What Happened?
Shares of lifestyle clothing conglomerate VF Corp (NYSE: VFC) fell 12% in the afternoon session after the company reported weak first quarter 2025 (fiscal Q4) results: Its EPS missed and its revenue guidance for next quarter fell short of Wall Street's estimates.
Despite changes to drive a turnaround, steep sales declines in Vans and Dickies segments (down 22% and 14% y/y respectively) outweighed gains from The North Face and Timberland brand.
Margins, however, told a different story. Adjusted operating margin turned positive, driven by lower discounting and stronger inventory controls. Despite these gains, the lift wasn't enough to offset the revenue pressure, which held earnings growth back. Overall, this was a softer quarter.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
VF Corp’s shares are very volatile and have had 29 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for VF Corp and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 7 months ago when the stock gained 28.3% on the news that the company reported third-quarter results that blew past analysts' EBITDA and EPS expectations. In addition, its constant currency revenue outperformed Wall Street's estimates. Notably, guidance for the next quarter implied continued sequential improvement in sales relative to the declines recorded since the start of CY'24. In terms of the regional breakdown, APAC reported positive year on year growth, partially offsetting the declines recorded in other regions. Moving to the bottom line, management confirmed that the business is on track to achieve the $300 million savings target by the end of FY25. Overall, it was a great quarter for the company, highlighting significant improvements.
VF Corp is down 42% since the beginning of the year, and at $12.50 per share, it is trading 53.6% below its 52-week high of $26.93 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of VF Corp’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $221.80.
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