On Thursday, Gap (NYSE:GAP) discussed second-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.
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The full earnings call is available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/762101246
Summary
Gap Inc reported a 2% decline in net sales for Q2 2026, but exceeded profit expectations due to strong gross margin management.
Gap brand achieved a 10% increase in comparable sales, marking its 11th consecutive quarter of positive comps, while Banana Republic also posted a 3% increase.
Old Navy faced a 4% decline in comparable sales, attributed to underperformance in women’s summer seasonal categories and ineffective marketing.
Strategic initiatives include investments in beauty and accessories, expansion of technology platforms, and launching Old Navy Sport to boost customer engagement.
Gap Inc raised its full-year margin and EPS outlook, despite narrowing its revenue growth outlook to 1%-1.5%.
Old Navy’s leadership transition was announced, with Michael Francis appointed as the new brand president and CEO effective November 2.
The company accelerated share repurchases, buying back $600 million in stock year-to-date, with $400 million remaining under current authorization.
Gap Inc is focusing on disciplined execution and inventory management, with a strong emphasis on marketing and product adjustments at Old Navy.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome everyone to Gap’s second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. For those analysts who wish to participate in the question-and-answer session after the presentation, you may now press star 1 to enter the Q&A queue. As a reminder, please limit your questions to one per participant. If anyone should require assistance during the call, please press the star key followed by the zero key on your touchtone phone.
I would now like to introduce your host, Shirley Martin, Senior Director of Investor Relations.
Shirley Martin, Senior Director of Investor Relations
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Gap’s second quarter fiscal 2026 earnings conference call. Before we begin, I’d like to remind you that the information made available on this conference call contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks that could cause our actual results to be materially different. For information on factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements, please refer to the cautionary statements contained in our latest earnings release, the risk factors described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 17, 2026, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available on gapinc.com. These forward-looking statements are based on information as of today, August 27, 2026, and we assume no obligation to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements. Our latest earnings release and the accompanying materials available on gapinc.com also include descriptions and, where available, reconciliations of financial measures not consistent with generally accepted accounting principles.
All market share data referenced today will be from Circana’s U.S. apparel consumer service for the 12 months ending July 2026, unless otherwise stated. Joining me on the call today are our Chief Executive Officer Richard Dickson and Chief Financial Officer Katrina O’Connell. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Richard.
Richard Dickson, Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Shirley, and good afternoon, everyone. In the second quarter, while the company exceeded our profit expectations, we delivered a net sales decline of 2% with mixed performance on the top line across the portfolio. While not the revenue outcome we wanted, continued operational and financial rigor contributed to gross margin strength. We also maintained market share, reflecting the continued resonance of our brand portfolio. The Gap brand delivered another exceptional quarter with comparable sales increasing 10%, and Banana Republic continued to build momentum, posting its fifth consecutive quarter of positive comps.
Athleta’s top line remained pressured, though we saw encouraging improvements in inventory productivity. At Old Navy, as we previewed on last quarter’s call, seasonal categories continued to weigh on performance. While we took actions to address this as the quarter progressed, we also experienced a slowdown in traffic which led to a modest miss versus our expectations. While this is disappointing, I have confidence in our plans to improve performance in the second half.
Over the past quarter, Katrina and I have been deeply involved with the Old Navy team in conducting a thorough review of the business. We have a clear understanding of where our execution fell short and have moved quickly to strengthen our plans, the details of which I will get into in a few minutes. Based on August trends, we are also encouraged by the improvement we are seeing, and we’re focused on delivering for the second half. Beyond our near-term priorities, we continue to make long-term investments to advance our next phase of growth.
We continue to expand beauty and accessories while building our fashiontainment and technology platforms to deepen customer engagement, strengthen our brands, and enhance our operations. We also demonstrated our commitment to shareholder returns through our dividend and meaningful share repurchases in the quarter, reflecting both the strength of our balance sheet and our confidence in the long-term opportunity. As we factor in our second quarter performance, we are narrowing our full-year revenue outlook.
At the same time, we are raising our margin and EPS outlook, as Katrina will share shortly. We are confident in the roadmap we have put in place for the second half and remain focused on disciplined execution and delivering further improvement. Turning now to our detailed second quarter results by brand, starting with Old Navy. In the second quarter, Old Navy’s comparable sales declined 4%. As we previewed last quarter, we expected the women’s summer seasonal assortment to pressure performance, and that played out largely as anticipated, accounting for approximately three points of the comp pressure in the quarter.
In particular, we experienced declines in dresses, shorts, and swim, where we made some assortment and pricing decisions that impacted our value equation. What we did not anticipate was the degree to which our marketing would fall short in driving traffic. We are not satisfied with this result and have responded quickly. As we move into the third quarter, the headwind from summer categories becomes much less significant. This gives us a clear runway for improvement as key categories like denim, active, sweaters, and knits drive the business.
