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Transcript Summary

Movado Group, Inc. concluded fiscal 2026 with a strong fourth-quarter performance, driven by a 5.6% sales increase and a return to growth for the full year. Total annual revenue reached $671.3 million, with adjusted operating income rising 28.7% to $34.8 million. Growth was particularly notable in the U.S. wholesale market and through the company's e-commerce platform, Movado.com, which grew 18% in the final quarter. Management highlighted a resurgence in the women's fashion watch category and successful engagement with Gen Z consumers through licensed brands like Coach and Calvin Klein. Despite these gains, the company faced significant headwinds from U.S. tariffs, which reduced gross margins by 150 basis points for the year. Additionally, geopolitical instability in the Middle East impacted international performance. Due to these lingering uncertainties, Movado did not provide financial guidance for fiscal 2027. However, the company remains financially robust, ending the year with over $230 million in cash and no debt. Looking ahead, Movado aims to focus on its 145th anniversary, leveraging its Swiss heritage and a strong pipeline of product innovation across its portfolio to maintain momentum and drive profitability.

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Movado Group: Restatements and Dubai Misconduct Investigation Signal Internal Control Failure

Full Earnings Call Transcript — Q4 • 2026-03-19

Operator: Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Movado Group, Inc. Fourth Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded and may not be reproduced in full or in part without permission from the company. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Allison C. Malkin of ICR. Please go ahead.
Allison C. Malkin: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. With me on the call today are Efraim Grinberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Sallie A. DeMarsilis, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I would like to remind you of the company's safe harbor language I am sure you are all familiar with. The statements contained in this conference call which are not historical facts may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual future results may differ materially from those suggested in such statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties, all of which are described in the company's filings with the SEC, which includes today's press release. If any non-GAAP financial measure is used on this call, a presentation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to this non-GAAP financial measure will be provided as supplemental financial information in our press release. I will now turn the call over to Efraim Grinberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Movado Group, Inc.
Efraim Grinberg: Thank you, Allison. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Movado Group, Inc.'s fourth quarter and full year conference call. Joining me today is Sallie A. DeMarsilis, our Executive Vice President and CFO. After our prepared remarks, we will be glad to take your questions. After a challenging fiscal 2025, we are pleased to return to growth in fiscal 2026. Revenue increased 2.7% to $171,300,000 and adjusted operating income grew 28.7% to $34,800,000, reflecting strong execution across our strategic priorities. These results exceeded our expectations and improved as the year progressed, with fourth quarter sales up 5.6% to $191,600,000, led by our U.S. wholesale and retail business. Adjusted operating income grew by 6.2% for the quarter to $14,400,000. We also generated strong operating cash flow of $57,900,000 and ended the year with $230,000,000 in cash and no debt, which gives us significant flexibility as we move forward. These results were helped by a strong euro, offset somewhat by the impacts of a very strong Swiss franc. During the year, we advanced our strategic priorities, which focused on four key areas. Let me discuss highlights of each. First, putting the customer at the center of everything we do. This focus continues to guide how we operate across all channels. Digitally, we strengthened our engagement with consumers, and we are seeing the benefits of a more connected omnichannel approach. From a category standpoint, we saw continued strength in both the fashion watch and accessible luxury segment in the U.S. Importantly, we are seeing increased participation from younger consumers, along with a strong return of women into the category driven by smaller case sizes and jewelry-inspired designs and fresh styling. In our company stores, we delivered a strong holiday season with sales up 9% for the fourth quarter driven by higher average selling prices, improved merchandising, and better in-store execution. Our teams have done an excellent job elevating the consumer experience at the point of sale. Second, delivering consumer- and brand-focused innovation. Innovation was a major driver of our momentum, particularly in the fourth quarter. Across our portfolio, traditional watches are resonating strongly, especially with younger consumers who are responding to new shapes, sizes, and design expressions. Within the Movado brand, we had an excellent quarter. Wholesale sales grew over 25%, and our e-commerce business increased 18%, reflecting the success of our brand refresh initiatives we began implementing about eighteen months ago. From a product standpoint, we had a number of exciting highlights, including continued strength in our mini bangle collection, which is performing very well with women across multiple shapes; strong demand for our Movado 1917 Heritage Collection, which is resonating with both men and women; ongoing growth in higher price point automatic watches, led by the Museum Classic Automatic; and encouraging traction in jewelry, particularly with our Ono collection. Looking ahead, we are excited about the pipeline of innovation we will bring to consumers. We will be introducing Valeura, a beautiful new women's Museum watch; expanding our Movado Bold offering with Verso S; and launching a new heritage model inspired by the original Movado Kingmatic. We are also expanding our jewelry collections, including our new Curve line for women. Our licensed brands also delivered strong innovation and growth. Coach performed very well, driven by Gen Z engagement and the continued success of the Sami family, along with Caddie and Reese. We are clearly capturing the momentum of the parent brand with Gen Z consumers. Hugo Boss saw strong momentum with Grand Prix and growth in women's with the May collection. Lacoste continued to perform, led by the LC33 and strength in men's jewelry, particularly the Metropole bracelet. In Tommy Hilfiger, we are seeing a strong response to new shapes, smaller case sizes, and trend-right design. In Tommy Hilfiger men's, we have also seen success with Oxford, inspired by the traditional Oxford shirt. In Calvin Klein, we saw a strong reaction to our innovation in watches with the introduction of our new Pulse Mini, our unique circle-in-the-square watch design. We also received a favorable response to our CK Motion for him and believe that men's represents a significant opportunity going forward. Finally, Olivia Burton continued its growth in both the U.K. and the U.S., driven by Mini Grove and Grosvenor, supported by our Mini to the Max campaign. Overall, we are very encouraged by the return of consumers to the fashion watch category, particularly women, and we believe we are well positioned to capitalize on that trend.
