Columbia Sportswear Company - Q4 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Greetings. Welcome to the Columbia Sportswear Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Reed Anderson. You may begin.

Reed Anderson (Managing Director)

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us to discuss Columbia Sportswear Company's Fourth Quarter results. In addition to the earnings release, we furnished an 8-K containing a detailed CFO commentary and financial review presentation explaining our results. This document is also available on our investor relations website, investor.columbia.com. This conference call will contain forward-looking statements regarding Columbia's expectations, anticipations, or beliefs about the future. These statements are expressed in good faith and are believed to have a reasonable basis. However, each forward-looking statement is subject to many risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from what is projected. Many of these risks and uncertainties are described in Columbia's SEC filings. We caution that forward-looking statements are inherently less reliable than historical information.

We do not undertake any duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this conference call, to conform the forward-looking statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. I'd also like to point out that during the call, we may reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including constant currency net sales. For further information about non-GAAP financial measures and results, including a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures and an explanation of management's rationale for referencing, referencing these non-GAAP measures, please refer to the supplemental financial information section and financial tables included in our earnings release in the appendix of the CFO commentary and financial review. Following our prepared remarks, we will host a Q&A period, during which we will limit each caller to two questions, so we can get to everyone by the end of the hour.

Now, I will turn the call over to Tim, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Reed, and good afternoon. With me on the call today are our Co-Presidents, Joe Boyle and Peter Bragdon, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jim Swanson, and our Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, Richelle Luther. This is our first earnings call for Joe, Peter, and Richelle in their new roles. As announced in November, these role changes are part of our ongoing process to advance our succession plans. I'm glad to have such a strong bench of leadership to help grow the company over the coming years. Now, turning to the fourth quarter. We're pleased to have delivered net sales and profitability exceeding our guidance for the fourth quarter, driven by better-than-expected demand in the U.S.

While our U.S. business remains challenged, I'm encouraged with continued growth internationally, combined with early signs of momentum, indicating that the Columbia Accelerate Growth Strategy is resonating with consumers, including new and enhanced product collections and differentiated marketing. I'd like to thank our global workforce, whose hard work and dedication have enabled us to make this meaningful progress. Highlights from 2025 include international sales growth, which was strong and broad-based, reflecting wholesale and DTC growth. The launch of Columbia Brand Accelerate Growth Strategy is beginning to attract younger consumers into the brand with new product collections, such as the Amaze Puff. The Engineered for Whatever campaign, launched in August, drove robust consumer engagement with key activations, such as Expedition Impossible. Inventories are healthy and essentially flat as we exit 2025, inclusive of increased tariff costs in the U.S.

The rate of SG&A growth has slowed as we optimize spending to allow us to increase the level of marketing to drive engagement and demand. We remain steadfast in our commitment to driving shareholder value, returning meaningful cash to shareholders, including $201 million in share repurchases and $66 million in dividends. We continue to maintain our fortress balance sheet, exiting the year with $791 million in cash and equivalents and no debt. While we made progress in many areas, our 2025 financial performance was short of my personal growth and profitability goals. Overall, our full year 2025 net sales increased 1% to $3.4 billion, as growth in the international markets was mostly offset by continued headwinds in the U.S.

The impact of unmitigated tariffs, brand impairments, and increased marketing spend contributed to operating margin contraction and a decline in earnings. Looking forward, we see positive indicators from each of our brands. For the Columbia brand, the Amaze Puff collection was an outstanding success for Fall 2025. For Spring 2026, we introduced a seasonally appropriate Amaze collection. We're also excited about the potential of the ROC Pant program and recently launched the ROC Lite series. New for Spring 2026, the ROC Lite Short includes a differentiated stretch waistband, the ROC Band, providing all-day comfort. Throughout our Spring 2026 offering, we have invested in a diverse range of new styles across apparel and footwear, from high-performance hiking, fishing, and trail running products to contemporary outdoor lifestyle products designed to resonate with consumers in the outdoor communities that we serve.

