What Happened?
Shares of footwear company Caleres (NYSE: CAL) fell 17.6% in the afternoon session after the company reported underwhelming first-quarter 2025 results: its revenue, EPS, and EBITDA fell short of Wall Street's estimates. That miss mainly came from slower sales at both its Famous Footwear stores and other brands, with February being especially soft. The company suspended its full-year outlook, citing market uncertainty, a signal that near-term visibility remained clouded despite pockets of improvement in March and April. The company also announced plans to cut operating expenses, alongside efforts to diversify sourcing away from China, as it tries to regain control amid shifting consumer habits. Overall, this was a weaker quarter.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Caleres’s shares are very volatile and have had 24 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Caleres and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock dropped 21.1% on the news that the company reported weak second-quarter results. Its revenue unfortunately missed, and its EPS fell short of Wall Street's estimates. Unpacking the drivers for the underwhelming sales results, the company called out delayed contributions from the back-to-school season, which impacted Famous Footwear sales.
In addition, brand portfolio sales fell 5.1% due to operational reporting challenges in connection with its SAP ERP implementation and weak seasonal demand.
Looking ahead, guidance was also underwhelming, which means that Wall Street analysts will be reducing their projections. Overall, this quarter could have been better.
Caleres is down 38.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $13.76 per share, it is trading 68.7% below its 52-week high of $43.97 from August 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Caleres’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,919.
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