%. China net sales grew low teens percent, reflecting growth across channels amid a challenging macro and competitive environment. The China team continues to do a great job of increasing its share of business with younger consumers, connecting with local communities through Columbia Hike Society and outdoor club events. A key highlight included our Hike Party 3.0, a first-of-its-kind activation for the launch of our new railway Rambler interchange jacket. The event combined hiking, fishing and kayaking and attracted millions of impressions on social channels with hundreds of thousands of viewers tuning into the live stream. We were also pleased with successful campaigns featuring our [ Peak 3 ] hiking footwear and our China exclusive transit apparel line. Japan net sales increased low double-digit percent with growth across channels, reflecting healthy demand for fall season products. Key product drivers included women's pants, Konos footwear and rainwear, which was helped by unusual rainy and cool conditions during September. Korea net sales increased high teens percent, driven by strong wholesale growth, reflecting a higher Fall '26 order book. Key drivers in the quarter included the [indiscernible] fleece, trending lightweight down styles and [indiscernible] footwear styles. These were supported by elevated in-store presentations and a successful fall campaign, leveraging the engineered fluid of global brand platform. Our LAAP distributor markets declined low single-digit percent, primarily reflecting earlier fall shipment timing that landed in Q2 versus the prior year. Canada net sales were relatively flat overall. This primarily reflected the decline in wholesale sales due to supply chain delays leading to later shipments versus the prior year. This was offset by growth in DTC, particularly e-com. Key growth drivers in the quarter included the [indiscernible] collection, hiking footwear and fleece. Our Canada team also continues to find unique ways to engage new, younger consumers. For example, we sponsored a hike in Q3 to the top of [indiscernible], capped off with a yoga class on the Summit. We also held an event at the Toronto International Film Festival, connecting and introducing our brand and products to numerous influencers and cultural tastemakers. Looking at third quarter performance by brand. Columbia net sales increased 3%, reflecting high single-digit percent growth in DTC and relatively flat wholesale sales. Turning now to our emerging brands. As a reminder, each of these brands derive a significant majority of their revenue from the U.S. marketplace. SOREL net sales increased 2%, primarily driven by growth in wholesale on stronger Fall '26 orders. A key highlight for SOREL in the quarter was the launch of the [ Ambler ], a new franchise rooted in the iconic style of the [ Cariboo ] boot. The [ Ambler ] has seen encouraging sell-through in DTC e-com to date, supported by creative full funnel marketing, activations, collaborations and influencer partnerships. [ Prama ] net sales declined 1%, primarily reflecting lower DTC e-com sales, largely due to the late arrival of Fall '26 inventory. This was partially offset by growth in wholesale and DTC brick-and-mortar. A key highlight was the opening earlier this month of its fourth branded store in [ Burlingame ], California. With Fall '26 products now fully in stock, we expect [ Prama ] to rebound with a stronger Q4. Mountain Hardwear net sales declined 17% year-over-year, primarily reflecting lower Fall '26 wholesale orders and closeout sales. While it was a challenging quarter overall for Mountain Hardwear, a bright spot was the strong U.S. wholesale growth in full-price outerwear. This was driven by our new patent-pending stretchdown innovation, [ DoppleWeave ], which provides both flexible warmth and unrestricted movement. Additionally, Mountain Hardwear's new lifestyle line, Hardware Supply launched in Fall '26 in DTC e-com and [ RAI ] doors. It contributed to growth in e-com for the quarter with strong sell-through to date. We were thrilled to announce last month that [ Peter Rouch ] has assumed the role of President of Mountain Hardwear. Peter is a highly experienced and respected leader who has been with the Columbia family for nearly 20 years in different leadership roles. Most recently, Peter was the GM of the Columbia Brands North America region, leading the business through the initial phase of Accelerate growth strategy. Peter also previously spent several years leading our Asia direct businesses. He brings deep knowledge of our industry and consumers, a track record of delivering business results and a genuine passion for the outdoors. Mountain Hardwear continues to have tremendous growth potential, and we're confident Peter is the right leader to guide Mountain Hardwear into its next chapter. We're also pleased that [ Troy Sycott ], Mountain Hardwear's President for the past 5 years, will remain with the brand as Global Vice President of Sales. Troy played a pivotal role in strengthening the brand and building a strong foundation for future success. His deep industry expertise and strong retailer partnerships position him well to help drive the brand's next phase of growth and success. With Peter moving to Mountain Hardwear, Columbia Brand President, Joe Boyle, is being supported by a strong bench of leaders within our North America DTC and wholesale businesses. We'll now discuss our financial outlook for the fourth quarter of '26 and the full year. This outlook and commentary include forward-looking statements. Please see our CFO commentary and financial review presentation for additional details and disclosures related to those statements. For the fourth quarter, we anticipate sales growth of 3.5% to 7%. We expect fourth quarter EPS to be in the range of $1.85 to $2.10. This brings our full year sales outlook to a revised range of up 2% to 3% versus the prior year and brings our full year EPS guidance to a range of $4.65 to $4.90 on a reported basis. We continue to expect full year reported gross margins of 52.1% to 52.3% on a reported basis or up 160 to 180 basis points versus the prior year. As a reminder, this includes a roughly 180 basis point benefit from tariff refunds, net of accommodations to factory partners. We now expect that SG&A will represent 43.8% to 44% of net sales, increasing slightly year-over-year but at a slower rate than the net sales growth. Based on these assumptions, we anticipate reported operating margins in the range of 8.7% to 9.1% for the year. Now I'll provide an early update on our 2027 outlook. While we intend to provide full year 2027 guidance on our Q4 call, we're currently forecasting wholesale growth in the mid-single-digit percent range, both in the U.S. and globally for the first half of '27. This is supported by our wholesale spring order book, which improved from low to mid-single-digit growth since our last call. In closing, I'm highly encouraged by our Q3 results amid dynamic and challenging market conditions. From a consumer standpoint, it's been just over 13 months since we launched our ACCELERATE growth strategy into the marketplace. This quarter's performance provides us with further proof points and greater confidence that our strategy is gaining traction. At the same time, I'm even more excited about the opportunity that we have ahead of us and that we will continue to work to elevate the Columbia brand and improve consumers' perceptions in the U.S. There is still significant room for improvement. I'm confident that we have the strategies in place, combined with our talented and energized global workforce to return our business to a path of long-term sustainable growth. That concludes my prepared remarks. Operator, can you help us with the questions?

