Aug 27, 2026 earnings call — Guidance cut after weak summer products
Build-A-Bear cut full-year revenue guidance to a range of $500 million to $525 million.
Revenue $0.1B (est $0.1B) · EPS $0.70 (est $0.65) · Next-quarter revenue outlook $0.5B–$0.5B
Key quotes
"Guests continue to respond positively to products that highlight Build-A-Bear's signature customization experience."
"During the second quarter, we added 5 net new locations, bringing total net new openings to 12 through the first half of fiscal 2026 and ending the second quarter with 674 locations across 37 countries."
"We were unable to repeat the multimillion-dollar Walmart program, and other wholesale opportunities have progressed more slowly than expected."
Analyst Q&A 4
commercial partners and Walmart program
Q (Christopher Moore · CJS): He asked why the company lost four commercial partners and what drove the updated guide assuming no commercial growth in 2026. He also asked for more details about the Walmart program and if geopolitics or Chinese tariffs could hurt them.
A: They said the Walmart multimillion-dollar program was not able to be anniversaried, which reduced the prior commercial growth outlook. They still expect to be close to their original commercial guidance with international and domestic partners, and they plan to open at least 50 net new locations this year. Management said tariffs rose to 12.5% and they are working with partners to mitigate supply chain impacts.
"We do anticipate to still be close to our original guidance with our commercial segment with our international partners and our domestic partners." — J. Christopher Hurt (CEO)
customer traffic, product fit, and tariffs
Q (Eric Beder · SCC): He asked what they are seeing in customer purchasing and whether customers are trading down to lower-priced items like Mini Beans. He also asked if tariffs distorted Q2 inventory comparisons and what they learned from the weaker spring/summer launch.
A: They said Q2 had persistent traffic challenges but the Halloween launch drove a positive change in traffic and sales and DPT is above last year, though results remain slightly below prior expectations. On tariffs, they described large fluctuations since implementation and said rates moved to 12.5%; they had IEEPA tariff refunds that hit P&L in Q1 and partly Q2 and about a $1 million impact in both quarters last year. For spring/summer, they said they pushed innovation too far, the summer products were less dressable and did not resonate, and they will focus more on core, licensed, and trend items.
"Tariffs have been really -- we've seen significant fluctuations since they were implemented, at least for our business, in April of last year." — Vojin Todorovic (CFO)
partner store changes and promotions
Q (Keegan Tierney Cox · D.A. Davidson): He asked whether partners closing small footprints and opening larger standalone stores caused the closures this quarter. He also asked which items were promoted that pressured margins and whether customers were trading down.
A: They said partners are repositioning from small shop-in-shops to higher-volume standalone stores and they still expect to open at least 50 net new locations this year, mostly partner-operated and with many openings in the back half and internationally. On margins, they said heavier promotional activity was focused on moving the summer trend products that missed expectations; despite promotions, dollar-per-transaction and units-per-transaction were up and discount rates remained low.
"Again, we still expect to open at least 50 net new locations this year, and predominantly those being our partner-operated stores." — J. Christopher Hurt (CEO)
early Q3 improvement and Walmart impact
Q (Gregory Gibas · Northland): He asked which metrics improved in early Q3 and whether the Halloween launch caused the change. He also asked why the Walmart program didn't repeat and how much it affected guidance.
A: They said they have seen sequential improvement in both traffic and early sales reads with the Halloween launch, though comparisons in August and versus two prior successful Halloween launches make it a tough comp. They said the Walmart engagement was a multimillion-dollar opportunistic deal they could not anniversary, which reduced the commercial growth outlook from at least 20% to basically flat and tied most of the decline to traditional wholesale.
"That was a multimillion-dollar deal that we had with Walmart, and it did have an impact on guidance because we weren't able to anniversary that opportunistic program from last year." — Vojin Todorovic (CFO)