EXEC: Adidas Earns Upgrade On Lionel Messi’s Move To Miami

Bernstein analysts upgraded their rating on Adidas from “Market Perform” to “Outperform” in part due to Lionel Messi’s move to join Inter Miami to become Major League Soccer’s biggest star. In 2017, Messi signed a lifetime contract with Adidas worth a reported $1 billion.

EXEC: Boot Barn Resets Growth Expectations With Push Beyond Western

Speaking at William Blair’s 43rd Annual Growth Stock Conference, Jim Conroy, Boot Barn’s president and CEO, said that while Boot Barn may have been founded as a western boot retailer in 1978, its growth trajectory has resized multiple times as it has expanded across work, fashion and country lifestyle categories.

EXEC: Vail Resorts Sees Promising Start To 2023/24 Ski Season

Vail Resorts saw a pickup in visitation and spending in March and April to help wrap up a healthy 2022/23 North American ski season, is seeing encouraging early season pass sales for the upcoming season, and believes its ski resorts are positioned well to mitigate many of the impacts of a potential economic downturn.

EXEC: Nike To Return To DSW Stores

Designer Brands reported that Nike would return to DSW’s selling floors in October following its exit from the retail chain in fall 2021 and following recent moves by Nike to repair relationships with Macy’s and Foot Locker.

EXEC: Crocs Asserts HeyDude’s Slow Down Not A Signal Of Weakening Demand

Speaking at Baird’s 2023 Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference, Andrew Rees, Crocs’ CEO, said HeyDude is expected to see U.S. wholesale sales decline in the second and third quarters of 2023 as it comped against aggressive initial distribution at several major U.S. retailers in 2022. However, he insisted that the demand for casual remains strong.

EXEC: On Brand Eyes Broader Wholesale Distribution

Speaking at the Stifel 2023 Cross Sector Insight Conference,  On’s Co-CEOs, Marc Maurer and Martin Hoffmann, said that while the faster growth is expected to come from DTC, the running-focused brand is just getting started expanding to more mainstream wholesale accounts, marked by its recent expansion at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker.

EXEC: Skechers Sees U.S. Wholesale Challenges Continuing

Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer Conference, John Vandemore, CFO of Skechers USA, said the U.S. wholesale business is “probably our single most challenged marketplace” due to ongoing elevated inventory levels with the pressures expected to continue for a few more quarters.

EXEC: Academy Sports Bets On Revenue Bounce Back In Second Half

Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc. trimmed its outlook for the year as first-quarter results missed plan. However, company officials predicted improving sales in the back half of the year on confidence that more favorable weather and strong injections of newness will help offset macroeconomic pressures.

EXEC: Topgolf Primed For Growth

At an investor meeting, Artie Starrs, CEO of Topgolf, discussed the fast growth and improving unit economics of the golf-entertainment concept as well as the benefits the chain is just starting to realize from newer digital activations and marketing pushes. He said, “I believe we’re just getting started.”

EXEC: Lululemon Delivers Blowout Q1, Led By China

Shares of Lululemon are aligned to start trading up 15 percent after the yoga-themed retailer defied inflationary pressures by reporting better-than-expected first-quarter results and lifting its full-year outlook. China stood out, with sales up 79 percent, but the core business continued to see strength, with North American sales ahead 17 percent and its women’s leggings category growing by 22 percent.

EXEC: Famous Footwear Expected To Show Negative Comps In 2023

Caleres, Inc. said Famous Footwear’s same-store sales fell 8.5 percent in the first quarter due to a weather-related delay in the sandal season and a pullback in spending from its “more moderate-income customer” due to inflationary pressures. Sequential improvement in sales is expected in coming quarters but Famous Footwear’s comps are expected to be negative for 2023.