What Happened?
Shares of shoe and apparel company Steven Madden (NASDAQ: SHOO) jumped 16.7% in the afternoon session after the company reported decent first quarter 2025 results with EBITDA and EPS beating Wall Street's estimates, though sales missed by a whisker.
What stood out was how the company kept profits steady, even though sales barely grew from last year. While the company pulled its full-year forecast due to new tariffs, it still sounds upbeat about the rest of the year. It also just closed a deal to buy Kurt Geiger, which should help drive new sales. Zooming out, we think this quarter was good.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Steven Madden’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 9 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Steven Madden and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 29 days ago when the stock dropped 9.6% as markets gave up early gains with optimism over progress in US-China trade talks quickly fading as the Trump administration pushed tariffs on all Chinese imports to well above 100%. Hopes had been lifted by chatter of constructive negotiations aimed at easing and eventually removing U.S. trade tariffs. But the news confirmed fears of a prolonged trade fight, increasing uncertainty about the direction of economic policy. This left investors grappling with the dual threat of slower growth and higher inflation, both of which could linger if the standoff continues.
Steven Madden is down 44.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $23.13 per share, it is trading 53.5% below its 52-week high of $49.70 from September 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Steven Madden’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,016.
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