Additionally, as we sharpen fashion content and pricing, we believe our fall assortment will provide an improved value equation. In denim, we are solidly positioned as the third-largest denim brand in the country with great quality denim for the whole family at highly attractive price points. We are building Old Navy as a denim destination. Following strong first-half performance, denim will grow in importance during the second half as we build on the momentum we are seeing in newer silhouettes like low rise and baggy, while introducing more fashion and choice, all at great value.
In knits, legacy franchises remain healthy while we chase into untapped growth in newer franchises like Hug and Heavyweight. In active, Old Navy is the fifth-largest brand in the country. With the success we’ve had and continued innovation this fall, we are amplifying our presence in the category with the introduction of Old Navy Sport. Beginning with an elevated merchandising experience, including approximately 40 shop-in-shops in select stores, and storytelling centered on technical innovation and style at an incredible value, Old Navy Sport will become Old Navy’s active brand.
In beauty, building on our successful pilot last fall, this week we launched our Old Navy Beauty Company Collection nationwide, expanding Old Navy into a destination for everyday essentials from style to beauty. And next month we are expanding our partnership with Fanatics, bringing our first exclusive collection of licensed sports merchandise to customers at Old Navy’s signature value, enabling us to capitalize on key moments in the sports calendar beginning with football season.
In addition to product, we have rewired our marketing strategy to improve traffic trends. Our fall denim campaign featuring music artist and television personality Cardi B launched earlier this month and is off to a good start, driving improvement in traffic. Building on its success, this week we launched Cardi’s Cardi, extending the reach and relevance of the campaign into niche. In addition, as we build excitement and momentum for Back to School, we have partnered with leading digital creator Mr. Beast on a multi-part content series highlighting the incredible style, expression, and value in Old Navy’s Back to School collection. With improved execution in August, we have seen the business pick up, reinforcing our confidence in the actions we are taking. We are clear on the path forward, and we believe we can drive stronger results from here as we execute on our fall plans. We are separately announcing this afternoon that we are advancing a planned leadership transition with the appointment of Michael Francis as Old Navy’s new brand president and CEO, succeeding Haio Barbeito.
Effective Monday, November 2, Haio is working closely with Michael in an advisory capacity to ensure a smooth transition. I want to thank Haio for his leadership and contributions to Old Navy in strengthening the foundation of the brand, scaling our strategic categories and positioning the business for a new phase of growth. Since the beginning of our transformation, Old Navy has grown its annual revenue by nearly half a billion dollars, further strengthening its position as the number one specialty apparel brand and retailer in the US. As we look ahead to the brand’s next phase, Michael’s deep experience in customer-centric brand building and track record of strong commercial execution will be instrumental in unlocking the brand’s full potential, and I am confident that now is the right time for him to step into this role. Michael has a proven ability to connect creativity, culture and commerce in ways that will energize the business. I’ve seen this firsthand as we have worked closely together to develop our plans for the second half and position Old Navy to capture the significant opportunity we see ahead. Now moving on to Gap, Gap delivered another excellent quarter. Comparable sales increased 10%, marking its 11th consecutive quarter of positive comps.
As we continue to strengthen product and storytelling through big ideas and culturally relevant narratives, we are deepening customer engagement and further strengthening the brand. That momentum is reflected in the continued expansion of our customer file and yet another quarter of lower discounting. We also posted another quarter of market share gains. Importantly, Gap’s momentum continues to be broad based. Women’s led performance in the quarter while men’s also delivered solid results.
Kids and baby also accelerated as customers continued to respond positively to our more elevated product aesthetic. By category, denim and fleece once again drove the business, underscoring the continued strength of our destination categories. Gap continues to solidify its cultural relevance with customers, connecting fashion and creativity through compelling collaborations and partnerships. In the second quarter, we teamed up with Hailey Bieber, one of fashion’s most influential tastemakers, to reimagine two of Gap’s signature denim silhouettes for a new generation.
The Hailey Jean sold out quickly while driving strong traffic and a meaningful halo across the broader business. This was a great start and there’s more to come. As we look ahead, we are building on our success in elevating core categories while also now investing in growth accelerators to expand Gap’s relevance across more aspects of consumers’ lifestyles. We ended the second quarter relaunching our iconic Gap fragrance line. Early customer response has been encouraging, reinforcing both our heritage and our confidence in the long term opportunity in beauty, and we are expanding into Gap accessories, beginning with bags launching with Fashion Week in September. Marketing continues to resonate, playing into Gap’s heritage in music with the latest release of Denim On My Own, featuring musical artist Malcolm Todd in Gap denim in a reinterpretation of Robyn’s iconic Dancing On My Own. In addition, we continue to elevate the customer experience. Our store remodel program remains on track, with upgraded stores outperforming the rest of the fleet. We expect to complete approximately 35 remodels this year, bringing roughly one-quarter of our North America specialty fleet into our latest concept by year end.
I’m incredibly proud of the Gap team and what they continue to accomplish quarter after quarter. They have demonstrated that when great product is paired with compelling storytelling and disciplined execution, it creates a powerful flywheel of customer engagement and brand momentum. As we enter the third quarter, we have an exciting pipeline of product innovation, culturally relevant collaborations and brand activations that position Gap to continue its momentum.
