For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. Not only can it impact your investment portfolio, but it can also help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Williams-Sonoma (WSM) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to WSM for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Williams-Sonoma's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Williams-Sonoma's main business drivers.
Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is a multi-channel specialty retailer of premium quality home products. Incorporated in 1973, the company has five brands and each brand is currently an operating segment.
Pottery Barn (accounting for 39.4% of fiscal 2024 net revenues) is the largest brand of the company and offers premium quality furniture, lighting, tabletop, outdoor and decorative accessories.
West Elm (23.9%) produces personalized products designed by the company’s team of artists and designers.
Williams-Sonoma (16.9%) offers cookware, tools, cutlery, electrics, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture and cookbooks.
Pottery Barn Kids and Teen (14.4%) deals with products used for putting up nurseries, bedrooms and play spaces. It also caters to the teenage population with furniture, bedding, lighting and decorative accents for teen bedrooms, dorm rooms, study spaces and lounges.
Other segment (5.5%) primarily consists of international franchise operations, Rejuvenation and Mark and Graham. Rejuvenation offers premium quality products that are inspired by history and manufactured in facilities in Portland, OR. Mark and Graham are known for personalized gift items. The brand manufactures women’s and men’s accessories, home décor as well as seasonal items.
(Note: Zacks identifies fiscal years by the month in which the fiscal year ends, while WSM identifies its fiscal year by the calendar year in which it begins; so comparable figures for any given fiscal year, as published by WSM, will refer to this same fiscal year as being the year before the same year, as identified by Zacks).
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Williams-Sonoma a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in February 2016 would be worth $7,654.44, or a 665.44% gain, as of February 23, 2026, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 260.29% and gold's return of 299.78% over the same time frame.
Analysts are anticipating more upside for WSM.
Shares of Williams-Sonoma have outperformed the industry in the past six months. Its prospects are gaining from an effective operating model, diversified brand portfolios, a robust e-commerce channel and global expansion efforts. Besides, the launch of new AI culinary and shopping companion, Olive, with AI integration across all brands is boding well. In the first nine months of fiscal 2025, retail comps rose 7.4% and e-commerce comps increased 2% year over year, helped by improved in-stock levels driven by supply-chain efficiencies. Earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 have moved up in the past 30 days, depicting analysts' optimism over the stock's growth potential. However, incremental tariffs on China, India and Vietnam, with the new Section 232 tariffs on furniture, are concerning.
The stock has jumped 5.07% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 1 higher, for fiscal 2026; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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