Dolce Vita is gaining momentum within Steven Madden, Ltd. ’s SHOO brand portfolio as strong consumer demand and trend-driven products continue to fuel performance. During the spring season, the brand benefited from healthy demand for jelly, raffia and woven styles across footwear and handbags, leading to robust sell-through at major wholesale partners such as Nordstrom, Dillard’s and Macy’s.
Beyond seasonal product strength, Dolce Vita is pursuing initiatives aimed at expanding its long-term addressable market. Management is focused on growing the handbag business and increasing the brand’s international presence, moves that should provide additional revenue opportunities and support a more diversified business model over time.
The brand’s wholesale performance has been particularly encouraging. Management noted that Dolce Vita recorded a very strong spring season and was outperforming the Steven Madden label in sell-through at its largest retail customer. This suggests increasing consumer affinity for the brand and reinforces its ability to gain shelf space and capture incremental demand within key distribution channels.
Dolce Vita’s momentum coincides with improving fundamentals at the parent company. Steven Madden reported first-quarter 2026 revenues of $653.1 million, up 18% year over year, prompting management to raise its fiscal 2026 sales outlook to growth of 10-12% from the prior expectation of 9-11%. Notably, the company increased expectations for each of its three largest brands — Steven Madden, Kurt Geiger and Dolce Vita — highlighting broad-based strength across the portfolio.
Management continues to project high single-digit revenue growth for Dolce Vita in 2026. Supported by favorable demand trends, category expansion initiatives and growing international exposure, the brand appears increasingly well positioned to become a more meaningful contributor to Steven Madden’s long-term growth story.
SHOO’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Shares of the company have risen 58.6% over the past year against the industry’s 33.4% decline.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, Steven Madden is trading at a trailing 12-month price-to-sales ratio of 1.08X, down from the industry average of 1.34X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Steven Madden’s 2026 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 22.9%, whereas the same for 2027 indicates an uptick of 33.8%. Estimates for 2026 have been unchanged, while those for 2027 have been revised upward by 35 cents over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
SHOO’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
Steven Madden currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Some other top-ranked stocks are Tapestry, Inc. TPR, Genesco Inc. GCO and Designer Brands Inc. DBI.
Tapestry is the designer and marketer of fine accessories and gifts for women and men in the United States and internationally. The company sports a Zacks Rank #1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Tapestry’s current fiscal-year earnings and sales indicates growth of 36.3% and 13.8%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. TPR delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 15.6%.
Genesco is a Nashville-based specialty retail and branded company. It sells footwear and accessories in retail stores. The company also flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 at present.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Genesco’s current fiscal-year earnings indicates growth of 55.2% from the year-ago actuals. GCO delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 3.8%.
Designer Brands designs, produces and retails footwear and accessories. It offers shoes, boots, sandals, sneakers, socks, handbags and accessories. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Designer Brands’ current fiscal-year earnings and sales suggests growth of 137.5% and 0.5%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. DBI delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 112.8%.
7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days
Just released: Experts distill 7 elite stocks from the current list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys. They deem these tickers "Most Likely for Early Price Pops."
Since 1988, the full list has beaten the market more than 2X over with an average gain of +23.9% per year. So be sure to give these hand picked 7 your immediate attention.
See them now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Steven Madden, Ltd. (SHOO): Free Stock Analysis Report
Genesco Inc. (GCO): Free Stock Analysis Report
Tapestry, Inc. (TPR): Free Stock Analysis Report
Designer Brands Inc. (DBI): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).