Moving on to Banana Republic, Banana Republic delivered another quarter of progress, with comparable sales increasing 3%, marking the brand’s fifth consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales growth. The quarter reflected broad-based strength across both the men’s and women’s businesses, as customers responded positively, with categories like outerwear, sweaters and denim, as well as our linen fabrications, performing well throughout the quarter.
Banana Republic continued to celebrate its heritage as a brand for the modern explorer through elevated product and travel-inspired storytelling. Through our Portugal series and partnership with National Geographic host Antoni Porowski, we reinforced linen as the season’s hero fabric, and our curated archive drop successfully introduced Banana Republic’s heritage to a younger customer. Through iconic styles, Banana Republic is demonstrating continued progress while becoming increasingly distinctive in the marketplace.
Upgraded stores like Century City and Tyson’s Corner are delivering a better shopping experience, resulting in customers spending more when they shop with us. As Banana Republic enters its next chapter, we were excited to welcome Donald Kohler as the brand’s new President and CEO in July. Since joining, Donald has hit the ground running, and his combination of operational excellence, merchandising expertise and brand-building instincts gives me great confidence in the opportunities ahead.
Under his leadership, we believe Banana Republic is well positioned to build on its progress. Now turning to Athleta, Athleta’s performance in the second quarter remained challenged, with comparable sales declining 12%. During the quarter, we proactively managed inventory tightly while testing and learning selectively with new product launches. This resulted in better inventory productivity with early signs of customer acceptance of newer product like the Journey Travel collection launched last quarter.
As we continue to evolve our assortment, our priorities are clear. We are increasing newness, reducing reliance on promotions and seeking to rebuild customer engagement through better product and stronger storytelling. We have also strengthened the organization with new talent across digital and merchandising to improve execution over time. With our turnaround efforts still in the early stages, we are continuing to take a measured and disciplined approach to inventory and marketing investments as we continue to assess customer response in the second half.
While this approach may limit top line improvement in the near term, we believe it is important to rebuild the business on a stronger foundation for sustainable growth. Before I turn the call over to Katrina. With August marking three years since I took on the role of CEO at Gap Inc., I want to take a moment to reflect on our transformation journey so far. We are pleased with the progress we’ve made while recognizing there is more work ahead. We made a choice to perform while we transform, and the metrics that matter reinforce that we have made fundamental improvements in the business.
We are on track to deliver our third year of positive sales growth, led by our focus on strategic categories. As a portfolio, we have gained meaningful market share, we are delivering some of our strongest gross margins in 25 years, and we have significantly improved the strength of our balance sheet while returning meaningful cash to our shareholders. I want to thank our team for the progress we’ve made and their commitment to becoming a high-performing company.
We built a stronger foundation with greater financial and operational rigor, but we know there is more to unlock, and we have conviction in our ability to do so by executing with greater consistency, agility and discipline as we continue our transformation journey. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Katrina to walk you through our financial results and updated outlook for fiscal 2026.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Richard, and thanks everyone for joining us this afternoon. In the second quarter, we remained focused on performing while we transform. While revenue results were mixed across brands at the company level, we continued to deliver across several other key metrics. We achieved a strong gross margin result led by disciplined pricing and inventory management. We maintained SG&A rigor while balancing investments in growth accelerators and capabilities to fuel our future.
And with the strength of our balance sheet, we opportunistically accelerated share repurchases while maintaining a healthy dividend and continuing to invest capital to support our business. While Old Navy underperformed, we’ve clearly identified the drivers and have taken targeted action to strengthen execution in the second half quarter. To date, we are encouraged by the improvement we’re seeing in the business, which reinforces that we are on the right track.
At the same time, we remain highly confident in Gap’s momentum and Banana Republic’s consistency while we continue rebuilding Athleta. As we factor in our second quarter performance, we are narrowing our full year revenue outlook with net sales growth now expected in the range of 1% to 1.5%. At the same time, we are raising our outlook for adjusted operating margin and earnings per share, the details of which I will share shortly. As outlined in this afternoon’s earnings release, our second quarter results and full year 2026 outlook for adjusted gross margin and operating margin exclude a cost of goods sold adjustment tied to an expected net recovery of tariffs previously paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Our adjusted earnings per share outlook also excludes the related interest impact. Separately, as previously discussed, our full year adjusted SG&A, operating profit and earnings per share outlook exclude the net gain from a legal settlement and the offsetting charitable donation made in the first quarter. Now onto our results. Net sales of $3.7 billion decreased 2% year over year with comparable sales down 1% as I previewed last quarter.
The spread between net sales and comparable sales included the impact of lapping revenue recognized last year related to the structure of our credit card agreement by brand. Gap delivered another outstanding quarter. Net sales up 9%, comparable sales up 10% driven by culturally relevant storytelling in destination categories like denim, fleece and kids and baby. Old Navy net sales and comparable sales declined 4% as expected. Softness in the women’s seasonal assortment was compounded by traffic slowing as the quarter progressed.
