Steven Madden Ltd. had a strong start to 2026. The company on Wednesday said net income for the first quarter ended March 31 jumped 77.7 percent to $71.8 million, or $1 a diluted share, versus net income of $40.4 million, or 57 cents, in the same year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share were 45 cents for the three months. Net revenue rose 18.0 percent to $653.1 million from $553.5 million a year ago. Wall Street was expecting adjusted diluted EPS of 37 cents on revenue of $650.04 million. While the adjusted EPS for the quarter of 45 cents bested Wall Street’s expectations, it lower than the 60 cents in adjusted diluted EPS posted a year ago. “We got off to a solid start to the year in the first quarter, with healthy underlying demand across our brands driven by compelling product assortments and strong marketing execution,” said chairman and CEO Edward Rosenfeld.…