Seaport’s calling a bottom — finally
VF Corp. has been stuck in one of those long, awkward stock slumps that makes you wonder if the turnaround story is ever coming. Seaport Global Securities is apparently done waiting on the sidelines: it upgraded the owner of Vans, The North Face, and Timberland to Buy from Neutral and set a $24 price target.
That matters because VF shares were changing hands around $18.44 in the note, which gives the call some actual meat on the bone — not just analyst confetti. The stock has been beaten up badly, down roughly 75% since Seaport first went Neutral back in January 2022.
Why now?
Seaport’s logic sounds like this: the worst of the Vans mess may be easing up. Add in a new CEO, new brand leadership, and the company’s recent divestitures of Dickies and Supreme, and the setup looks a little less like a slow-motion train wreck and a little more like a company trying to reset the table.
The weird part? While the long-term chart has been ugly, the stock has already bounced about 67% over the past year. So this isn’t a pure “nobody has noticed yet” story. It’s more of a “maybe the market was too gloomy, and now the upside is starting to look less imaginary” story.
What investors should watch
If you own VF, the big question is simple: is Vans actually stabilizing, or is this just another analyst trying to catch the first warm breeze after a hurricane?
What matters next:
- whether Vans sales stop bleeding
- whether the brand cleanup turns into real margin improvement
- whether management can keep the turnaround from turning into a rerun
Big picture: VF doesn’t need perfection here — it just needs proof that the business is no longer sliding downhill in ski boots.