Banana Republic had a solid quarter, net sales up 1%, comparable sales up 3% with balanced performance across men’s and women’s supported by stronger marketing and brand storytelling. Athleta net sales and comparable sales declined 12% and we remain focused on disciplined execution as we rebuild the brand profitably. AUR again grew across our brands with Gap brand also delivering positive traffic and unit growth, providing a clear example of the broad-based strength the reinvigoration playbook can deliver.
Let’s continue to the balance of the P&L. Reported gross margin for the quarter was 52.8%. Adjusted gross margin of 41.4% increased 20 basis points versus last year. Adjusted merchandise margin expanded 80 basis points driven primarily by the Gap brand with a partial offset from Old Navy where we were more promotional. As previewed, merchandise margins included approximately 30 basis points of benefit associated with our tariff mitigation actions.
We also experienced a slight headwind from the credit card dynamic and higher fuel costs. R&O deleveraged 60 basis points, better than expected, with timing of certain occupancy expenses shifting into the third quarter. SG&A for the quarter was $1.3 billion or 34.3% of net sales, deleveraging 90 basis points as previewed. The deleverage to last year was driven by the timing of investments in growth accelerators and capabilities. Second quarter reported operating margin was 18.5%.
The adjusted operating margin was 7.1%, down 70 basis points compared to last year as gross margin expansion was primarily offset by the timing of investments. As I just outlined, reported earnings per share were $1.38. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.52 versus last year’s earnings per share of $0.57. Before I move on to the details of our cash flow and balance sheet, I would like to reiterate our capital allocation framework. Our approach remains disciplined, leveraging the strength of our balance sheet and robust cash profile to enhance long-term shareholder value.
Our first priority remains investing in the business through high returning capital investments. Second quarter capital expenditures were $154 million, bringing year-to-date investments to $289 million. We continue to expect approximately $650 million for the full year, primarily for new stores and remodels at Gap and Old Navy, along with technology and supply chain investments. Our second priority is to pay a growing dividend. We paid $62 million in dividends in the second quarter and the board has approved a third quarter dividend of 17 and a half cents per share.
And our third priority is share repurchases to drive earnings accretion. In addition to completing the previously announced accelerated share repurchase program, we repurchased an additional $200 million of stock in the open market in the quarter, bringing year-to-date repurchases to over $600 million or 26 million shares. Approximately $400 million remains under our current authorization. We ended the quarter with $2.5 billion of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments on our balance sheet, up slightly to last year.
Year-to-date net cash from operating activities was $550 million and year-to-date free cash flow was $261 million. Inventory discipline remains a priority. Quarter-end inventory at cost was flat year over year. On a unit basis, inventory was up 4%, reflecting higher in-transit inventory, largely tied to geopolitical disruptions. Now let me turn to our outlook. Our outlook reflects continued disciplined execution as we work towards a third consecutive year of profitable sales growth.
As always, we’re taking a balanced view, factoring in what we currently see in the consumer and macro environment, which is largely unchanged, while remaining mindful of potential volatility ahead in energy prices and US tariffs. Before I get into the details, I want to provide an update on our tariff assumptions. Let me unpack the moving pieces around tariff rates and then I will walk you through how we are factoring this into our gross margin outlook for the year, which remains largely unchanged.
Our prior outlook in May assumed 10% tariff rate from February 24 through July 24 under Section 122 before returning to a high-teens tariff rate for the balance of the year following the Section 301 announcement on July 23, 2026. We are now extending that 10% assumption through the end of August, which provides approximately $15 million of incremental net tariff relief to the year, which will be realized primarily in the fourth quarter. If the current rate of 10% holds through the end of the third quarter, we estimate it would provide an additional $35 million benefit to the year.
Turning to the specifics of our outlook for fiscal 2026, starting with revenue, as noted earlier, we now expect full-year net sales growth of 1% to 1.5% with comparable sales roughly in line. By brand, at Old Navy, as a result of a slightly more challenging second quarter, we now assume comparable sales are flat to down 1% with sequential improvement in the second half as our targeted actions take hold. With the momentum we are seeing at Gap brand, we now expect comp growth in the high single to low double digit range.
Banana Republic is expected to post another year of growth with comps in the low single digits. And at Athleta, we are taking a measured approach to inventory buys as we introduce more newness in the back half, allowing us the flexibility to read and react to new product receptivity while the teams are striving to do better. Our outlook for Athleta assumes full-year trends remain similar to the first half. Turning to gross margin, we are raising our adjusted gross margin outlook as we incorporate incremental tariff relief from Section 301.
As referenced earlier, we now assume our adjusted gross margin will be up slightly versus the prior year. Tariffs are now expected to be a slight benefit incorporating our largely unchanged view of the net impact of IEEPA tariffs, the Section 122 benefit that we have reserved and the more recent Section 301 benefit of approximately 10 basis points that we are flowing through. Outside of this, our margin outlook is unchanged. Merchandise margins are expected to expand year over year, reflecting a balanced plan of higher AURs through better sell-throughs and lower discounting, while R&O is expected to deleverage approximately 50 basis points.