Another key highlight for Spring 2026 is OutDry Extreme, our patented technology delivering industry-leading waterproofness in a post-PFAS world. OutDry Extreme combines enhanced functionality with sustainability as the base material is made from recycled textiles. As we look forward to the year ahead, our initial full-year net sales outlook contemplates growth of 1%-3%. In addition to Columbia brand growth, all of our emerging brands are expected to grow, led by prAna. Our initial 2026 operating margin outlook contemplates expansion from 2025, despite ongoing headwinds from incremental U.S. tariffs. We expect modest SG&A expense growth with the goal of offsetting gross margin contraction. Turning to fourth quarter financial performance, we delivered fourth quarter results that exceeded our guidance range as stronger than anticipated demand in the U.S. more than offset unseasonably warm weather in most direct international markets.

Net sales decreased 2% year-over-year to $1.1 billion, driven by a 7% decrease in wholesale net sales, partially offset by a 1% increase in direct-to-consumer sales. Recall that earlier-than-planned shipments of Fall 2025 orders shifted some wholesale sales to earlier in the year. Gross margin expanded 50 basis points to 51.6%, driven by cleaner inventories that contributed to lower promotions, clearance activities, and lower inventory loss provisions, which more than offset the impact of incremental U.S. tariffs. SG&A expense increased 3%, reflecting higher DTC expenses and other non-recurring SG&A expenses associated with our profit improvement program, partially offset by the effect of cost reduction efforts, lowering expenses in targeted areas of the business. This performance resulted in operating income and diluted earnings per share above our guidance range.

Looking at net sales by geography, U.S. net sales decreased 8%. The U.S. wholesale business was down high teens percent, reflecting earlier shipment of Fall wholesale orders from a lower order book. Results were partially impacted by inventory supply constraints as we curtailed Fall 2025 inventory purchases as a precautionary measure upon U.S. tariff announcements earlier in the year. U.S. DTC net sales declined low-single digit percent in the quarter. Brick-and-mortar was down low-single digit percent, reflecting the closure of temporary clearance locations and lower mall traffic, partially offset by higher productivity from existing stores and contribution from new stores. We exited the quarter with 8 temporary clearance locations, compared to 28 in the prior year. E-commerce was down low-single digit percent, as soft traffic and less clearance and promotional activities were partially offset by ongoing efforts to refine our marketing investments for the Columbia brand.

We saw modest sales growth in the Columbia brand, offset by declines in emerging brands. The improved photography on the redesigned us.columbia.com website helped to drive discovery and engagement. For my review of fourth quarter year-over-year net sales growth in international geographies, I will reference constant currency growth rates that illustrate underlying performance in each market. LAAP net sales increased 10%. China net sales increased low-double-digit percent, driven by wholesale and e-commerce growth, despite the impact of warm weather on demand for seasonal products. The outdoor category remains robust in China. We continue to drive high levels of brand engagement with young, active consumers by emphasizing iconic products and styling, as well as premium localized product offerings, including the Transit and Hike 365 collections. During the quarter, we educated consumers about our technologies through an Omni-Heat Infinity Roadshow that our team executed in four of China's largest cities.

In addition, we saw strong engagement from the Sunset Lure PFG campaign, launched on TikTok, as well as our Titanium ski campaign. Japan net sales increased high-single digit percent, reflecting increased Fall 2025 wholesale shipments shifting into the fourth quarter. Our Japan business remains healthy despite declines in tourism and lower domestic consumer sentiment. Omni-Heat Infinity outerwear and winter boots performed well during the quarter. Korea net sales increased low-single digit percent, driven by wholesale and e-commerce as we gain share in a soft outdoor category. We're thrilled with our team's execution across brand and marketing initiatives that drive digital sales. The team delivered improvements in both conversion and marketing efficiency during the quarter. The Engineered for Whatever campaign is driving brand momentum, including strong engagement from a local brand ambassador partnership that resulted in millions of Instagram impressions... and exceptional product sell-through.

