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The Buckle, Inc.

BKE US

The Buckle, Inc.United States Composite

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Q3 2023 · Earnings Call Transcript

Nov 18, 2022

Operator

Well good morning. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Buckle's third quarter earnings release webcast.

As a reminder, all participants are currently in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will be conducted following the company's prepared remarks, with instructions given at that time.

Operator

Members of Buckle's management on the call today are Dennis Nelson, President and CEO; and Tom Heacock, Senior Vice President of Finance, Treasurer and CFO; Adam Akerson, Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller; and Brady Fritz, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

Operator

As they review operating results for the third quarter, which ended October 29, 2022, they would like to reiterate their policy of not giving future sales or earnings guidance and have the following safe harbor statements.

Operator

Safe harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, all forward-looking statements made by the company involve material risks and uncertainties and are subject to change, based on factors which may be beyond the company's control.

Operator

Accordingly, the company's future performance and financial results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Operator

The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied therein will not be realized.

Operator

Additionally, the company does not authorize the reproduction or dissemination of transcripts or audio recordings of the company's quarterly conference calls without its express written consent. Any unauthorized reproductions or recordings of the call should not be relied upon as the information may be inaccurate.

Operator

And as a reminder, today's webcast is being recorded. And now I'd like to turn the conference over to your host, Tom Heacock.

Tom, over to you.

Thomas Heacock

Good morning, and thanks for joining us today. On November 18, 2022 press release reported that net income for the 13-week third quarter ended October 29, 2022, was $61.4 million or $1.24 per share on a diluted basis compared to net income of $62.2 million or $1.26 per share on a diluted basis for the prior year 13-week third quarter, which ended October 30, 2021.

Thomas Heacock

Year-to-date, net income for the 39-week period ended October 29, 2022 was $166.8 million or $3.37 per share on a diluted basis, which compares to net income of $170.9 million or $3.46 per share on a diluted basis for the prior year 39-week period ended October 30, 2021.

Thomas Heacock

Net sales for the 13-week third quarter increased 4% to $332.3 million compared to net sales of $319.4 million for the prior year 13-week third quarter. Comparable sales for the quarter increased 3% in comparison to the same 13-week period in the prior year, and our online sales increased 8.8% to $55 million.

Thomas Heacock

Year-to-date net sales increased 3.3% to $943.4 million for the 39-week fiscal period ended October 29, 2022, compared to net sales of $913.7 million for the prior year 39-week period ended October 30, 2021.

Thomas Heacock

Comparable store sales for the year-to-date period were up 2.8% in comparison to the same 39-week period in the prior year. And our online sales increased 5.3% to $155.6 million.

For the quarter, UPTs decreased approximately 0.5%, the average unit retail increased approximately 6% and the average transaction value increased approximately 5.5%.

Thomas Heacock

Year-to-date, UPTs decreased approximately 0.5%, the average unit retail increased approximately 3.5%, and the average transaction value increased approximately 3%.

Thomas Heacock

Gross margin for the quarter was 49.8%, down 60 basis points from 50.4% in the third quarter of 2021. Year-to-date gross margin was 49.1%, down 20 basis points from 49.3% for the same period last year.

Merchandise margins were down about 75 basis points for the quarter and down 35 basis points for the year-to-date period.

Thomas Heacock

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter were 25.9% of sales compared to 24.7% for the third quarter of 2021. Year-to-date, SG&A was 26% of net sales compared to 24.6% for the same period last year.

Thomas Heacock

The third quarter increase was due to a 90 basis point increase in store labor-related expenses in addition to increases across several other SG&A expense categories, which had a 90 basis point impact and were partially offset by a 60 basis point reduction in incentive compensation accruals.

Thomas Heacock

Our operating margin for the quarter was 23.9% compared to 25.7% for the third quarter of fiscal 2021. And for the year-to-date period, our operating margin was 23.1% compared to 24.7% for the same period last year.

Thomas Heacock

Income tax expense as a percentage of pretax net income for both the current and prior year fiscal quarter, was [ 24.5% ], bringing third quarter net income to $61.4 million for fiscal 2022 compared to $62.2 million for fiscal 2021.

Thomas Heacock

Income tax expense as a percentage of pretax net income for both the current and prior year year-to-date periods was also 24.5%, bringing year-to-date net income to $166.8 million for fiscal 2022 compared to $170.9 million for fiscal 2021.

Our press release also included a balance sheet as of October 29, 2022, which included the following

inventory of $152.3 million and total cash on investments of $344.7 million. Third quarter inventory comparisons for the last several years included $100.6 million at the end of Q3 2021, $118.7 million in Q3 2020, and $138.9 million in Q3 2019.

Our press release also included a balance sheet as of October 29, 2022, which included the following

We ended the quarter with $109.6 million in fixed assets net of accumulated depreciation. Our capital expenditures for the quarter were $7.5 million and depreciation expense was $4.4 million.

For the year-to-date period, capital expenditures were $22.4 million and depreciation expense was $13.6 million.

Year-to-date capital spending is broken down as follows

$22 million for new store construction, store remodels and technology upgrades and $0.4 million for capital spending at the corporate headquarters and distribution center.

Year-to-date capital spending is broken down as follows

During the quarter, we opened 1 new store, completed 3 full remodels, 2 of which are relocations into new outdoor shopping centers and closed 1 store. This brings our year-to-date totals to 3 new stores, 16 full remodels and 2 store closures.

Year-to-date capital spending is broken down as follows

For the remainder of the year, we anticipate completing 8 additional full remodel projects and opening 1 additional new store. Based on current store plans, we expect our capital expenditures to be in the range of $26 million to $30 million for the year, which includes both planned store projects and IT investments.

