VF Corp, Kontoor Brands seen as apparel buying opportunities amid AI trade pullback

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VF Corp & Kontoor apparel picks

Highlights

Truist and Piper Sandler upgrade VF Corp to buy with $20 price targets, projecting 17% upside amid rising interest in non-athletic footwear brands like Vans and Timberland.
Jefferies upgrades Kontoor Brands to buy with an $89 price target, implying 22% upside, citing a durable denim recovery led by Wrangler and a $400 million accelerated share repurchase program.
Kontoor to boost growth with Helly Hansen acquisition and sell Lee to Authentic Brands for up to $1 billion, with the deal closing later this year.

Analyst upgrades and brand trends support the case

As reported by CNBC, Cramer says VF Corp and Kontoor Brands merit consideration even as higher interest rates and oil prices threaten to pressure household spending.

He says both stocks have already fallen sharply from earlier highs and now trade at valuations that reflect a difficult consumer backdrop. In his view, that leaves room for investors to benefit if operating trends begin to improve.

For VF Corp, Truist and Piper Sandler both raise their ratings to buy and set $20 price targets, implying about 17% upside from Thursday's close. Cramer points in particular to Piper Sandler's fall teen survey, which suggests rising interest in non-athletic footwear, a potentially important signal for Vans after several years of declining sales.

The survey shows Vans ranking as the seventh-most-popular footwear brand among male teens and moving up to ninth among upper-income male teens. Timberland also enters the top 10 footwear brands among upper-income teens for the first time in the survey's history, while The North Face returns to the top 10 athletic clothing brands for that group.

Kontoor's capital returns and portfolio shift

Kontoor also receives support from Wall Street research, with Jefferies upgrading the stock to buy from hold and lifting its price target to $89, implying 22% upside from Thursday's close. The analysts argue that a revival in denim demand could prove more durable, with Wrangler well positioned to benefit.

Jefferies also points to Kontoor's planned $400 million accelerated share repurchase program, which represents roughly 10% of the company's market capitalization. Cramer says that buyback adds to the appeal as investors assess the company alongside the denim trend.

He also highlights Kontoor's acquisition of Helly Hansen last year as an underappreciated growth driver. Helly Hansen is expected to become a larger part of the business after Kontoor completes its planned sale of Lee to Authentic Brands, a deal announced in May and valued at up to $1 billion, with closing expected later this year.

With Kontoor trading at about 14 times 2026 earnings estimates, Cramer says investors can gain exposure to the denim recovery without paying a premium valuation. That combination of trend exposure, shareholder returns and portfolio reshaping underpins his positive view on the stock.

Our earlier article on Deutsche Bank’s upgrade of Walmart outlined how persistent inflation is reinforcing the retailer’s value proposition and supporting market share gains among budget-conscious shoppers. We noted that the bull case also leaned on margin expansion from higher-margin businesses and automation, along with faster growth in digital services such as e-commerce and AI-driven shopping tools.

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