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Jonathan Komp from Baird.

I want to follow up on the encouraging improvement you're seeing in the U.S. D2C performance. And really, I want to ask if you see that trend continuing here going forward and some of the drivers that get you excited here? And the commentary on 2027 orders, do you think that relates to the positive D2C performance resulting in stronger orders from some of your partners? Or any other color there would be helpful.

Certainly. Well, e-comm for Colombia is just one part of our ACCELERATE system and that we're using to make the business better. And I would say, if you took a look at our website and ancillary items on the site by comparison to last year to this year, you'd see a dramatic difference in how the garments appear, how the footwear appears. We really made a distinct effort to make our e-com business the pinnacle of the Columbia brand, where it has the most and best recommendations. So if we talk about the success, it's really a function of better traffic, more traffic as a result of our ACCELERATE activities. And then once consumers are there on the site, better conversion and really a better environment and a better experience for consumers. So that's really how we're seeing the improvements in North American e-com. As it relates to our spring -- to our '27 business, Spring '27 order book just continue to strengthen, and that's based on a number of factors. I think likely the continued exposure of our various activations and marketing efforts as it relates to ACCELERATE. And we're just now starting to sell Fall '27. So our expectations are quite bright, and I'm expecting that we're going to see great things.

That's great to hear. And then maybe, Jim, if I could follow up, thinking through a bit more just directionally some of the cost factors into 2027. You'll be cycling the refunds certainly in an inflationary environment broadly. Do you think SG&A becomes a lever that you intend to pull a little more aggressively to drive underlying margin expansion? Or any other color there would be helpful.