LAAP distributor markets delivered high teens percent growth, driven by a strong order book for Spring 2026, further reinforcing the enduring strength of the Columbia brand in these important markets. Our distributor teams are successfully engaging young, active consumers through localized marketing activations and elevated brand retail experiences that showcase our best products and innovations. EMEA net sales increased 3%. Europe direct net sales increased slightly as growth in brick-and-mortar retail was partially offset by lower wholesale sales, reflecting earlier shipments of fall wholesale orders. Warm weather across Europe dampened consumer demand for cold weather products. Europe offers strong growth potential, and we're determined to capitalize on our brand momentum and drive broader awareness, led by younger, active consumers. Our EMEA distributor business increased low teens%, reflecting healthy order book for spring 2026.

Canada net sales increased 3% in the quarter, driven by improved store productivity in DTC and wholesale growth. Looking at fourth quarter performance by brand, Columbia net sales decreased 1%, as international growth was more than offset by declines in the US, reflecting earlier timing of fall shipments, along with the closure of temporary clearance stores and soft consumer mall traffic. The Amaze Puff Collection was our top product story for the fall season. By pairing an incredible product with a campaign that resonated with a focused and engaged audience of stylish young females, we were able to deliver amazing success. Many of the Amaze consumers in our U.S. e-commerce channel were new, first-time purchasers, purchasers of the brand. The Engineered for Whatever campaign had a profound impact in the fourth quarter, driving and amplifying our messaging and building buzz.

We executed the campaign across consumer touchpoints, including key trade outlets, Thursday Night Football, our social channels, certain of our wholesale accounts, and our U.S. branded retail stores. Since the launch, there have been distinct changes to certain of our brand metrics, including measurable increases in unaided brand awareness and branded search, as well as the perceptions of irreverence and style. The impact of the campaign underscores the success of Engineered for Whatever and provides us confidence in the direction of the brand and our accelerate growth strategy. We drove large-scale buzz with our activations, which has been a key part of the accelerate growth strategy. In December, we executed the Expedition Impossible activation, a marketing campaign that dared Flat Earthers to find the literal edge of the Earth.

We promised that anyone who could actually find the edge of the Earth, photograph and send evidence, would receive everything owned by the Company, LLC, including gear, office equipment, and assorted used corporate assets. The campaign kicked off with an open letter published in The New York Times and on Columbia's social channels, challenging Flat Earthers to put their beliefs to the test. The campaign engaged online communities, playfully interacting with flat Earth content and sparking conversation. We're excited for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympic Games. It's an incredible honor to be the official uniform sponsor for the USA Curling National Team. We've been working closely with USA Curling to support these athletic ambassadors as they compete at the highest level on the Olympic stage. Lastly, our latest marketing activation combines our passion for the outdoors with Americans' enthusiasm for the biggest game in football.

With Nature Calls, the only beer that uses bear scat in the brewing process. We've taken our active engineering excellence to a new level to make even the worst parts of Mother Nature bearable, or in this case, palatable. In a series of short videos that dropped on social media beginning January 26th, consumers were introduced to a bear whose GI routines delivered the foundational ingredient in Nature Calls. The campaign culminates with our activation at a tailgate pregame event in Santa Clara, where consumers can enjoy our new favorite beverage, Nature Calls. Turning now to our emerging brands. As a reminder, each of these brands derive almost all of their revenue from the U.S. marketplace. Additionally, Sorel and Mountain Hardwear heavily promoted PFAS inventories in the fourth quarter last year in advance of U.S. regulatory deadlines, which impacts year-over-year comparisons.

Sorel net sales decreased 18% due to the earlier shipment of fall wholesale orders, along with less clearance activity. Full price demand for the brand was healthy, with demand exceeding supply for key styles. In e-commerce, we continued to acquire new consumers and drive strong traffic. The team had successful launches during the quarter and unveiled the Horizon collection, which delivered particularly strong results from the Carson style. The team also created brand heat through collabs with Barbour, Neighborhood, and Aspen. Prana net sales increased 6%, driven by DTC, reflecting strong momentum for the brand's updated product offering, supported by enhanced full funnel marketing. Our team has been successfully expanding the Prana marketplace by targeting more lifestyle fitness accounts and the active outdoor consumer more broadly. We're very encouraged by positive sales trends in Shea Soft and women's seasonal products during the quarter.

