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Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown, bringing you the numbers, the narrative, and everything in between.
ALEX: Hey everyone, welcome back to Beta Finch! I'm Alex, joined as always by Jordan, and today we are digging into YETI Holdings' second quarter fiscal 2026 results. Before we jump in — quick disclaimer: this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
JORDAN: Good to be here, Alex. And YETI actually gave us a lot to chew on this quarter — beat expectations, raised guidance, and dropped a teaser for their upcoming Investor Day. Let's get into it.
ALEX: Let's start with the headline numbers. YETI posted sales of about $484 million, up 9% year-over-year. That's broad-based growth — across categories, channels, and regions. Adjusted gross margin expanded a healthy 170 basis points to 59.5%, and they raised their full-year gross margin outlook to 57.5-58%.
JORDAN: And that margin story is interesting because there's a tariff wrinkle in there. They got an $8.2 million benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds this quarter, but CFO Scott Bomar was pretty clear that a good chunk of that got eaten up by other inflationary pressures — steel, resins, oil-derivative materials, and transportation costs. So the underlying operational execution — pricing discipline, product cost management — is really what's driving the margin story, not just a one-time tariff windfall.
ALEX: Right, and that shows up in the EPS guidance too. They bumped full-year adjusted EPS guidance up to $2.94 to $3.00, which is 19-21% growth, compared to the prior guide of 14-17%. That's a meaningful raise.
JORDAN: It is, though I'd flag that adjusted operating income actually decreased 7% this quarter to $68 million, and adjusted net income was down 8%. That's mostly a timing story — their big "4 Letters" brand campaign shifted from Q4 last year into Q2 this year, which deleveraged SG&A by about 410 basis points. So the full-year picture looks strong, but quarter-to-quarter comparisons get a little noisy because of that campaign timing.
ALEX: That's a great segue into strategy, because that 4 Letters campaign came up a lot on the call. CEO Matt Reintjes talked about it as more of a platform than a one-off campaign — it got them into major live sports moments, including the most-watched NBA Finals game since 2016, and they're now breaking it down into smaller digital pieces to keep the momentum going through the rest of the year.
JORDAN: What stood out to me is how much they leaned into the "platform" language across the board — not just for marketing, but for products too. Daytrip bags, Camino totes, the Roadie personal coolers, LoadOut GoBox cases — management kept hammering home that growth isn't tied to one product cycle or category anymore.
ALEX: And that diversification pitch is really aimed at the drinkware conversation, which was probably the most detailed topic on this call. Drinkware sales only grew 2% in the quarter, and management actually gave us new information — they quantified a 600 basis point drag on U.S. drinkware growth in 2026 coming from just three legacy SKUs tied to that trend-driven hype cycle from a few years back.
JORDAN: Which is a pretty transparent move, honestly. They're essentially saying, "look, without this specific headwind, our underlying drinkware business is performing really well." And they expect those SKUs to largely cycle out by year-end, resetting the base heading into 2027. U.S. consumer demand for drinkware was still up mid-single digits in the quarter, even with sales themselves flat.
ALEX: On the geographic side, international was a bright spot — sales up 19% to $93 million, with strong growth in Europe, Australia, and Japan. They're exp
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