Yes. Thanks for the question, John. Certainly, we're not looking to provide any forward-looking guidance. As we look out to next year, not unlike this year, we would fully expect that we're able to leverage the SG&A line, all dependent upon how we come in ultimately on a full year basis from a revenue growth standpoint. And I would emphasize just a couple of points as it relates to the gross margin. One, I think you nailed a good point in terms of adjusting for the tariff refund net of the factory accommodations that we've realized this year to the tune of about 180 basis points. Beyond that, it's really difficult, and we're in the midst of our planning process right now. There's obviously a lot of uncertainty as we look ahead as it relates specifically to whether there's any additional tariffs imposed by the administration. Certainly, there are product input cost pressures that will increasingly impact us in the latter part of next year. We are taking surgical price increases where we can to help mitigate those. So those are among the factors we're looking at. But going beyond that and providing specific guidance, we can't do that today.

Your next question is coming from Bob Drbul from BTIG.

A couple of questions just on the Q3, Q4 for a second it is -- so when you guys look at the inventory levels, the in-transit situation coming out of the second quarter into the third quarter, has everything normalized now as you think about what you're seeing? And within sort of the Q4 outlook, have you seen any material order cancellations or changes to the sort of Fall '26 order book around the business?

Yes. So Bob, as it relates to the in-transit inventory, that's primarily now been delivered to our various distribution centers and is on its way if it has not already been received by our customers. So that the logistics issues that we believe is behind us. As it relates to Q4, we get orders every day, we get cancels every day, but there's no meaningful change in anything that we've seen from the order book perspective. And we run a global business. It's highly complex. And so we've given you the best advice that we can and guidance about where we believe that Q4 will end up.

I think one other point, Bob, as it relates to the inventory side of the equation is Tim I think we're well received to fulfill the remaining demand that we've got for Fall '26 coming into the fourth quarter. A big chunk of the increase in our inventory at the end of the quarter and what we're now projecting at the end of the year, we have accelerated our Spring '27 production in light of longer logistics lead times. So just one thing to keep in mind as you think about the overall growth in our inventory is really current and future season inventory, and it's timing related.

Got it. And I guess just as you think about where we are in the fourth quarter right now, do you see elevated risk with weather or anything as it relates to especially your wholesale business, Tim?

Well, nothing out of the ordinary, Bob. Our business is highly reactionary to weather. And so we're going to continue to watch it, but we have no expectations that it's going to be anything other than a normal weather.

Your next question is coming from Peter McGoldrick from Stifel.

I wanted to dive in on the order books for spring/summer '27. I was hoping you could help us think through the relative regional momentum compared to what we're seeing in the second half of 2026. And how should we be thinking about the split of growth drivers between volume, price and mix?

Yes. As it relates to the -- so first and foremost, I'd say we're awfully encouraged by where the Spring '27 order book has come in. 90 days ago, we had indicated to you that, that was up a low single-digit to mid-single-digit percentage, as Tim touched on, the order book continued to come in over the course of the past couple of months, and we now reflect visibility we have, we anticipate first half wholesale growth in the mid-single-digit range. As you think about that from a geographic standpoint, and I think encouragingly from our standpoint, and I think another indicator of the work that's going on from an ACCELERATE standpoint, that does include low to mid-single-digit rate of growth also in our U.S. wholesale business. I think it leans more to the mid-single digit. and continued momentum in our international markets. Our international growth is anticipated to continue to outpace the U.S. side of business. So all in all, we're quite pleased. I think it's another -- like I said, another strong indication of the work that's been going on from an ACCELERATE standpoint.

Yes. I would also point out that footwear growth was larger than apparel growth for us. Very encouraging.

Very good. And then just on the strategy to recruit more younger active consumers. Can you give us an update on anything to support that, quantify any of the drivers there? And then how that's influencing the overall engagement with the consumer audience, whether it be price willingness to spend or frequency of purchase any -- or traffic patterns with these new dynamic audiences?

Yes. Thanks. So as it relates to the consumers we're seeing in the engagement with engineered for whatever campaign, year-over-year improvements we've seen in both consideration and purchase intent among our target audiences on the professional lease and the dynamic actives. And new customer growth in e-com with an increasing share of the business coming from those target audiences is really showing momentum in the ACCELERATE strategy as it relates to consumers.

Our next question is coming from Mitch Kummetz from Seaport Research.