Moving on to SG&A, we remain committed to delivering $150 million in cost savings this year as part of our ongoing push for efficiency. Part of that will offset inflation with the remainder funding growth initiatives. Consistent with prior guidance, we expect full-year adjusted SG&A as a percentage of sales to be roughly flat year over year with leverage in the second half as we lap last year’s spending on strategic initiatives and elevated incentive compensation, which was weighted toward the third and more heavily fourth quarters last year.
Taking this altogether, we’re pleased to be raising our adjusted operating margin outlook slightly to 7.4% to 7.6% for the full year versus 7.3% last year, reflecting continued rigor and discipline across the P&L. In addition to tariff benefits related to Section 301, adjusted interest income is now expected to be approximately $20 million, skewed to the fourth quarter given the expected tariff refund, and we expect a tax rate in the range of 25% to 26%.
Adjusted EPS is now expected to be $2.35 to $2.45, up 10% to 15% versus last year, an increase from our prior outlook reflecting our improved gross margin outlook and a lower weighted average share count of 367 million shares following second quarter repurchase activity. Now let me turn to our outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2026. The quarter is off to a good start supported by a sequential improvement at Old Navy. With this in mind, we expect net sales in the third quarter to increase 1.5% to 2.5% year over year with comparable sales underpacing net sales by approximately 50 basis points.
Our current trend supports the low end of our outlook, but with a range of outcomes by brand that could deliver better. This assumes continued strength at Gap and growth at Banana Republic, with Athleta trending similar to our first half performance. For Old Navy, we expect a comp range of roughly flat to down 1%. Current trends are in line with the range, reflecting meaningful sequential improvement to our second quarter performance as the impact of the challenged summer seasonal product abates and new fall marketing and product resonates more strongly.
With peak selling period still ahead and as newer initiatives like Old Navy Sport, Beauty, and Fanatics launch and build through the quarter, we see the potential for further improvement. We expect the third quarter gross margin to be up 25 to 75 basis points compared to last year’s gross margin of 42.4%. Tariffs are expected to be an approximately 150 basis point benefit, with 50 basis points related to lower tariff rates under Section 122 and the balance driven by our mitigation strategies consistent with prior expectations.
Half of the relief from Section 122 is expected to fund higher fuel costs. With regards to the balance of our Merchandise margin profile, we expect the margin to be flat to down modestly as we leverage margin strength in Gap brand in addition to the remaining half of the Section 122 benefit to make assortment and pricing adjustments at Old Navy to strengthen second half performance. We believe the brand’s fall assortment now better reflects the category mix, fashion, balance, and value proposition that our customers look to us for, which is supporting our confidence in a sequential recovery.
In the second half, R.O.D. is expected to deleverage approximately 60 basis points. Last, we are planning for SG&A as a percentage of net sales to leverage slightly as we continue to exercise expense discipline while lapping slightly higher third quarter incentive compensation last year. In closing, our outlook reflects our best assessment of the business today and we are focused on disciplined execution. With peak selling periods still ahead and exciting new initiatives building, we’re driving for continued improvement in the second half.
Across the organization, our teams are operating with urgency and a clear determination to win. I remain confident in our strategy and in our ability to deliver sustainable value for our shareholders. With that, we’ll open the line for questions. Operator.
OPERATOR
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group. Your line is open.
Dana Telsey, Analyst at Telsey Advisory Group
Hi, good afternoon everyone, and certainly good to hear about the continued double digit increase at the Gap brand. On the Old Navy brand where it seems like you’ve been speedily making enhancements to drive the business, what are the markers that you’re looking for to show improvement? Is the women’s seasonal? When will that category? Are you out of the inventory? Is there still more? And with the lower traffic that you mentioned in the stores, marketing activations, given what you do at the Gap brand, how are you seeing it differently than in the past?
Thank you.
Richard Dickson, Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Dana, and good to hear you. First of all, you know, we were excited, as you can imagine, with another standout quarter at Gap. You know, delivering double digit comps as well as the 11th consecutive quarter of positive comp growth is a really great indication that the playbook is being executed incredibly well, and we’re gaining momentum. As it relates to Old Navy, you know, we just didn’t execute well on our seasonal assortment. Sales have improved in August as we’ve set fall product and the seasonal categories are behind us.
So it is reinforcing that we’re on the right track. When we double click into Old Navy, you know, we’re entering into the third quarter with seasonal product behind us, and the impact that we have in that context, denim, active, sweaters, and knits become much more meaningful contributors. Denim was an area of continued strength in the second quarter, and we’ve been building on this with more fits and fashion at great value. Now, in the context of marketing, you know, as the second quarter progressed, the summer marketing was not generating the traffic that we expected.
