Kontoor Brands: Mgmt Access Takes & 8-K Recast Implications; Overweight

Research evidence excerpt

J P M O R G A N

North America Equity Research

10 August 2026

Kontoor Brands

Mgmt Access Takes & 8-K Recast Implications;

Overweight

KTB, KTB US

Price (07 Aug 26):$77.05

Price Target (Dec-27):$105.00

We are updating our quarterly financial model following KTB’s 8-K filing, which

included a recast of FY25 quarters to present the Lee business on a discontinued

operations basis. 3 Key Points to flag from the 8-K and circling back to our 8/4

Global Brands Preview:

Retailing – Department Stores &

Specialty Softlines

Amanda K. Douglas

Updating Our Quarterly Cadence in 2H26 = Lowering 3Q EPS & Raising

4Q EPS: We are maintaining our FY26 EPS estimate of $5.23 (vs. Street

$5.24), including our 2Q26 EPS $1.02 (vs. Street $1.01) and our 2H26 EPS of

$3.16 as unchanged. Within 2H26, we are rebalancing our quarters lowering our 3Q26 EPS to $1.30 (vs. $1.37 prior) and raising our 4Q26 EPS

to $1.86 (vs. $1.78 prior). As a result, our 3Q and 4Q EPS growth now

reflects a more “balanced” ~22% EPS growth rate YOY on the restated

3Q25 EPS of $1.07 and 4Q25 EPS of $1.50, which is aligned to how we expect

management to speak to 2H26 quarterly cadence on the upcoming 8/12 2Q26

EPS Call. Looking at this another way, our 3Q26 EPS forecast of $1.30

represents 41% of our 2H26 EPS of $3.16 with our 4Q26 EPS 59% on the

balance, which is consistent with EPS seasonality of the recast 2H25 baseline

(42%/58% 3Q/4Q split) and different from the pre-recast EPS seasonality split

of 45%/55% 3Q/4Q).

Circling Back to Our Helly Hansen Expectations into 2Q: We are

modelling 2Q Helly Hansen segment revenues on a constant-currency

basis -5% c/c (vs. 1Q’s +2% c/c growth increase), which on a reported basis

translates to +7.8% 1H26 reported pro-forma revenue growth on our

estimates (in-line with mgmt’s +HSD% guide on a pro-forma basis).

Recall 1H26 Helly Hansen revenues reflect product/marketing decisions

under former leadership, with the current KTB leadership team first able to

impact marketing into 2H26 (with our fieldwork pointing to mid-funnel

marketing activations through the use of localized influencers beginning to

show on social media in July), in addition to the product assortment across

…