Sep 10, 2026 earnings call — Footwear weakness and cautious Q3 outlook
Company guided third-quarter sales to $222 million to $226 million, a decline of 5.5% to 7%.
Revenue $0.2B (est $0.2B) · EPS $-0.17 (est $-0.14)
Key quotes
"As we reflect on the U.S. business second quarter and back to school results, through Labor Day, the footwear category has been the most significant headwind accounting for 70% of the total US sales decline from the prior year through that time frame."
"This includes executing a premium pricing strategy to drive margin expansion, while managing expenses to grow at the bottom line."
"During the second quarter, we repurchased 1.2 million shares at a total cost of $23.2 million under the authorization provided by the Board of Directors on March 11, 2026."
Analyst Q&A 1
Footwear trends, promotions, Q3 guide
Q (Mitchel Kummetz · Seaport): He asked what is happening in footwear and whether Zumiez sees a shift away from athletic styles and how they will change the assortment. He also asked about back to school promotions and margin pressure, and why the third-quarter guide is weaker than current trends (how much is conservatism versus expected slowdown).
A: Management said footwear has been a challenge for several quarters but they view their products as lifestyle athletic footwear and are trying new, unique styles with partners to find what works. They said their footwear inventory is well managed with partners and not a major inventory problem, but they are clearing some product online which has hurt margins in these quarters. For the quarter guide, they said they are just over 50% of the way through sales, expect the back half of the quarter to be worse than back to school, and they baked conservatism after the second-quarter miss while focusing on improving Q4 and into 2027.
"And as you can tell with the guide that is worse than where we are trending, we are expecting the back half of the quarter to be worse than what we experienced through back to school." — Christopher Codington Work (CFO)