And ultimately, with those learnings, we’ve rewired our fall marketing campaigns to ensure that we’re more connected to our top product ideas. August is already demonstrating really significant improvement. You could see our Cardi B campaign right now is our most viewed campaign in Old Navy’s history. But more importantly, we’re seeing this translate into improved traffic, strong conversion in women’s denim, and we’re excited with the results. We’ve also, in relation to traffic, built a parallel campaign with Mr. Beast. He’s the number one YouTuber in the world, over 500 million subscribers, for our back-to-school campaign, which is resonating. So in sum, you know, I’m very encouraged with the improvement that we’re seeing in the business in August, and with the strong products and programs in place moving forward, I feel really good about our plans.
OPERATOR
Your next question comes from the line of Alex Stretton with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.
Alex Stretton, Analyst at Morgan Stanley
Thanks so much. Congrats on a nice quarter. I wanted to focus on profitability. It’s very strong, even with Old Navy doing that more challenged comp. Can you just talk about how you’re able to maintain such strong profitability levels despite this more challenging quarter for Old Navy? Maybe just some detail by brand would be helpful. Thanks a lot.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
Hi, Alex, this is Katrina. I’m happy to take that. So, as you noted, we were very pleased to deliver gross margin up 20 basis points year over year, and that was higher than the expectation that we had previewed. Merchandise margins were up 80 basis points. Now, 30 basis points of that was tariff, and that was largely utilized to fund the fuel headwinds we had in the quarter. But as you say, we were able to really balance the strength of our portfolio, really broad-based strength in gross margin, particularly at Gap, but also at Banana Republic and Athleta, to give us the room to do the promotions we needed to do at Old Navy to be able to really successfully clear through the seasonal product. And we’ve largely gotten that seasonal product behind us, and all of that allowed us to still deliver merch margin up within the total margin. As we talked about, R.O.D. deleveraged about 60 basis points. Some of that’s timing, and some of that is the dynamic we’ve previewed. So all in all, strong margins. Now, as I think about what gives me confidence heading on as we go, as Richard just previewed, Old Navy’s off to a good start.
That three-point headwind from seasonal product is already behind us and showing up in the results, which is showing us that our strategies are starting to take hold and we’re seeing much more improved performance as we head into the third quarter.
Alex Stretton, Analyst at Morgan Stanley
Great. Good luck.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
OPERATOR
Your next question comes from the line of Matthew Boss with JPMorgan. Your line is open.
Matthew Boss, Analyst at JPMorgan
Great, thanks. So, Richard, could you speak to the tale of two brands between the Gap and Old Navy in the second quarter? And then if you could just elaborate on August, any change in double digit strength at the Gap, and maybe just a little more on the timeline for stabilization and reacceleration, in your view, at Old Navy?
Richard Dickson, Chief Executive Officer
Sure, Matt. So first, Gap’s execution of the playbook just continues to drive exceptional results, and this has really been through compelling product with distinctive, culturally relevant storytelling. It’s notable: this is our 11th consecutive quarter of positive comps and, as you mentioned, it’s our second quarter of double digit comp growth. We’ve seen great strength across women’s, men’s, kids, and baby. In particular, we strengthened our market position in kids and baby.
We rose to the number four rank from the number six rank. We’ve also gained share and rank in fleece, where we’re also now the number six brand. Even more importantly, our customer file continues to grow, and we’ve been particularly doing a great job attracting the Gen Z customer while preserving what we’ll call the multigenerational appeal that Gap has. We’re gaining strength across categories. I think the partnerships that we’re bringing, particularly the one with Hailey Bieber most recently, was a really strong success.
And so as we enter the third quarter, we’ve got a robust pipeline of product and marketing, and we plan on continuing the momentum that the brand has delivered and on track for the rest of the year. Now, tale of two cities to some extent, but I think it’s important recognizing Old Navy had six consecutive quarters of positive comps leading up to this quarter. Certainly the quarter wasn’t necessarily where we wanted it to be. But as I’ve shared and we’ve diagnosed, we missed the mark on our summer seasonal assortment, which we also previewed last quarter.
In addition, we’ve also mentioned that our marketing fell short driving traffic. The good news as we look in terms of entering the third quarter: we’re in a much better place from a product point of view. The impact that we’ve had on our seasonal categories reduces significantly. Categories like denim, active, sweaters, knits, where we have strength, become even more meaningful contributors. You could see our current campaign right now with Cardi B is driving not only the most viewed campaign in Old Navy’s history, but we’re also seeing it translate again into improved traffic and strong conversion in women’s denim.
I mentioned the back-to-school campaign. We were off to a great start. We have a great partnership with Mr. Beast, as mentioned as well. It’s resonating. So I’ve been really encouraged with the improvement that I’m seeing in the business into August, and with the strong products and programs that we have in place, I really do feel very good about our plans for the back half. Thanks, Matt.
Matthew Boss, Analyst at JPMorgan
Great color. Best of luck.
OPERATOR
Your next question comes from the line of Brooke Roach with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
Brooke Roach, Analyst at Goldman Sachs
Good afternoon, and thank you for taking our question. Richard, one of the items you outlined as a contributor to the Old Navy softness was the need to sharpen pricing. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you’ve learned here for this customer and the changes that you’re making? Is that customer more price elastic or price sensitive than before? And then as a follow-up, Katrina, you had talked about 40 million in reserve for pricing last quarter.
