By Kelly Cloonan

Caleres logged higher revenue in its latest quarter, driven by the growth of its e-commerce business, but swung to a loss on higher costs.

The St. Louis footwear company on Thursday posted a loss of $22.7 million for the fourth quarter, or 70 cents a share, compared with a profit of $4.9 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier. The loss was driven by higher cost of goods sold and selling, administrative expenses.

On an adjusted basis, loss per share was 36 cents, compared with estimates for an adjusted loss of 40 cents a share according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 8.7% to $695.1 million, compared with analysts' estimates of $685.4 million.

Brand portfolio sales climbed 20%, boosted by the company's acquisition of Stuart Weitzman in August. Famous Footwear sales fell 1.2%.

Chief Executive Jay Schmidt said the results were driven by continued strength in the company's owned e-commerce sales, which were up double digits across its Famous Footwear and brand portfolio segments, as well as international growth.

"Our lead brands once again outperformed, and we gained market share in both women's fashion footwear and total footwear," Schmidt said.

Looking ahead, 2026 will be a build-back year, he said. The company expects profit to improve due to tariff mitigation efforts and its plan to drive Stuart Weitzman to breakeven profitability, he said.

"While we have many reasons for optimism, we are also aware that the current geopolitical backdrop presents a level of risk and uncertainty," he said.

For the fiscal year, the company guided for adjusted earnings per share of $1.35 to $1.65 and sales up by low- to mid-single digits. Analysts expect adjusted per-share earnings of $1.51 and revenue of $2.89 billion.

For the fiscal first quarter, the company forecasts adjusted earnings per share of 25 cents to 30 cents and sales up by mid- to high-single digits.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2026 07:39 ET (11:39 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.