Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

v3.20.4
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION
12 Months Ended
Jan. 02, 2021
Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION
Description of Plans
Pursuant to the Kontoor Brands, Inc. 2019 Stock Compensation Plan (the "2019 Plan"), the Company is authorized to grant equity-based awards to officers, key employees and nonemployee members of the Company’s Board of Directors in the form of options, time-based restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance-based restricted stock units ("PRSUs") and restricted stock awards ("RSAs"). The 2019 Plan also allowed for the issuance of replacement grants related to the conversion of VF awards for employees that transferred from VF to the Company (defined below as “Converted Awards”). A maximum of 7.5 million shares of Common Stock, plus shares subject to Converted Awards, may be issued under the 2019 Plan. As of December 2020, 5.1 million shares remained available for future grants. Shares distributed under the 2019 Plan are issued from Kontoor's authorized but unissued Common Stock.
Substantially all of the Company’s outstanding awards are classified as equity awards, which are accounted for within stockholders’ equity in the Company's balance sheet. Compensation cost for all awards expected to vest is recognized over the shorter of the requisite service period or the vesting period, including accelerated recognition for retirement-eligible employees. Awards that do not vest are forfeited.
Conversion at Separation
Prior to the Separation, certain Company employees participated in the VF amended and restated 1996 Stock Compensation Plan (the "VF Plan"). In accordance with the terms of the Separation, share-based awards granted to Company employees under the VF Plan ("VF Awards") were converted at the time of Separation to options, RSUs, PRSUs and RSAs totaling approximately 2.4 million shares of Kontoor Common Stock (the "Converted Awards"). Certain stock option and PRSU awards were retained by VF to be settled in accordance with their original terms under the VF Plan.
Stock-based Compensation Expense
For the year ended December 2020 and for the period from the Separation date through December 2019, stock-based compensation includes expense related to grants under the 2019 Plan including the Converted Awards, as well as the expense related to grants remaining under the VF Plan.
Prior to the Separation date, stock-based compensation expense was presented on a carve-out basis, and included expense for VF grants related directly to employees that were historically dedicated to the Jeanswear business ("direct employees") as well as an allocation of VF’s corporate and shared employee stock-based compensation expenses. Of the total stock-based compensation expense recognized by the Company in 2019 (through the Separation date) and 2018, $7.3 million and $10.9 million, respectively, related to direct employees and $2.2 million and $4.0 million, respectively, related to allocations of VF’s corporate and shared employee stock-based compensation expenses.
The following table presents total stock-based compensation expense and the associated income tax benefits recognized in the statements of operations for all awards:
Year Ended December
(In thousands) 2020 2019 2018
Stock-based compensation expense $ 15,948  $ 23,844  $ 14,894 
Income tax benefits 2,769  5,011  3,692 
There were no material amounts of stock-based compensation costs included in inventory at December 2020, December 2019 and December 2018.
At December 2020, there was $18.9 million of total unrecognized compensation cost related to all stock-based compensation arrangements that will be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately 1.23 years.
During 2020, there were 102,300 shares withheld to settle employee tax withholding related to vesting of awards.
Time and Performance-based Restricted Stock Units
Kontoor grants RSUs to certain key employees and nonemployee members of the Board of Directors. Each employee RSU entitles the holder to one share of Kontoor Common Stock and typically vests over a three-year period. Each RSU granted to a nonemployee member of the Board of Directors vests upon grant and will be settled in one share of Kontoor Common Stock one year from the date of grant.
Kontoor also grants PRSUs that enable employees to receive shares of Kontoor Common Stock at the end of a two or three-year performance period. Each PRSU has a potential final payout ranging from zero to two shares of Kontoor Common Stock. The number
of shares earned by participants, if any, is based on achievement of annually established performance goals set by the Talent and Compensation Committee of the Kontoor Board of Directors. Shares earned will be issued to participants following the conclusion of the two and three-year performance periods. Compensation expense for all PRSUs expected to vest is recognized over the requisite service period or the vesting period, including accelerated recognition for retirement-eligible employees, when attainment of the performance goal is deemed probable.
For PRSUs, the actual number of shares earned may also be adjusted upward or downward by 25% of the target award based on how Kontoor’s total shareholder return (“TSR”) compares to the TSR for companies included in the Russell 3000 Index over a two-year and three-year period for the 2019 and 2020 grants, respectively. The grant date fair value of the TSR-based adjustment was determined using a Monte Carlo simulation technique that incorporates option-pricing model inputs, which was $(0.67) per share for the 2019 period. There was no TSR-based adjustment for the 2020 period.
Dividend equivalents on the RSUs and PRSUs accumulate during the vesting period, are payable in additional shares of Kontoor Common Stock when the RSUs and PRSUs vest, and are subject to the same risk of forfeiture as the RSUs and PRSUs.
The grant date fair value of RSUs and PRSUs is equal to the per share fair market value of the underlying Kontoor Common Stock on each grant date.
