Earnings

Wolverine Lifts 2026 Profit Outlook After Tariff Refunds

The Tip Desk · November 12, 2026 · 3 min read

Diluted earnings were $0.78 a share in the third quarter, and the company now sees full-year diluted EPS of $1.88 to $1.92.

Wolverine World Wide (WWW) posted $505.4 million of revenue in the third quarter ended October 3, 2026, up 7.5% from a year earlier, and raised its full-year 2026 outlook after receiving $35.3 million of IEEPA tariff refunds, including interest.

The global footwear and apparel company said the refunds benefited gross margin, operating margin and adjusted operating margin by about 640 basis points each and added about $0.31 to both diluted and adjusted diluted earnings per share. Diluted earnings were $0.78 a share, compared with $0.30 a year earlier. Adjusted diluted earnings were $0.79 a share.

Gross margin was 54.6%, up 710 basis points from 47.5% a year earlier. Operating margin was 17.7%, and adjusted operating margin was 17.8%. Of the $35.3 million in refunds, $32.6 million was recorded as a reduction to cost of goods sold, $1.3 million as a reduction to interest expense, and $1.4 million as a reduction to inventory.

Chief Executive Officer Chris Hufnagel called it the company’s eighth consecutive quarter of growth and said the quarter was led by its two largest brands. Active Group revenue was $387.8 million, up 9.9% year over year. Saucony revenue was $158.9 million, up 19.4%. Merrell revenue was $178.2 million, up 6.5%. International revenue was $271.2 million, up 11.7%. Direct-to-consumer revenue was $109.1 million, up 2.2%.

Work Group revenue was $106.9 million, up 0.9%, reversing a 1.6% year-over-year decline in the second quarter. Other segment revenue was $10.7 million, down 7.8%. Wolverine brand revenue was $43.5 million, down 4.1%. Sweaty Betty revenue was $41.4 million, down 7.0%.

Net debt was $399 million, down $143 million, or 26.4%, from a year earlier. Cash and cash equivalents were $148 million. Inventory was $278 million.

For fiscal 2026, the company now expects revenue of approximately $2.000 billion to $2.010 billion, representing growth of about 6.7% to 7.2% compared with 2025, up from a previous range of $1.980 billion to $2.000 billion. The new outlook includes the benefit of IEEPA tariff refunds received in the third quarter; the previous outlook did not include any such benefit. Fiscal 2026 is a 52-week year and fiscal 2025 was a 53-week year.

The company currently expects full-year gross margin of approximately 48.7%, including an approximate 170 basis point benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds, compared with a previous outlook of approximately 46.9%. Operating margin is expected at approximately 11.5% and adjusted operating margin at approximately 11.8%, each including the same approximate 170 basis point IEEPA benefit, versus previous outlooks of 9.5% and 9.9%.

Diluted earnings per share are expected in a range of $1.88 to $1.92 and adjusted diluted earnings per share in a range of $1.95 to $1.99, each including an approximate $0.32 benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds. Those ranges compare with previous outlooks of $1.48 to $1.58 and $1.55 to $1.65. The company expects an effective tax rate of approximately 19.0% and diluted weighted average shares of approximately 82.5 million.

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