Saucony and Merrell drive Wolverine Worldwide’s Q3 sales growth

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. reported a 7.5 percent increase in third-quarter revenue, driven by its two largest brands, Saucony and Merrell, and raised its outlook for the full year.

Revenue for the quarter ended October 3, rose to 505.4 million dollars from 470.3 million dollars a year earlier. On a constant currency basis, revenue was up 7.7 percent.

Saucony led growth, with revenue up 19.4 percent to 158.9 million dollars. Merrell revenue increased 6.5 percent to 178.2 million dollars. Revenue at the Wolverine brand fell 4.1 percent to 43.5 million dollars, while Sweaty Betty revenue declined 7 percent to 41.4 million dollars.

By segment, the Active Group grew 9.9 percent to 387.8 million dollars and the Work Group rose 0.9 percent to 106.9 million dollars. International revenue increased 11.7 percent to 271.2 million dollars, and direct-to-consumer revenue was up 2.2 percent to 109.1 million dollars.

“We delivered a strong third quarter performance, led by our two largest brands and disciplined execution across the business,” said Chris Hufnagel, president and chief executive officer of Wolverine Worldwide. “This quarter, now our eighth consecutive quarter of growth, is further evidence that our transformation story is also a growth story – with continued earnings improvement and a healthier balance sheet providing us greater capacity to invest behind our brands and the opportunities we see ahead. While we continue to navigate a dynamic environment – based on our year-to-date results and our expectations for the final quarter of the year – we’re raising our outlook for 2026.”

Tariff refunds lift margins

Gross margin widened to 54.6 percent from 47.5 percent, and operating margin rose to 17.7 percent from 8.4 percent. During the quarter, the company received 35.3 million dollars in refunds, including interest, related to tariffs paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The refunds added approximately 640 basis points to gross and operating margins.

Net earnings attributable to Wolverine World Wide rose to 65.8 million dollars from 25.1 million dollars. Diluted earnings per share were 0.78 dollars, compared with 0.30 dollars a year earlier, including an approximate 0.31 dollar benefit from the tariff refunds. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were 0.79 dollars, up from 0.36 dollars.

Inventory fell 4.9 percent to 278 million dollars, and net debt decreased 26.4 percent to 399 million dollars.

Outlook raised

For fiscal 2026, Wolverine Worldwide now expects revenue of approximately 2.000 billion dollars to 2.010 billion dollars, representing growth of approximately 6.7 percent to 7.2 percent, up from its previous outlook of 1.980 billion dollars to 2.000 billion dollars.

The company expects diluted earnings per share of 1.88 dollars to 1.92 dollars and adjusted diluted earnings per share of 1.95 dollars to 1.99 dollars, each including an approximate 0.32 dollar benefit from the IEEPA tariff refunds. Its previous outlook, which did not include any refund benefit, called for diluted earnings per share of 1.48 dollars to 1.58 dollars.

This article was partly written with the support of an artificial intelligence tool before being fact-checked, completed and edited by a FashionUnited journalist.