Wolverine Worldwide 2Q26 Immediate Call Postmortem
After than On debacle earlier this week, is Wolverine Worldwide the only footwear company left that’s seemingly not facing problems in the US? The main word being used by management is “confidence”. Chris made sure to mention this is a “transformation story that has now become a growth story”. Interesting timing given what everyone else seems to be experiencing.
Merrell growth in all regions and outsized international. Triple digit basis point market share gains in the US hike category, with three of the ten top styles. Lifestyle side of the business more than doubled in the US. Remains on track to do MSD growth this year – if sell-through is strong (which is what CFO Taryn said) then why is implied growth expected to massively slow in 2H versus the double digits in 1H? Easier compare in 2H as well… Mauricio kinda tried to ask this question in Q&A but wish he would have been a bit more explicit.
Saucony gained market share in US run specialty channel. Plan to launch new Endorphin model in 2027. Lots of discussion about efforts to push the lifestyle business but we remain a bit skeptical as nothing really concrete provided on the results of those efforts. They did increase full year brand guidance to mid-teens from low to mid-teens though so hard to argue with that. Also said lifestyle doors are more productive in Q&A – probably shouldn’t have waited until the end of the call to mention that.
Komp asked about the running category overall and competitiveness/discounting. Chris (CEO) didn’t really answer that other than to say they have a strong product pipeline and a little bit of an easier compare. Interestingly, he made a point to explicitly note that Saucony is “really a global growth story, it’s not just a US sector growth story”. In fact, he explicitly did it once again in answer to Mauricio’s question.
McGoldrick got some of that global Saucony color afterwards. They are really pleased by progress in EMEA. Sponsorship investments in region paying off for run category and now they are rolling out lifestyle product using the US playbook. As an aside it is interesting to see HOKA, On, and Saucony all doing so well in EMEA when we hear that market is quite challenging from others. Likely the benefit of those brands all coming from a small base.
We got the OG Dana Telsey on today’s call. Essentially tried to ask about apparel opportunity for other brands given what they have learned with Sweaty Betty. Chris focused on innovation first, which is encouraging as that is most important for their specific brands. Apparel remains an opportunity and thinks Saucony has an opportunity to play there. At least he didn’t mention Merrell apparel as that is probably a sore spot in this company’s history.
Dude, Poser. You got to talk these calls a bit more seriously. Wasted everybody’s time today. Was probably on mute first time. Then terrible connection in what sounded like a dog kennel the second time. I am surprised they let him back into the queue for a third time – probably because this was a victory lap quarter for management. At least he got Chris to say lifestyle is less than a quarter of the Merrell business today and they specifically saw a lot of strength in performance.
*These are our unabridged quick thoughts and notes from the call. We get them out as soon as possible after the call ends. Management has given some topics to dig deeper into and will circle back afterwards with much more in depth work on what was mentioned. You can find that work (and more on Wolverine Worldwide and other retail/consumer research) at our website here: M Squared Capital
Originally posted on X and Substack.