Prior to the Separation, VF granted PRSUs that enabled employees to receive shares of VF Common Stock in the year following the conclusion of a three-year performance period. Each PRSU had a potential final payout ranging from zero to two shares of VF Common Stock. The number of shares earned by participants, if any, was based on achievement performance goals set by the Talent and Compensation Committee of VF’s Board of Directors, which were annual performance goals for the 2016 and 2017 grants and a three-year performance goal for the 2018 grants. All of the 2016 PRSUs and a portion of the 2017 and 2018 PRSUs were retained by VF to be paid out under the original terms of the awards, and the remaining 2017 and 2018 PRSUs were converted to shares of Kontoor PRSUs at the Separation. In addition, VF granted RSUs to employees as part of its annual stock compensation program during 2018. All of these awards were converted to Kontoor RSUs at the Separation.
The following table presents PRSU and RSU activity from December 2019 to December 2020:
  Performance-based Time-based
  Number Outstanding Weighted Average
Grant Date
Fair Value
Number Outstanding Weighted Average
Grant Date
Fair Value
Outstanding at December 2019 504,297  $ 32.06  626,876  $ 31.71 
Granted 332,274  16.44  313,391  16.63 
Modified —  42.99  —  — 
Dividend equivalents —  —  16,561  29.26 
Issued as Common Stock —  —  (282,610) 31.96 
Forfeited/canceled (42,751) 26.53  (40,953) 27.45 
Outstanding at December 2020 793,820  $ 31.59  633,265  $ 24.34 
Vested at December 2020 230,958  $ 30.27  26,762  $ 15.51 
During the third quarter of 2020, management concluded that the Company was not probable of achieving the minimum thresholds of the 2020 performance period goals associated with its PRSU awards and recorded as a $2.2 million adjustment to reverse all stock compensation expense previously recorded for these awards. On December 15, 2020, the Talent and Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors modified the 2020 performance goals, which affected approximately 270,000 shares held by approximately 200 employees. The modified awards had a fair value of $42.99 per share based on the fair market value of the underlying Kontoor Common Stock on the modification date, and the value of the modified awards is being recognized as compensation expense from the modification date through the shorter of the remaining requisite service period or the vesting period, including accelerated recognition for retirement eligible employees, for all awards expected to vest. The total value of the modified awards, as adjusted for the expected payout percentage under the modified performance goals, was $8.8 million, of which $2.9 million was recorded as compensation expense during the fourth quarter of 2020.
The weighted average fair value of PRSUs granted under the 2019 Plan during the years ended December 2020 and December 2019 was $16.44 and $32.27 per share, respectively, which was equal to the fair market value of the underlying Kontoor Common Stock on each grant date.
The weighted average fair value of RSUs granted under the 2019 Plan during the years ended December 2020 and December 2019 was $16.63 and $32.52 per share, respectively, which was equal to the fair market value of the underlying Kontoor Common Stock on each grant date.
At December 2020, the fair value of PRSUs and RSUs outstanding was $32.2 million and $25.7 million, respectively.
Restricted Stock Awards
Prior to the Separation, VF granted RSAs of VF Common Stock to certain members of management with vesting periods of up to five years from the grant date. Dividends accumulate in the form of additional RSAs and are subject to the same risk of forfeiture as the RSAs. These awards were converted to Kontoor RSAs at the Separation. They generally have the same terms and conditions as the original awards and are being amortized ratably over the remaining vesting periods. No new RSAs have been granted by the Company subsequent to the Separation.
The following table presents RSA activity from December 2019 to December 2020:
Nonvested Shares Outstanding Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at December 2019 194,151  $ 25.15 
Dividend equivalents 4,609  25.04 
Vested (69,393) 25.53 
Nonvested shares at December 2020 129,367  $ 24.95 
The fair value of nonvested RSAs was $5.2 million at December 2020. The fair value of the shares that vested during the years ended December 2020 and December 2019 (since the Separation) was $1.7 million and $2.6 million, respectively.
Stock Options
Prior to the Separation, VF granted stock options to employees that transferred from VF to the Company with the Separation. All employee stock options were included in the Converted Awards as discussed above except for retirement eligible employees, whose options remained with VF. The adjusted exercise price and outstanding quantities of the Converted Awards are included in the table below and no new stock options have been granted by the Company subsequent to the Separation.
Employee stock options vest in equal annual installments over three years, and compensation cost is recognized ratably over the shorter of the requisite service period or the vesting period, including accelerated recognition for retirement-eligible employees. All options have ten-year terms.
The following table presents stock option activity for the year ended December 2020:
Number of Shares Weighted Average Exercise Price Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term (Years) Aggregate Intrinsic Value
(In thousands)
Outstanding at December 2019 1,716,022  $ 26.16  6.6 $ 28,016 
Exercised (193,713) 23.47 
Forfeited/cancelled (48,211) 28.38 
Outstanding at December 2020 1,474,098  $ 26.45  5.6 $ 20,806 
Exercisable at December 2020 1,319,211  $ 25.91  5.4 $ 19,322 
The total fair value of stock options that vested during 2020 and 2019 (since the Separation) was $7.0 million and $0.3 million, respectively. The total intrinsic value of stock options exercised during 2020 and 2019 (since the Separation) was $3.1 million and $2.0 million, respectively.