Wolverine World Wide, Inc., owner of the Merrell, Saucony, Chaco, Sweaty Betty, Hush Puppies, Wolverine, Bates, Hytest, and Stride Rite brands, and licensee of the Cat and Harley-Davidson brands for footwear, reported revenues for the 2025 third quarter increased 6.8 percent to $470.3 million for the three-month period ended September 27. Revenues were up 5.5 percent in constant-currency (cc) terms.

  • Merrell brand sales increased by 5.1 percent (+3.5 percent cc) year-over-year (y/y) for the quarter to $$167.3
  • Saucony brand sales increased 27.0 percent y/y to $133.1 million, representing a 24.9 percent cc increase for the quarter.
  • Wolverine brand sales declined 8.2 percent y/y (-8.2 cc) to $49.4 million.
  • Sweaty Betty brand sales decreased 3.9 percent y/y to $44.5 million, representing a 7.1 percent cc decline.

Total sales of $470.3 topped analysts’ consensus target of 462.97 million. Adjusted EPS of $0.36 slightly exceeded analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.34. Wolverine had forecasted revenues in the range of $450 million to $460 million and adjusted EPS in the range of $0.28 to $0.32 per share.

“We delivered a solid quarter with Merrell, Saucony, and Sweaty Betty all exceeding expectations. Our disciplined execution, coupled with another record gross margin quarter, delivered better-than-anticipated earnings per share,” said President and CEO of Wolverine Worldwide Chris Hufnagel, “While we are pleased with our progress, we recognize there is still more work to do. Our teams remain focused on executing our brand-building model at pace while navigating a dynamic environment. As we approach the end of a pivotal year for Wolverine Worldwide, I’m encouraged by the improvements we’ve made across the enterprise – new strategies, new talent, new capabilities, new processes, new culture — all aimed to help us build awesome products, tell amazing stories, and drive the business in the relentless pursuit to make every day better and deliver value to our shareholders.”

Gross margin was 47.5 percent compared to 45.1 percent in the prior year. The increase was primarily due to the benefit of supply chain cost initiatives, lower promotional activity, and the positive impact from recent price increases, partially offset by the impact of incremental U.S. tariffs.

Inventory at the end of the quarter was $293 million, a decrease of $2 million, or approximately 0.7 percent, compared to the prior year.

Net debt at the end of the quarter was $543 million, down $20 million, or approximately 3.6 percent, compared to the prior year.

Full-Year 2025 Outlook
The company’s outlook reflects the impact of foreign currency and the inclusion of a 53rd week in 2025, which will affect annual comparisons. Comparable results for the company’s ongoing business in 2024 exclude the financial impact of Sperry, which was sold in January 2024.

For fiscal year 2025, the company expects:

  • Revenue to be approximately $1.855 billion to $1.870 billion, representing growth of approximately 6.0 percent to 6.8 percent compared to the 2024 ongoing business and constant currency growth of approximately 5.1 percent to 6.0 percent.
  • Gross margin to be approximately 47.1 percent, up 280 basis points compared to the 2024 gross margin.
  • Operating margin to be approximately 7.8 percent, up 220 basis points compared to the 2024 operating margin, and adjusted operating margin to be approximately 8.9 percent, up 160 basis points compared to the 2024 adjusted operating margin.
  • The effective tax rate to be approximately 16.0 percent.
  • Diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.08 to $1.13 and adjusted diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.29 to $1.34.
  • Diluted weighted average shares of approximately 81.5 million.

Image courtesy Saucony