Mountain Hardwear net sales decreased 5%, driven by lower clearance and promotional activity compared to elevated levels in the prior year. Underlying business trends were healthy, with notable strength in outerwear as well as fleece, led by our Summit Grid franchise. Ongoing optimization of Mountain Hardwear's full funnel advertising approach drove online traffic during the quarter. Additionally, branded in-store environments are continuing to deliver strong results and are poised for growth next year based on the current order book and planned door expansion. The brand also released its celebrated Mythogen kit, a new high-tech snow kit sold exclusively with evo and on its e-commerce site, with a launch party at evo's Salt Lake City location and a pop-up experience at the Brighton Ski Resort in Utah in the quarter. I'll now discuss our 2026 financial outlook. This outlook and commentary include forward-looking statements.

Please see our CFO commentary and financial review presentation for additional details and disclosures related to those statements. For the full year, we expect net sales growth in the range of 1%-3%. Based on recent weakening of the U.S. dollar, foreign currency is expected to be a slight tailwind, contributing 50 basis points-100 basis points to the top line. With greater than 80% of Fall 2016 advanced global bookings orders in hand, we project second half global wholesale net sales to increase up to a mid-single digit percent. We are encouraged that our U.S. wholesale business is expected to return to growth in the second half, including growth from all brands. That said, retailers remain cautious as tariff-induced price increases are just now beginning to hit the marketplace.

Gross margin is expected to contract 70 basis points to 50 basis points to 49.8%-50%. The decline in gross margin is primarily driven by the impact of incremental unmitigated tariff costs. We continue to evaluate and have taken actions to mitigate the financial impact of tariffs through a combination of price increases, vendor negotiations, resourcing production, and other tactics. For both Spring 2026 and Fall 2026, we increased U.S. pricing by a high-single digit percent. When combined with our other mitigation tactics, our goal in 2026 is to offset the dollar impact of higher tariffs. Longer term, our goal is to restore our product margin percentage to historical levels. SG&A is expected to increase, but at a slower rate than net sales growth.

SG&A leverage reflects the effect of previously executed and planned cost reduction actions, partially offset by continuing strategic investments internationally, along with maintaining accelerated market spend. Based on these assumptions, we expect an operating margin of 6.2%-6.9%, leading to diluted earnings per share in the range of $3.20-$3.65. This range includes a positive impact of approximately $0.10 to diluted earnings per share due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. For the first quarter, we anticipate sales will be down approximately 2.5%-4%, reflecting overall softness year-to-date. This will result in SG&A deleverage, and when combined with our anticipated decline in gross margin, result in earnings per share of $0.29-$0.37. In closing, I'm thrilled with the successful launch of the Columbia brand, Engineered for Whatever platform.

Over the past few months, we've witnessed brand momentum as consumers embraced our new product collections, with even more exciting launches on the horizon. Engineered for Whatever has not only reenergized our unique brand voice, but has provided powerful differentiation in a competitive marketplace. This momentum positions us well for continued success as we execute our vision and continue investing across all of our brands to accelerate profitable growth, create iconic products that are differentiated, functional, and innovative, drive brand engagement with increased focus demand creation investments, enhance consumer experiences by investing in capabilities to delight and retain consumers, amplify marketplace excellence that is digitally led, omni-channel and global, and empower talent that is driven by our core values. That concludes my prepared remarks. Operator, could you help us get questions for the remainder of the hour?

Operator (participant)

Absolutely. At this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Once again, please press star one if you have a question or a comment. The first question comes from Bob Drbul with BTIG. Please proceed.

Robert Drbul (Managing Director and Consumer Retail Analyst)

Hi, thank you. Good afternoon, and Peter, Joe, and Richelle, welcome. Peter, let her do her job, okay?

Peter Bragdon (Co-President)

Thank you, Bob.

Robert Drbul (Managing Director and Consumer Retail Analyst)

All right. I guess the first question generally, Tim, is when you look at, you know, the trends in the business, you know, the initiatives underway, and I would even say incorporating current weather, can you just talk about, like, how the business has developed over the last, you know, let's call it December, January into February? I think you talked about the order book. I think maybe you said 85% complete. I guess your updated thoughts around what remains to be booked and how that might trend, you know, given the trends that we're seeing today?

