Strong trends at Vans, and positive data points from Timberland, has some analysts rethinking the outlook for parent firm VF Corp.
Within the past week, three analysts have upgraded their view on VF.
Anna Andreeva, a managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Sandler & Co., on Tuesday upgraded shares of VF to “Overweight,” essentially the equivalent of a Buy rating. She also raised the target price for VF shares to $20.00. VF is currently trading in the $15.79 range.
Piper’s proprietary research from its Fall Teen Survey of 9,000 teens indicate that Vans ranks as a favorite footwear brand among males, coupled with direct-to-consumer data showing improvement as September foot traffic was the best since February 2023. She noted that Vans was able to maintain its No. 7 position, versus declines in the past three surveys, while Nike holds the top spot, followed by Adidas. Moreover, teen males comprise the vast majority of the brand’s customer base.
The Piper analyst also noted that the brand could be back to growth mode as “newness scales across wholesale” into the back half of the current fiscal year and fiscal year ’28. She also noted momentum in launches such as the Pearlized Yacht Club and Harris Tweed, both now largely sold out, and new product also doing well. One example is the Souvenir Old Skool 36 that Andreeva noted is “completely sold through at Foot Locker.”
Among the upper income male teens, Pacsun moved into fourth place from the eighth spot a year ago, which the Piper analyst said boded well for Vans given the brand’s heritage in skate and streetwear fashion. Nike held the top position, following by Hollister and then Adidas to round out the top three. Among favorite athletic footwear brands for upper income teens, Nike was No. 1, followed by On Running and Adidas. And Timberland, also part of the VF portfolio of brands, broke into the Top Ten ranking at No. 10 for the “first time in survey history,” Andreeva’s report noted.
Truist sports apparel and footwear analyst Joseph Civello upgraded shares of VF on Tuesday to “Buy” from “Hold,” and raised the share target price to $20 from $14.00.
“We believe that Vans is poised to inflect as fashion trends shift away from the long-dominant athletic aesthetic and brand momentum builds on the popularity of new launches,” Civello wrote in a note. He added that momentum is coming at a time when retailers such as Foot Locker and JD Sports are “likely seeking to fill significant assortment gaps” as Nike pulls back on legacy lifestyle products that are “off-trend.”
Civello said that Vans’ growth visibility has meaningfully improved, and that Nike’s issues and its sportswear and Jordan Brand pullback “create a meaningful opportunity in our view for Vans to take share.” Nike said last week when it posted first quarter earnings that its plan for Jordan footwear includes a reduction in both volume and frequency of Retro launches.
Civello also noted social media data that indicates Vans is experiencing a brand resurgence. Truist’s proprietary data shows that Vans has been the focus of 10 percent of Foot Locker’s brand-related posted on Instagram since June 2026, up from 1 percent in the second half of 2025.
And there’s been much buzz from Olivia Rodrigo wearing Vans at Unraveled Tour shows — more than 10 pairs of Vans and sometimes multiple pairs during the same show, Civello noted — over the past two-weeks. In addition, the Casey Lewis newsletter After School with 90,000 subscribers talked about growing momentum on social media for Checkered Vans on Oct. 6. The Oct. 3 and 4 ComplexCon also saw Vans make a splash with one of the biggest releases of the weekend, its Satoshi Nakamoto x Vans Era collaboration.
“Other notable recent and upcoming releases include Vans’ limited-edition collaborations with the Los Angeles Dodger and Neighborhood, the Harris Tweed collection, Wafflecup Classics, the Vansa collaboration with SZA, and the expansion of the Pearlized footwear collection,” the Truist analyst noted.
And while there could be risks to Timberland due to demand issues connected to El Niño’s weather patterns this year, Civello said: “In our view, Timberland still has strong momentum from last year’s surge in demand and we believe trends should remain solid from a fashion standpoint even if weather dampens demand.”
J.P. Morgan’s Matthew Boss was the first on Wall Street to upgrade VF Corp. last Friday to “Neutral” from “Underweight,” the equivalent of a “Hold” from a “Sell” rating. His share price target is $18.00.
Boss said VF’s outdoor-anchored portfolio comprised of the The North Face, Timberland and Altra brands combined target “mid-single-digit+ growth” in a sector where the total addressable market is projected to grow 6 percent for the next five years. In addition, he saw back-half improvement for Vans, which is 20 percent of VF’s operation, with management forecasting sequential wholesale improvement from current order books for Spring ’27 and emerging “skate” interest from luxury players.
Boss also noted management’s approach for Vans consisting of “dropping new, exclusive, unique fabrications [and] designs to create a model of scarcity and heat around the brand for premium product.”