This brings us to our third strategic priority: connecting with consumers through compelling storytelling across digital and communication platforms. This is an area where we have made meaningful progress. During the holiday season, our Movado campaign featuring brand ambassadors including Ludacris, Christian McCaffrey, Julianne Moore, Jessica Alba, and Tyrese Halliburton performed very well. What made it effective was the authenticity of the storytelling, with each ambassador sharing how they personally connect with our brand. We amplified this across digital channels, social platforms, and through influencers and content creators, allowing us to reach consumers in more relevant and engaging ways. Looking ahead, storytelling will be even more important as we celebrate Movado's 145th anniversary. We are developing a series of campaigns that highlight our Swiss heritage, craftsmanship, and the growing interest in our vintage timepieces, which we believe will further strengthen our emotional connection with consumers. As a company, we will also be amplifying our investments by expanding our consumer insights capabilities, further reinforcing the importance of placing the consumer at the center of each of our brands' universe. And finally, driving profitability and strengthening our gross margins. This remains a key focus for us. Despite external pressures, including tariffs, we were able to maintain stable gross margins while significantly increasing operating income. This reflects the disciplined execution of our teams across pricing, sourcing, product mix, and cost management. As we move forward, our initiatives are clearly focused on improving profitability. This includes continuing to shift our mix towards higher-margin products; driving more full-price sell-through through stronger brand positioning while reducing promotional activity; and improving efficiency across our supply chain and operations. We see a clear path to margin expansion over time as we continue to execute against these priorities. Overall, we are very pleased with the momentum in the business as well as the strong execution and collaboration our teams have demonstrated in advancing our strategic initiatives. The investments we have made over the past several years are delivering results, and we believe we are well positioned for continued growth. At the same time, we remain mindful of the broader environment. The conflict in the Middle East has introduced additional uncertainty in global markets. We are closely monitoring the situation while supporting our teams and partners in that region. I will now turn the call over to Sallie A. DeMarsilis to review our financial results in more detail. Then we will be happy to take your questions.