It sounds like that’s getting deployed at the Old Navy brand. How much of that is being used in 3Q versus 4Q? And do you have additional reserve to take further markdown actions should the competitive environment intensify?
Richard Dickson, Chief Executive Officer
Okay, thanks, Brooke. I’ll start, and then Katrina can continue. You know, we see value as a perception based on product and pricing. You know, when we deliver the right product at the right price, the customer responds, and we see that in various different places in our business. For example, in denim, the price-value equation is extraordinary, and it’s showing up in the results. We also see it with Gap as well as Banana Republic in terms of their performance.
But in this case with Old Navy, the seasonal categories in the quarter just didn’t really deliver the right combination of style, quality, and price. Moving forward, we’ve made those adjustments. We feel very good about our fall assortment. We see it already resonating, and we believe it represents the great value that we’re known for and that the customer is reacting to. So overall, you know, again, consumers are resilient—granted, discerning—but when you get the right product at the right price, they show up and it converts.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
And then, Brooke, to answer the balance of your question, so you’re absolutely right. We had previewed on the last call that we were holding that 40 million, or half the 122 benefit, for, you know, promotional environment. We are now using that for Old Navy. We went back and looked at the Old Navy assortment for the second half, both looking at the consumer but also really looking at, you know, what we’ve learned from the front half. And we feel very good that we’ve made the right changes to the assortment, the category mix, the fashion quotient, and the value quotient to allow us to compete well at Old Navy.
We’ve utilized the 122 pretty equally between quarters. But in addition to that, similar to what we just delivered in second quarter, we’re also using the strength in lower discounting and better sell-throughs from Gap to be able to use a little bit of that to also deploy towards value at Old Navy. So those two levers—the power of our portfolio as well as the 122 benefit—are giving us the opportunity to really make sure we have the right assortment at the right value for Old Navy in the second half of the year.
OPERATOR
Great, thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Jay Sole with UBS. Your line is open.
Jay, Analyst
Great, thank you so much. I want to ask about capital allocation. I think you said you bought back $600 million of stock. Somewhat surprising in a good way. But you still have $400 million remaining, two and a half billion on the balance sheet. Might you continue to buy more stock over the course of this fiscal year? How much? I mean, would there be opportunities to increase the authorization? Have you talked to the board about that, and just tell us about the timing of when that might play out.
Thank you.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, thanks, Jay. As you said, we did repurchase year to date $600 million, or 26 million shares. Our stated goal was to drive slight earnings accretion, and with our year-to-date repurchases, we’ve actually driven mid-single-digit accretion, which we think does demonstrate real shareholder value. In the EPS raise that we did, five pennies of that raise was attributable to the share repurchase we did in second quarter. As you say, we have 400 million outstanding on our current authorization.
And as always, we and the board will continue to evaluate the return of capital to our shareholders just to make sure we’re maximizing value.
Jay, Analyst
Got it. Thank you so much.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Jay.
OPERATOR
Your next question comes from the line of Bob Debull with BTIG. Your line is open.
Bob Debull, Analyst at BTIG
Hi. I was just wondering if you could spend some more time on what you’ve learned so far with beauty and accessories, and just sort of what we should be looking for over the next few quarters with both of those categories and into ’27. Thanks.
Richard Dickson, Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, sure, Bob. You know, I mentioned driving our continuous improvement in our core apparel business because that is the basis for how we’re able to enable and accelerate long-term accelerators like beauty and accessories. So we’re just getting started across these emerging growth categories. Specifically in beauty, we did relaunch our heritage Gap fragrance collection in July. We had a really strong customer response. Very familiar fragrances in some cases, and introducing them to a new generation.
Looking ahead, we’ve got some really great, robust marketing and pipeline with other exciting product drops for Gap that we believe will maintain momentum in the category and continue to grow as we move forward. This week we also rolled out Old Navy Beauty companywide, which we also believe will be a traffic driver for Old Navy. It will also create a more engaging experience for customers. We’ve started with a great private label collection as well as over 30 third-party brands that will create great excitement and, again, long-term proposition for growth for the brand.
In accessories, we’re starting with Gap bags this fall, which will be unveiled during Fashion Week. We could not be more excited about it. Reed Krakoff, who oversees our accessory creative, has done an absolutely terrific job translating Gap’s brand ethos into a really distinctive collection. The collection itself features silhouettes that really draw the inspiration from iconic Gap products. I will reserve more detail on it because we’re really excited to unveil it, but it is going to be fresh and very unexpected.
It’s early days for both of these categories, so we’re not necessarily anticipating any meaningful financial contribution this year, but each represents a meaningful opportunity to drive incremental long-term growth for the company.
Bob Debull, Analyst at BTIG
Great, thank you.