Year-to-date capital spending is broken down as follows

Buckle ended the quarter with 441 retail stores in 42 states, consistent with the store count as of the end of the third quarter last year. And now I'll turn it over to Adam Akerson, Vice President of Finance.

Adam Akerson

Thanks, Tom. Women's merchandise sales for the fiscal quarter were up slightly against the prior year fiscal quarter.

For the quarter, our women's business was approximately 46.5% of sales compared to 48% in the prior year.

Adam Akerson

Average denim price points increased from $74.25 in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 to $78.55 in the third quarter of fiscal 2022, and overall average women's price points increased about 7% from $45.65 to $48.80.

Adam Akerson

On the men's side, merchandise sales for the fiscal quarter were up 6% against the prior year fiscal quarter, representing approximately 53.5% of total sales compared to 52% in the prior year.

Adam Akerson

Average denim price points increased from $81.55 in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 to $87.25 in the third quarter of fiscal 2020. For the quarter, overall average men's price points increased approximately 5.5% from $49.15 to [ $51.80 ].

Adam Akerson

On a combined basis, accessory sales for the fiscal quarter were up approximately 15.5% against the prior year fiscal quarter, while footwear sales were down about 17%. These 2 categories accounted for approximately 9.5% and 7.5%, respectively of third quarter net sales, which compares to 8.5% and 9.5% for each in the third quarter of fiscal '21.

Adam Akerson

For the quarter, average accessory price points were up approximately 10.5%, average footwear price points were up about 2.5%. For the quarter, denim accounted for approximately 42.5% of sales, and tops accounted for approximately 30.5%, which compares to 41.5% and 32% for each in the third quarter of fiscal 2021.

Adam Akerson

We continue to be encouraged by the guest response to our youth business. For the second consecutive quarter, youth was our fastest-growing category with approximately 26.5% year-over-year growth, representing about 4% of the total sales.

Adam Akerson

Overall, we continue to be pleased with the performance of both our men's and women's business, with broad-based strength across most categories on top of record sales a year ago. Categories of particular strength include denim, wovens, outerwear and accessories, all of which greatly benefited from better inventory [ positioning ] compared to a year ago.

Adam Akerson

Both teams have done a great job developing additional looks and lifestyles to expand the number of guests we can serve in our stores.

Adam Akerson

During the quarter, we continued to see strength in our expanded assortment of western-inspired styles. Our buying teams also continued building our private label business, with private label representing 46% of total sales for the quarter compared to 44% in the third quarter of 2021.

Adam Akerson

Our inventory continues to be clean, and we are excited about our selection moving into the holiday season. And with that, we welcome your questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. And we will hear from Steve Marotta with CL King & Associates.

Steve, go ahead and unmute.

Steven Marotta

I didn't see the unmute button. Can you -- you talked about inventory being clean.

Can you try to define that a little bit from an inventory competition standpoint? Are you where you want to be with inventory, you wish you had a little bit less?

I know it compares a little bit higher than '19. Is that what the goal was?

Can you just unpack that a little bit for us?

Dennis Nelson

Sure, Steve. And I'd like to take a moment before we start and just thank all the Buckle leaders and teammates for an excellent third quarter.

We appreciate their hard work.

Dennis Nelson

Yes, our inventory is up maybe 10% over '19. 4.6% of that is in cost of units.

And we also had like an increase of $4 million plus on the water in transit of the inventory. And we are comfortable with the -- last year, we had all our key denim vendors from Vietnam was not shipping product.

We didn't have any new receipts. And so we have the benefit of them back in our inventory.

Dennis Nelson

As well as we've grown, as Adam reported, our private label has grown nicely, and we've expanded both of our men's and women's private brands' inventory. And their sales have been very good, and we expanded fits and styles and expanded size scales to meet that demand.

Dennis Nelson

So it's been kind of a change in vendors somewhat. But on our private label, we have to plan and bring that in where we can just expect the vendors to be able to ship at once.

So we feel good about the product and the '19 inventory even if it's up -- our inventory over '19 is up 10%.

Dennis Nelson

But over '19, our sales this last quarter were in the almost 50% up from '19. So I think that puts that in perspective a little bit.

Dennis Nelson

And over last year, the 50% of the [ G&L ] inventory being up, half of that was in denim and also 15% of that was in the average cost. As I mentioned, the denim, we would really be missing business if we had not made those changes.

Dennis Nelson

So we also brought in a product 1 to 2 months early because we had so much last year that came January, February that we wanted for holiday and did not have.

Dennis Nelson

And this year with the threat of the port strikes and just the unknown when you're planning out 6, 7 months, we were more comfortable bringing that in early and providing a great selection and have -- all our stores have a nice selection of product instead of risk chasing goods. Hopefully, that answers that.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. And we will now hear from Alan Glenn.

And Alan, if you wouldn't mind letting us know what are you affiliation with, please.

Alan Glenn

I'm with Concord and Main Limited. My question is with the potential for a crippling rail strike over the next 30 days, does that -- would that affect your supply chain and inventory deliveries?

Dennis Nelson

Alan, thanks for the question. No, we do not do any of our freight on rail.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. All right.

Well, there are no further questions. So I'll turn it back over to the Buckle team for any closing or additional remarks.

Thomas Heacock

Well if there are no further questions, we thank everyone for participating, and I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the day. So thank you very much.

Operator

And again, that does conclude today's webinar. We thank you all for your participation.

Enjoy your holiday season. We'll see you next quarter.

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