Sallie A. DeMarsilis: Thank you, Efraim, and good morning. For today's call, I will review our financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year. My comments today will focus on adjusted results. Please refer to the description of the special items included in our results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2026 in our press release issued earlier today, which also includes a table for GAAP and non-GAAP measures. We were very pleased with our overall top-line performance for fiscal 2026, which delivered 2.7% growth over fiscal 2025 and included a year-over-year increase of 5.6% in the fourth quarter. For the fourth quarter of 2026, sales were $191,600,000 as compared to $181,500,000 last year, reflecting growth in our own brands, licensed brands, and in our company stores. In constant dollars, net sales increased 1.8%. By geography, U.S. net sales increased 11.2%. International net sales increased 1% compared to the fourth quarter of last year, with strong performances in certain markets such as Europe and Mexico, offset by a weaker performance in the Middle East, where we are making progress rebuilding this important market. On a constant currency basis, international net sales decreased by 5.9%. We held gross margin nearly flat at 54.1% of sales as compared to 54.2% in the fourth quarter of last year. We absorbed increased U.S. tariffs with favorable channel and product mix, increased leverage of lower fixed costs over higher sales, and the favorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates. Operating expenses were $89,300,000 as compared to $84,800,000 for the same period of last year. The increase was driven by higher performance-based compensation, partially offset by a planned reduction in marketing expenses. Higher sales and gross margin dollars more than offset the increase in operating expenses, resulting in operating income increasing $900,000 to $14,400,000 compared to $13,500,000 in 2025. We recorded approximately $600,000 of other non-operating income in 2026 as compared to $1,400,000 during the same period of last year. Income tax expense was $17,000,000 in 2026 as compared to $3,100,000 in 2025. Net income in the fourth quarter was $13,000,000, or $0.57 per diluted share, as compared to $11,500,000, or $0.51 per diluted share, in the year-ago period. Now turning to our fiscal year results. Sales were $671,300,000, an increase of 2.7% from fiscal 2025. In constant dollars, the increase in net sales was 1%. U.S. net sales increased by 4.3%. International sales increased 1.6% but decreased 1.5% on a constant currency basis. Gross profit was $363,600,000, or 54.2% of sales, as compared to $353,100,000, or 54% of sales, last year. The increase in gross margin rate was due to favorable channel and product mix and increased leverage of lower fixed costs over higher sales, partially offset by increased U.S. tariffs and the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates. Operating income was $34,800,000, or 5.2% of sales, compared to operating income of $27,100,000, or 4.1% of sales, in fiscal 2025. We recorded approximately $4,500,000 of other non-operating income in fiscal 2026, which was primarily comprised of interest earned on our global cash position, as compared to $6,600,000 during the same period of last year. Net income was $30,400,000, or $1.34 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $25,400,000, or $1.12 per diluted share, in the year-ago period. Now turning to our balance sheet. Cash at the end of the fiscal year was $230,500,000, and we had no outstanding debt. Accounts receivable were $102,000,000 as compared to $93,400,000 at the same period of last year. This increase was driven by timing and the mix of our business. Inventory at the end of the fiscal year, which included $3,100,000 of IEEPA reciprocal tariff, was $158,300,000 as compared to $156,700,000 at the same period of last year. Capital expenditures were $4,500,000, and depreciation and amortization expense was $9,400,000. As it relates to share repurchases, during fiscal 2026, we repurchased approximately 208,000 shares. As of 01/31/2026, we had $46,100,000 remaining under our 12/05/2004 authorized repurchase program. Subject to prevailing market conditions and the business environment, we plan to utilize our share repurchase plan to offset dilution in fiscal 2027. Given the current economic and geopolitical uncertainty, including the unpredictable impact of the current Middle East conflict and ongoing tariff developments, the company has elected to not provide a fiscal 2027 outlook at this time. We will now open for questions. Thank you.
Operator: We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press 2 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 speaking. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from the line of Owen Rickert with Northland Capital. Please proceed with your question.
Owen Rickert: Hi, Efraim. Hi, Sallie. Thanks for taking my questions here. First for me, Movado.com grew 18% in 4Q 2026. What is driving that strong performance? Is it traffic, conversion, higher ASPs, or is it a combination of all of that? And maybe how are you thinking about the D2C mix of the business longer term?
Efraim Grinberg: Thank you for that question, Owen, and good to talk to you. We see a number of things driving it, and I think you actually touched on all of them. It is a higher level of engagement from consumers and the connection that Movado is making with new innovation and shapes and sizes across our product segments, also driving higher price points with the growth of automatic watches, particularly for men. We are really encouraged. I think D2C will continue to play a significant role in our business, but so will our wholesale business. We saw growth in most of our biggest customers, particularly during the fourth quarter, and a lot of those trends continued into the first quarter. It is exciting to see the engagement across the Movado brand.
Owen Rickert: Got it. And secondly for me, U.S. net sales grew about 11.2% in the quarter. Can you break down how much of that growth was volume-driven versus price-driven, and how you expect that mix to evolve throughout fiscal year 2027?
Efraim Grinberg: I think it is mostly volume-driven. We passed some very minimal price increases last year, mostly to try to offset tariffs somewhat. We have passed a second price increase in the first half of this year across multiple brands. We are really looking at the consumer returning to the fashion watch category as well as the accessible luxury category, particularly in the United States. As I highlighted in my comments, we see the strength of women in the category, and they are the main shoppers in the marketplace. It is great to have them back after a long period of time where there was probably less interest in watches from women, but to see younger women lead that effort in brands like Coach and Movado is really exciting.