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, certainly. Well, I mean, we're very encouraged. The bookings have been strong. You know, we were quite cautious in entering the sales period for Spring 2026, as were our retailers. You know, the impact of tariffs were not fully known, and frankly, still not yet. We were quite conservative in terms of our approach to winter products for the first quarter and our Spring business. The business could frankly have been a lot better had we been more aggressive. The trends right now with, of course, the great weather we're having in the first quarter, inventory should be very low in the U.S.

I just see great things happening, including the terrific acceptance of our Amaze collection and other products, which are really leading the fall categories. Then we've got some really exciting projects underway to create an impact on the brand and the awareness for the brand and its products, which are quite differentiated. You know, we don't think anybody else in our space can do these things, so we're very excited.

Robert Drbul (Managing Director and Consumer Retail Analyst)

Great. I guess just on the brand advertising, and you talked about the progress that you're seeing. You know, when you consider the marketing, I guess, the level of spend that you put into the business in 2025, you know, the needs to continue to invest in marketing in the back, you know, in 2026 generally. You think you're at the right level, you know, and I don't know if you could give us any more of the metrics around progress, you know, for the brand equity, especially, you know, here in the U.S.? Thanks.

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think we could spend more. I don't think we need to spend a significant amount more than that, than what we're spending today. Jim will remind us what our delta in ad spend has been over the last several years. I think we've found an efficient way to get noticed. We've found a way to break through the clutter and in a way that's incredibly efficient. I think we always could use some more, but I think we're in the right spot for right now.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, I think, Bob, just to add a couple comments onto that. You know, we do believe that the incremental investments that we're making in marketing allow us to have a louder voice in the marketplace. I think that's pretty clear from a differentiation standpoint over the last year. Just in terms of the rate of spend, we were at 5.9% last year. This year, being 2025, we finished at 6.5%, so it's one of the major drivers of our increase in SG&A. As we go into 2026, our plan would be to more or less maintain that marketing spend. It's down slightly to 6.4%, but by and large, seeking to maintain the strategic investments that we're fully committed to behind the accelerate strategy.

Robert Drbul (Managing Director and Consumer Retail Analyst)

Great. Thank you very much. Good luck this year.

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Bob.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Laurent Vasilescu with BNP Paribas. Please proceed.

Laurent Vasilescu (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Good afternoon. Thank you very much for taking my question. Tim, I wanna focus on your business, but over the last 24 hours, there's a lot of news around Eddie Bauer potentially closing 200 stores in North America. Love to get your take in terms of if there's an overlap there. I don't think your guide was assuming a potential, you know, liquidation of those 200 stores. Is there any way you can maybe, for the audience, like, quantify, like, what's the overlap, if Eddie Bauer does liquidate? Thank you very much.

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Certainly. Well, we've actually been a supplier for many years at Eddie Bauer when it was more of a typical retail operation. Of course, the brand is well-known, but it's certainly fallen on hard times and the brand relied heavily on sort of its existing reputation as opposed to building in marketing efforts and marketing spend to make it a bigger business. It's well-known. We don't overlap in every store that they have in centers, but we would expect that, you know, as they leave the centers. We'll be in a position to accept more responsibility, more business from outdoors folks who would typically buy that brand. That brand, I would say, generally is a notch below the Columbia pricing. We hopefully will get some of that, but there'll be a question as to exactly how much.

Laurent Vasilescu (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Okay, fair enough. Yeah, unfortunate news, but the opportunities for you to gain share. Jim, I'd love to focus on the, in terms of second question, the gross margin. Your CFO presentation is always helpful, and I think in 3Q, you had $50 million-$20 million of unmitigated, $20 million for 4Q. You know, if I do the quick math, the 300 basis points of unmitigated, for fiscal year 2026, I think, is about $100 million. I'm trying to understand, like, what's the cadence here? Like, I would think, like, it crescendos right now, and then it tapers off. For the audience, maybe can you kind of walk us through, like, how do we think about that $100 million for fiscal year 2026, you know, over the coming quarters? Thank you very much.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah. Thanks, Laurent. I think you're thinking about that, in the right way from an overarching standpoint. Maybe just to step back for a minute. When you think about the tariff, the unmitigated tariff costs we incurred in 2025, of just over $30 million and an incremental 300 basis points, those are stacking. Effectively, on a two-year basis, the impact of these unmitigated tariffs are about 400 basis points. Of course, we're offsetting a fair amount of that through the price increases that Tim spoke to, with high-single digit price increases for both Spring 2026 and Fall 2026. Keep in mind, as we get into the first part of this year, as we're continuing to sell Fall/Winter goods, we did not increase price on that.

