Tariff recovery fuels major profit upswing in Columbia Sportswear’s Q2
Mon, August 3, 2026 at 2:44 PM GMT+3 3 min read
For the quarter ending 30 June, Columbia posted a gross margin of 58.3%, a jump of over nine percentage points from the previous year.
The company attributed around 980 basis points of this margin expansion directly to the recognition of US tariff refunds during the period.
Without the impact of these refunds, Columbia stated that profit margins would have been in line with expectations.
The company's net sales for the quarter rose 2% year-on-year to $614.4m, with broad-based growth in international markets counterbalancing weaker performance in the company's US wholesale business and brick-and-mortar stores.
Operating income reached $30.9m, or 5.0% of net sales, reversing a $23.6m operating loss in the comparable quarter of 2025.
Net income for the period totalled $26.6m, or $0.52 per diluted share compared with a $10m loss for the same period a year earlier.
Columbia Sportswear chairman and chief executive officer Tim Boyle said: "We're pleased to have delivered net sales exceeding our guidance for the second quarter, driven by the resilience of our international business, which was partly offset by continued softness in the US, amid growing global macroeconomic headwinds.
"Our reported second quarter earnings and profit margins include the impact of US tariff refunds recognised during the quarter. Excluding this impact, our underlying performance was largely in-line with our expectations."
First Half 2026 Financial Performance
During the first half of 2026, Columbia Sportswear reported net sales of $1.39bn, marking a 1% increase compared to $1.38bn in the same period last year.
Gross margin improved by 400 basis points to 54.1% of net sales, up from 50.1% the previous year. This increase was largely due to a 430 basis point gain from the recovery of IEEPA tariff refunds.
Net income more than doubled to $60.9m, or $1.17 per diluted share, up from $32.1m, or $0.58 per diluted share, in the same period of 2025.
Full Year 2026 Outlook
Columbia Sportswear forecasts net sales for the 2026 financial year to rise by 1% to 3%, reaching between $3.43bn and $3.50bn, assuming US tariff rates remain unchanged.
Gross margin is projected to increase to a range of 52.1% to 52.3%, reflecting a benefit from previously recovered IEEPA tariff refunds.
The company anticipates an operating margin between 8.5% and 9.3%, up from 6.1% in 2025, while SG&A expenses are expected to represent 43.6% to 44.2% of sales, consistent with the prior year. Diluted earnings per share are set to grow to between $4.45 and $4.90, compared to $3.24 last year. Planned capital expenditures will remain between $65m and $75m.
Third Quarter 2026 Guidance
For the third quarter, net sales are forecast to range from $929m to $943m, reflecting a potential decrease of up to 1.5% compared to the same period of 2025, due largely to the timing of autumn season shipments.
Operating income is expected to represent 8.1% to 9.5% of net sales, while diluted earnings per share are projected at $1.15 to $1.35, compared to $0.95 in the prior year's third quarter.
"While our first half operating results have been in-line to slightly favourable overall as compared to our expectations at the start of the year, our outlook for the second half has incrementally moderated, largely due to external geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds. That said, we continue to expect our full-year results to fall within the guidance ranges previously provided, excluding the impact of tariff refunds," Tim Boyle added.
"Tariff recovery fuels major profit upswing in Columbia Sportswear's Q2" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand.
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