Owen Rickert: Great. And then you called out tariffs as a partial offset to gross margins during the quarter and the year. Can you quantify the total tariff drag on gross margin in basis points for fiscal year 2026? And then, if possible, what is embedded in your internal planning assumptions for fiscal year 2027?
Sallie A. DeMarsilis: Sure, Owen. I will take that and hopefully get you all the information you are looking for. The IEEPA tariffs this past fiscal year hurt us in our cost of goods sold by about $10,000,000. In basis points for the year, it was 150 basis points. It was a little more than $3,000,000 a quarter toward second, third, and fourth quarter of this year, just based on the timing of it. So the fourth quarter was impacted by about 180 basis points in gross margin. That recaps what happened this past fiscal year. Going forward, we have some information now and are using our current tariff information in our current plans for the next fiscal year, which is closer to about a 10% tariff on top of what is a normal duty.
Efraim Grinberg: Correct.
Sallie A. DeMarsilis: Hopefully, that answers what you are looking for.
Owen Rickert: Absolutely. Thank you. And then lastly for me, you repurchased roughly 208,000 shares in fiscal 2026. Under that current program and given the approximately $46 million remaining and strong cash balance, what would accelerate the pace of buyback activity?
Efraim Grinberg: It is a combination of factors. We are always very prudent with our cash balances and want to make sure that the dividend is solid, and it has been and continues to be important for us, and I believe important for our shareholders. Then we try to offset dilution with our share repurchases. I would expect that to occur as we move forward, especially with our significant cash balances.
Owen Rickert: Great. Thanks for taking my questions.
Efraim Grinberg: Thanks, Owen. Thank you, Owen.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Hamed Khorsand with BWS Financial. Please proceed with your question.
Hamed Khorsand: Good morning. I will start with a follow-up on the tariffs. I know last year you had been highlighting maybe potentially saving because of the revision to the Swiss tariff. Do you think that still exists now, and how much of that would be able to help in this fiscal year?
Efraim Grinberg: Good to talk to you today, Hamed. At one point, for about a six-week to two-month period, Swiss tariffs went to 39%. We brought in very little during that period of time with the idea that 39% tariffs would not be long lasting. I do not think we will see a major benefit this year because we did not bring in a lot of inventory at those types of tariff, only on things that we needed to have in a timely manner. If anything, it might have caused our inventories to be a little lower at the end of the year and as we entered this year, particularly in the Movado brand, which is the one that was most impacted by the 39% tariff rates. The new tariff rate the Swiss and the U.S. agreed to was a 15% tariff, but right now, it is a 10% plus about 6% to 8% duty rate on top of that. We do not really know which one will be the permanent tariff rate going forward. As we highlighted in the comments, there is still a lot of volatility around tariffs because there is a statute being used to impose the current 10% rate that is above the current duty rates, whereas the 15% was an all-inclusive rate when the Swiss and the United States negotiated that.
Hamed Khorsand: Given the high growth rate out of your wholesale segment, is that because you think your wholesalers and retailers were underinvested in inventory and they are catching up, or was that driven by demand?
Efraim Grinberg: It was really driven by demand. It was driven by sell-through, and we still have retailers right now chasing inventory, and that is one of the things that we are focused on because sales were better in Q4 in Movado, particularly in the wholesale channel. We are focused on rebuilding our inventory and accelerating the delivery of those products on our best-selling products in Movado.
Hamed Khorsand: And my last question is, given the increase in number of units sold and how much you should be producing, will there be some sort of operational efficiency here?
Efraim Grinberg: Ultimately, as volume increases—and we did benefit, I believe, this year a little bit from leveraging our supply chain infrastructure over greater volume—as volume increases, it should help to leverage our gross margin and cost of goods sold.
Hamed Khorsand: Are you assuming anything in 2027 right now?
Efraim Grinberg: Sallie, I will turn that over to you.
Sallie A. DeMarsilis: As Efraim mentioned in his comments, we are focused on improving our profitability, and as part of that, we are looking at the efficiencies that you were just talking about through supply chain or other operations. We do not provide forward-looking outlook, but it is something our teams are focused on, and what you just mentioned is very much a part of it. As demand grows, you can get leverage on your purchases and so forth with increased units.
Hamed Khorsand: Okay. Great. Thank you.
Operator: We have no further questions at this time. Mr. Grinberg, I would like to turn the floor back to you for closing comments.
Efraim Grinberg: Thank you. I would like to thank all of you for joining us today. We are really pleased with how our year turned out and where our brands stand right now. We hope that this conflict is short-lived and that business can return to a somewhat normal basis on a global basis. Thank you again for participating today. Thank you.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.