I think there'll be a disproportionate impact to gross margin, particularly in the front part of the year, Q1 in particular. You'd note that when you look at the outlook that we've provided for Q1, which is weaker from an overall standpoint, both from a top line and from a gross margin perspective. As we work our way through the year, in particular in the latter part of the year, where there's more effect as it relates to those price increases that we've planned into our margins. While still also allowing us some room in that gross margin outlook, for the uncertainty of how consumers react to broad price-based increases and just making sure that, you know, we've got some room to move within that.

Laurent Vasilescu (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Very helpful. Thank you very much, Jim, and best of luck with this great weather.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Thanks, Laurent.

Operator (participant)

Next question comes from Peter McGoldrick with Stifel. Please proceed.

Peter McGoldrick (Equity Research Analyst)

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to get a sense of the health of the U.S. market, after pulling out some of the one-time items, around timing of wholesale shipments and then store closures. I was curious, what's embedded in the outlook? Should we expect a return to growth, in the fourth quarter, or just the shape of guidance to get to, the annual guide of modest declines?

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, the annual estimations for the company include a softer first half and a much stronger second half. As we were saying, we've got over 80% of our Fall order book in hand, and we know where our emphasis is going to be, both from a marketing standpoint, as well as how that will link to our customers' inventories. We're excited about the possibilities for the business in wholesale. Then in retail, we will just continue to improve on our performance there in terms of all the typical metrics of a retailer where we believe there's lots of room for improvement for the company.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Then, Peter, just in thinking through the puts and takes from a revenue standpoint, as you look at the CFO commentary, you'll note that our U.S. wholesale business for the quarter was down a high teens%. Just to unpack that a little bit, the wholesale shipment timing represents over half of that decline from an overarching standpoint. Then the balance is effectively the lower orders for the Fall 2025 season, coupled with we did curtail some inventory purchases that Tim touched on at the height of the tariff announcements. That left us a bit light on inventory that we're unable to fulfill some demand.

Peter McGoldrick (Equity Research Analyst)

That's really helpful. Then, Jim, to follow up on Laurent's question about leaving some room in the gross margin guide, can you help us think about the puts and takes around the tariff mitigation strategy? The pathway to get gross profit dollars, or to offset tariffs at the gross profit dollar line, whether it be pricing or your other mitigation actions?

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Well, certainly the actions that we've taken to date, and the most meaningful of them, will be the price increases that we've put into the market. On average, as we've described, as a high-single digit percent price increase for both the Spring 2026 and Fall 2026 seasons. Those aren't stacking. That's a high-single digit percentage effectively for the year. That's the major mitigation factor. We've also had some successes. We've worked across our strategic factory groups in doing some degree of tariff cost sharing. Then to a lesser degree, there's also some work that we've done in terms of resourcing and moving production around to achieve the lowest tariff rate that we possibly can. Those are the major movers.

Of course, you know, we're certainly focused on the balance of the P&L from an SG&A standpoint, and to the degree we can't get it through SG&A, you know, we're committed to ultimately driving operating margin leverage. That is our goal for this year. Then longer term, you know, we're gonna stay after it. We know that we need to expand our gross margins. We've got to get our product margins back up to pre-tariff levels and beyond.

Peter McGoldrick (Equity Research Analyst)

Excellent. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Mitch Kummetz with Seaport Global. Please proceed.

Mitch Kummetz (Senior Equity Analyst)

Yes, thanks for taking my questions. I must say, Tim, I did not have Bear Scat on my bingo card for today's call. I know you, you've experienced a lot of winners, a lot of order books. When you kind of think about where we are today with where channel inventory is and the order book being 80% in, and the cold weather that we're experiencing right now across a lot of the country, you know, you've seen things like that in the past. Do you see much opportunity for the order book to improve from where it is today, over the next, you know, two, three months?

