YETI's profit per share jumped. Its sales outlook went the other way.

YETI's adjusted earnings per share jumped 49% in its latest quarter. Its annual outlook moved in the other direction.

The cooler and drinkware maker now expects about 6% adjusted sales growth and adjusted earnings of $2.90–$2.95 a share. In September it had reiterated targets of 7%–8% sales growth and $2.94–$3.00 a share.

Two details help explain the gap: fewer shares are boosting the quarterly per-share result, while softer direct sales weigh on the business. YETI has also changed how it calculates adjusted results.

Fewer shares make the profit jump look larger

Research by Ticker Byline shows that YETI's adjusted net income rose about 35%, compared with the 49% increase in adjusted earnings per share. We compared the profit and diluted share counts in the company's quarterly statements. Average diluted shares fell almost 9%, following buybacks in 2025 and 2026.

YETI spent $20 million buying shares in the third quarter, bringing this year's total to $150 million. Earlier repurchases still help today's per-share comparison.

Adjusted net income reached $67.2 million, or 91 cents a share, against $49.6 million, or 61 cents. Under U.S. accounting rules (GAAP), net income rose to $44.4 million from $39.4 million. That figure includes the costs removed from adjusted profit.

The adjustment reaches back to a 2023 recall

Starting this quarter, YETI again excludes changes in reserves for its 2023 product recalls from adjusted results. It had included them since the fourth quarter of 2025. This is an accounting adjustment related to those older recalls, not a newly announced product recall.

The latest quarter excludes $18.2 million in pretax recall-related charges from adjusted profit, alongside stock compensation and other items. YETI also recast earlier adjusted figures. Its second-quarter adjusted earnings per share rose from the originally published 67 cents to 70 cents; the GAAP figures did not change because of that recast.

November's outlook therefore uses a different adjusted basis from the targets published earlier. The old and new ranges show management moving its targets lower, but subtracting one range from the other would not isolate a comparable operating downgrade.

Retailers buy more as direct sales weaken

Reported quarterly sales rose 4% to $509.4 million. Wholesale sales increased 19%, while sales directly to consumers fell 6%. Excluding recall reserve adjustments, direct sales fell 3%. Management pointed to weakness in its U.S. online store and Amazon business.

International sales rose 19%. That growth and stronger wholesale orders helped offset the softer direct business, but management described a cautious consumer environment entering the holiday quarter.

The cash forecast holds

YETI kept its annual free-cash-flow target at $200 million–$225 million. For the first nine months, operating cash flow less capital spending was $71.7 million. The third quarter included $60.4 million in cash tariff refunds, a substantial boost to cash that differs from the much smaller refund benefit recognized in that quarter's earnings.

The next report will test whether holiday demand supports that unchanged cash target and improves direct sales. Our YETI company profile records the changed forecasts, recast results, inventory and debt.