Key Points
-
Deckers, Columbia Sportswear, and Boston Beer recently reported, and their shares trade well below their highs.
-
Each is taking action, from buying back shares to new appointing new executives or launching new products.
-
The risks are specific and real — whether it’s the weather or rising inventory or a shrinking product category.
-
Earnings season is the one time of year a company has to say, in plain numbers, what it has been doing. For most of the market, that meant another round of data center budgets. For the three consumer companies below, it meant something smaller and more human: a new drink on the shelf, a shipment that went out ahead of schedule, and a running shoe that keeps selling in countries where it did not exist five years ago.
All three reported in the last two weeks, all three trade around 30% to 85% below their record highs, and all three spent the fall doing work a stock chart cannot see.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
1. Deckers Brands is buying its own stock as fast as it can
Deckers Brands (NYSE: DECK), the parent of HOKA and UGG, trades near $80, about 55% below the record it set in January 2025. The stock fell again after the company reported on Oct. 22, which says more about expectations than the quarter. Sales rose 3.5% to a record $1.48 billion, HOKA grew 6.8%, and international sales climbed 9% while the U.S. business was flat. Management raised its full-year earnings guidance to $7.80 to $7.95 per share, which puts the stock at about 10 times this year’s profit.
The part that matters for November is what Deckers is doing with its cash. The company bought back $299 million of stock in the quarter at an average price of $93.65, and its guidance assumes $1 billion of repurchases for the full year. It still has $1.2 billion in cash and no debt. That is a company telling you it thinks its own shares are the best thing it can buy.
The risk here is that CEO Stefano Caroti called the consumer environment “challenging,” and direct-to-consumer comparable sales fell 6.4%, the channel where a brand’s heat shows up first. According to Retail Dive, UGG also depends on a cold winter. If December is warm, the fourth quarter will be too.
2. Columbia Sportswear’s fall orders arrived ahead of schedule
Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ: COLM) sits about 32% below its April 2021 high. But the stock is on a tear over the past month. It reported on Oct. 29, and the headline was that delayed fall wholesale orders shipped sooner than the company expected, which pushed third-quarter sales up 2% to $962.6 million and earnings to $1.66 per share. Columbia raised the low end of its full-year sales and earnings guidance and said U.S. e-commerce, the channel it calls “the pinnacle expression of our brand,” is gaining ground.
What the company has been doing this fall is rebuilding its leadership one brand at a time. It named Joe Vernachio president of SOREL in June and Peter Rauch president of Mountain Hardwear in September, the two smaller brands that took a $29 million write-down a year ago. The ACCELERATE strategy, Columbia’s plan to win younger and more active customers, is in its second year, and CEO Tim Boyle said it is gaining traction. The company repurchased $200 million of stock through nine months and has no borrowings.
3. Boston Beer has a new drink and a new marketer
Boston Beer (NYSE: SAM) is the hardest case here. The stock trades near $215, about 85% below its 2021 peak, when hard seltzer looked like the future. It was not. The company reported on Oct. 22 that revenue fell 3.2%, with Twisted Tea, Truly, and Samuel Adams all shrinking.
Two things keep it on this list. First, gross margin reached 51.7%, the highest quarterly rate since 2017, because the company has spent three years closing the gap between what it brews and what it sells. Second, Sun Cruiser, a vodka-iced tea launched in 2024, grew again and is now the brand that founder Jim Koch talks about first. According to Brewbound, Sun Cruiser is on track to double this year.
This fall Boston Beer hired Allison Stransky away from Samsung Electronics America as chief marketing officer, put Twisted Tea in Realtree camo cans for hunting season, and brought back a non-alcoholic Octoberfest. None of that fixes a shrinking beer category, but the company is buying back stock, carries no debt, and trades at 19 times next year’s expected earnings for a business that makes more money per case each year.
None of these companies is asking you to believe in a turnaround that has not started. Deckers is profitable and buying itself. Columbia is shipping. Boston Beer is more efficient than it has been in nine years. To me, the right move in November is a small position in each, sized so that a warm winter or a weak beer season is an annoyance rather than a problem, and the patience to let the buybacks do their work.
Should you buy stock in Boston Beer right now?
Before you buy stock in Boston Beer, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Boston Beer wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $353,560!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,115,850!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 852% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 203% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of November 6, 2026.
Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Deckers Outdoor. The Motley Fool recommends Boston Beer. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