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think it, in my experience, you know, the weather impact on our company is much larger than almost any other category of impact. When we're talking about the weather that we have ongoing now, I would expect that we're gonna get some small lift, where retailers will go back and look at their order book, look at their carryover inventory, which should be quite negligible at this point. They may impact their orders somewhat, but I think we've probably got what we've got for the foreseeable future.

There might be 1 or 2 more percent left to be, to be gotten, but, you know, the important thing that retailers are doing now is still trying to gauge the impact of the tariffs. What the, what the flexibility will be on consumers in terms of how they would expect to be buying for next season. There's still quite a bit of cautiousness out there.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Mitch, we do take orders through the end of March, you know, so there's still some opportunity to chase, and we're, we're still placing inventory purchases through that period as well. We'll look forward to providing an update, you know, as we wrap up, taking that order book, and sharing that in April.

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I guess I would also comment that our footwear order deadlines are later than the apparel deadlines, so, you know, there's very likely to be, in the footwear category, more to buy and be gotten.

Mitch Kummetz (Senior Equity Analyst)

I appreciate all that color. Then, Jim, on the guide for the year, I'm struggling. I'm trying to pencil it out, and I'm having a hard time kind of reconciling the range you've given for op margin, based on the gross and the SG&A. Is there something unique happening on the licensing line, or am I missing something?

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Well, the biggest thing that doesn't lap year-over-year are the impairment charges of $29 million-

Mitch Kummetz (Senior Equity Analyst)

Oh.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

-that we took on, on Mountain Hardwear in 2025, and so those, those are not occurring. That, that's effectively, I think, probably what your issue is, Mitch.

Mitch Kummetz (Senior Equity Analyst)

Okay, great. Thanks again.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Paul Lejuez with Citigroup. Please proceed, Paul.

Tracy Kogan (VP and Equity Analyst)

Thanks. It's Tracy Kogan filling in for Paul. I think you guys said your Fall order books support mid-single digit growth, and I was just wondering how this breaks out by region, and if the U.S. is up a similar amount. Also just wondering what it looks like in units in the U.S., if we're assuming there's a high-single digit price increase in there? Thank you.

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. The U.S. business has been, frankly, over the last period, our most challenged, so the biggest improvements are happening there. Our international businesses have been quite strong, and our expectations are that those businesses will continue to outperform the U.S. business. Then again, as I said, our back half of the year is gonna be much improved over the front half of the year, especially in the U.S.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Then, Tracy, just a couple more comments on that. You know, as Tim touched on, we're incredibly pleased with what we're seeing in the Fall 2026 order book. From a geographic standpoint, you know, we would contemplate the international businesses outpacing growth from the U.S., and that's gonna continue to be the regions that we've described from China, Europe, and the distributor business. Just continued momentum in each of those markets. Then the U.S. will be a low- to mid-single digit rate of growth. Then excitingly, and I think Tim indicated as well, we do anticipate growth across all four brands, and the emerging brands growing at a faster rate than the Columbia brand.

Tracy Kogan (VP and Equity Analyst)

Got it. Are you guys pretty much taking price increases in the U.S. only, or are you taking them globally to offset tariffs?

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, the primary impact of price increases is in the U.S.

Tracy Kogan (VP and Equity Analyst)

Got it. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Next question comes from Mauricio Serna with UBS. Please proceed.

Mauricio Serna (Director of Equity Research)

Great, good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. Just a point of clarification. In the CFO presentation, you mentioned something about better conversion of Fall 2025 U.S. wholesale orders. Could you just, like, explain a little bit more what that means?

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, certainly, and that was the major driver in terms of the revenue beat in the quarter. The better conversion essentially consists of a combination of looking at our cancel rates, our reorder rates, and our replenishment metrics. From an overarching standpoint, as we look back over the last several seasons, this has been our best performing season in several across those overall metrics. I would say there's a couple different things that are underlying that. One of which, as we've touched on, we did curtail inventory purchases, and so the demand has exceeded supply in certain cases.

