Levi Strauss Q3 Draws Mixed Analyst Views – Analyst Flags Lower Growth Visibility

Levi Strauss shares fell to a six-month low despite a Q3 adjusted EPS beat, after the company reported weaker DTC trends and a revenue miss.

• Raymond James cut its price target to $22 from $24 while maintaining an 'Outperform' rating, citing softer U.S. and European DTC trends.
• Wells Fargo lowered its target to $20 from $25 while maintaining an 'Equal Weight' rating, citing a revenue miss, margin noise and lower visibility into out-year growth.
• BofA Securities cut its target to $25 from $27 while maintaining a 'Buy' rating and raised its FY2026 EPS estimate to $1.55 after factoring in the tariff refund net of reinvestment.

Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI) was in focus on Thursday after multiple analysts lowered their price targets following the company's fiscal third-quarter results, with Wells Fargo citing lower visibility into out-year growth.

Raymond James, JPMorgan, BofA Securities, Wells Fargo and Barclays all lowered their price targets on Levi Strauss, according to The Fly.

LEVI shares were down about 3% at the time of writing on Thursday after falling to an intraday low of $19.35 in the previous session.

Analysts Lower Levi Strauss Price Targets After Q3

Raymond James analyst Rick Patel lowered the firm's price target to $22 from $24 while maintaining an 'Outperform' rating. According to The Fly, Patel described the third-quarter (Q3) results as mixed, citing an earnings-per-share (EPS) beat driven by higher gross margins and tariff refunds, partly offset by softer-than-expected U.S. and European direct-to-consumer trends. He also pointed to course corrections and improved weather as supporting a better fourth quarter (Q4) trajectory.

JPMorgan lowered its price target to $33 from $34 while maintaining an 'Overweight' rating. The firm viewed the quarter as mixed but said Levi Strauss' multi-year growth outlook remains intact, according to The Fly.

BofA Securities cut its price target to $25 from $27 while maintaining 'Buy.' The firm said it was disappointed by the Q3 DTC miss but was encouraged by improving trends entering Q4. BofA also raised its FY2026 EPS estimate to $1.55 to incorporate the tariff refund, net of reinvestment, according to The Fly.

Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow lowered the price target to $20 from $25 while maintaining an 'Equal Weight' rating. The firm cited a revenue miss and margin noise and said it exited the quarter with lower visibility into out-year growth across the P&L, according to The Fly.

Barclays lowered its price target to $26 from $27 while maintaining an 'Overweight' rating. The firm said lifestyle-category momentum offset pressure in direct-to-consumer sales and expects Q4 results to be pressured by costs related to redeploying the net tariff refund benefit, according to The Fly.

LEVI’s Q3 Highlights

Levi Strauss reported $1.61 billion in third-quarter net revenue, up 4% year over year, while adjusted diluted EPS rose to $0.48 from $0.34 a year earlier. The company said adjusted EPS included a $0.11 net benefit from tariff refunds, after a $0.16 EPS benefit and approximately $0.05 redeployed to support the business.

Its direct-to-consumer business fell short of internal expectations during the quarter, while Levi reported strong growth in its international and wholesale businesses and continued momentum across its lifestyle categories. The company expects DTC to deliver mid-single-digit growth in the fourth quarter based on recent trends.

Levi Strauss raised its FY2026 adjusted EPS outlook to $1.54-$1.56, from $1.46-$1.52 previously. The company also raised its gross-margin and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin outlooks.

It now expects reported net revenue growth of approximately 7%, compared with its previous 7%-7.5% range, citing foreign-exchange effects. At the same time, Levi raised its organic net revenue growth outlook to approximately 6%, from 5.5%-6% previously.

Retail View On LEVI

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment over LEVI turned ‘Bullish’ with ‘Extremely High’ message volumes in the past 24 hours.

LEVI shares have dropped nearly 11% year-to-date.

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