OPERATOR
Your next question comes from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson, Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Lorraine Hutchinson, Analyst at Bank of America
Thank you. Good afternoon. I wanted to follow up on inventory. It sounds like in total you’re happy with the level, but I wanted to see if you could drill down for us on Old Navy if you’ve been able to alter the receipts in the way you wanted. Same question on Athleta. And then on the flip side, if at Gap you’re able to chase into this strong demand.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, thanks, Lorraine. So we did end inventory levels flat. Units were up 4, but as I said, that’s really in transit, and that’s as a result of what’s going on in the world. So overall, we really do remain disciplined. On Old Navy, we were very purposeful about ensuring that we were clearing through the seasonal product to make sure that we were clean as we headed into the third quarter. And we’ve also, as I said, really relooked at our fall and holiday assortments to make sure that we feel very good about how we’re positioned categorically and with the right quality of fashion and value to compete.
As it relates to Athleta, you know, we’re largely taking a very conservative approach on inventory at Athleta. And what’s interesting is that while that’s constraining the top line, it’s actually really helping us continue to build on their profitability in the near term while we really read and react how the customer’s reacting to the new fashion product. And so far that’s been quite good. It’s just we’re being very careful about how we buy it in the near term.
And then maybe lastly at Gap, yes, we are chasing inventory. The team has developed real nimbleness and agility, and I would say a lot of their success is based on their demonstrated ability to really chase into things that are working and drive these double-digit comps that we’ve been seeing. So we’re pleased overall with the way the portfolio has been managing inventory.
OPERATOR
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Mark Altschwager with Baird. Your line is open.
Mark Altschwager, Analyst at Baird
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the question. Just wanted to ask bigger picture on Old Navy. You’ve given us the seasonal diagnosis and talked about the fixes, and you’ve talked about how Michael helped build the plan for fall. So I take it that the second half doesn’t change much here. I guess my question is, as he formally steps in in November, what changes then? And what level of confidence do you have that Old Navy is back to a consistent low single-digit comp as we move beyond the fall, rather than kind of a flat to down one that you’re now guiding for this year?
Thank you.
Richard Dickson, Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So first off, speaking about the transition, this was a planned and thoughtful transition. Michael’s experience aligns really well with the phase that we’re entering for Old Navy. He brings incredible, vast experience with some of the largest consumer and retail organizations in the world—Target, Walmart, entertainment companies like DreamWorks—operating in highly complex environments. Michael joined us in May, and I’ve been working very closely with him on our fall plans.
He’s already had meaningful impact, including sharpening our product, storytelling, the marketing execution you see happening right now—he’s had a handprint on. And obviously, as he gets more and more versed for the second half, he’s going to assume the role officially in November, after which I.O. will move into an advisory role. They’re working very closely together to ensure a continuous and smooth transition. And I think in relation to the Old Navy back on track, we’re maintaining our approach and our strategy going forward.
We have the right playbook, which we’ve got proven points on. This is the first negative quarter for Old Navy in 11 quarters, and we’ve diagnosed it. It’s a very specific execution issue in relation to our seasonal challenges. So we believe that we’ve got the right product and programs in the back half, a smooth leadership transition, and the right playbook and team. And we will execute with an expectation to win in the back half and are excited about our future.
Mark Altschwager, Analyst at Baird
Thank you.
OPERATOR
Your final question will come from the line of Ike Borachow with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.
Ike Borachow, Analyst at Wells Fargo
Hey, thanks so much, Katrina. A question about the model. When you look at the ROD deleverage in the second quarter and then the guide for the back half to delever 60 basis points in 3Q while you’re growing revenue too, it kind of implies the occupancy dollars per but are up high single digits. I’m just kind of curious, because the store base isn’t changing, what are these investments? It just looks like there’s more fixed cost in the COGS line than there typically has been.
So I’m just curious if you could explain what investments are going on or why that’s happening exactly. Thanks.
Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, sure. We have previewed that ROD deleverages this year. It is a new dynamic for us. I think it represents two things. First of all, we’ve largely concluded closing our underperforming stores. The pace of the closures that we were doing when we were closing 350 stores had provided meaningful benefit to ROD, and now we’re modestly opening stores. So that does impact the ROD line as the closures abate and we end up with not that ROD favorability.
Now, it does help us on the sales line. I think you’re seeing that this quarter. We have a 50 basis point spread, and by the end of the year there’s no spread, and then hopefully we’ll get to an opening which starts to benefit sales. So that’s one thing. The second thing is we’ve been slowly taking up our capital, and this year capital is expected to grow $650 million. So there is a step up in depreciation. These are honestly both short-term and long-term investments—openings, remodels, a lot of the technology work that we’re doing around AI to be able to build capability, and somewhat in our supply chain.
So both of those things come together this year to create the deleverage. The model right now for the year is that ROD will leverage on a mid-single-digit sales growth.
Ike Borachow, Analyst at Wells Fargo
Thank you.
OPERATOR
That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Richard Dickson for closing remarks.
Richard Dickson, Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, operator.
As we look ahead, our conviction in the long-term opportunity across our portfolio remains unchanged. Our teams are focused on disciplined execution to strengthen our performance.
We remain committed to building a high-performing house of iconic American brands while delivering long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you for joining us today.
OPERATOR
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.
Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company’s SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants’ and analysts’ statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.
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