That's had an impact as retailers really needed that inventory, so we've seen better conversion on the order book. Then secondly, you know, I do believe that the Engineered for Whatever campaign, the new product collections we have in the marketplace, has sold through exceptionally well. That's certainly aided our conversion rate as well.

Mauricio Serna (Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Then, then just like, maybe on the U.S. following up, like, you know, it's something you've mentioned that, and I'm sorry you already mentioned this, but you expect the U.S. wholesale to return to growth in second half. Like, I guess just curious on like, what kind of growth would you be expecting in U.S. wholesale in the second half? Just on the DTC side, you know, is like for the DTC business in the US, are you considering any new stores, new store openings for the business? What's the cadence?

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Yeah. As it relates to the second half from a wholesale perspective in the U.S., our Fall 2026 order book is up for the wholesale business. It's up less than the international businesses. With the overall book being up a mid-single digit percent, the U.S. is gonna touch the low end of mid-single- to low-single digit rate of growth in the second half. Then in terms of looking at our direct-to-consumer business, we have a modest degree of stores planned for opening this year worldwide. In the U.S., our new store openings more or less offset with closures as we've continued to rationalize the fleet, make sure we're closing underperforming stores. Those essentially balance out.

Mauricio Serna (Director of Equity Research)

Great. Thanks so much, and best of luck.

Operator (participant)

Once again, if you have a question or a comment, please press star one on your touchtone phone. The next question comes from Tom Nikic with Needham. Please proceed.

Tom Nikic (Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, everybody, thanks for taking my question. In terms, so just, you know, kind of follow up on, on U.S. wholesale, I think it was flattish in Q3 and down high teens in Q4. I guess that means something like down, down high-single digits for the season, in, overall. You know, how did sell-through compare to sell-in? You know, is it I mean, is it safe to assume that, you know, given the improvement in order books for Fall 2026, that, you know, the sell-throughs, in Fall 2025 were better than sell-in?

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, the sell-through was, was quite good this year, and which indicates, which gave us confidence in our order book for Fall 2026. Remember, the bulk of our Fall 2026 order book was taken prior to the great weather that we're seeing right now in much of the United States. We're confident that we've got a good order book for Fall 2026, one that we'll, we'll be delivering into empty shelves. We're pretty excited about what the opportunities are.

Jim Swanson (EVP and CFO)

Tom, maybe just add a little bit more color on that. You directionally, you're accurate when you look at combined second half, the U.S. wholesale business being down a high-single digit percent. Despite the sell-in being lower, when we look at the overall sell-in, as Tim's touching on, I think we were up slightly. You know, up slightly, that's up in dollars. We're encouraged that, you know, despite lower sell-in, our sell-through is actually better, and the inventory in the marketplace is quite clean. I think Spring 2026 will be, will be similar to that in terms of the order book and the softness that we saw in that from a wholesale standpoint. We'll look to capitalize on in-season demand and driving sell-through with the collections and the marketing campaigns.

Tom Nikic (Equity Research Analyst)

All right. Sounds good. Just a quick follow-up. It sounds like for Fall 2026, U.S. wholesale order book is up, I guess, a little bit less than mid-single digits, with high-single digit pricing, which would imply that units are down a little bit. Is that just, you know, retailers being cautious and, and, you know, given some of the uncertainty out there? Then, you know, how, how would we think about, you know, potential upside if the, you know, consumer remains resilient, if inventories are really lean, you know, et cetera?

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, I think retailers that we deal with are still unsure about what the elasticity rate is gonna be on some of these more expensive products. You're right in that the units have gone down slightly as the prices have gone up. You know, we'll have to see what happens. Again, as I said earlier, weather is almost more impactful than almost any other variable.

Operator (participant)

Okay, we have reached the end of the question and answer session, and I will now turn the call over to Tim Boyle for closing remarks.

Tim Boyle (Chairman and CEO)

Well, thank you for joining us today. We're very excited to see our accelerated growth strategy truly come to life. The Engineered for Whatever brand platform is driving strong energy and engagement. With this strategy and platform, combined with great new products such as the Amaze collection, we are building momentum. We look forward to sharing our continued progress when we report our first quarter results. Thanks very much for your support.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.