Buckle Inc

NYSE:BKE

Earnings Call Transcript 2020-Q2

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patience and holding. And welcome to the Second Quarter Earnings Release Call.

Members of Buckle’s management on the call today are Dennis Nelson, President and CEO; Tom Heacock, Senior Vice President of Finance, Treasurer and CFO; Kelli Molczyk, Vice President of Women’s Merchandising; Bob Carlberg, Senior Vice President of Men’s Merchandising; and Brady Fritz, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

As they review the operating results for the second quarter, which ended August 1, 2020, they would like to reiterate their policy of not giving future sales or earnings guidance and having the following Safe Harbor statement; Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements made by the company involve material risk and uncertainties and are subject to change based on factors, which may be beyond the company’s control. 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. 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.

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

I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Tom Heacock. Please go ahead.

[Tom Heacock, SVP, Finance, Treasurer and CFO]

Good morning, and thanks for joining us this morning. Our August 21, 2020 press release reported that net income for the 13-week second quarter ended August 1, 2020 was $34.7 million or $0.71 per share on a diluted basis, which compares to net income of $16.4 million or $0.34 per share on a diluted basis, for the prior year 13-week second quarter, which ended August 3, 2019.

Year-to-date net income for the 26-week period ended August 1, 2020 was $22.9 million or $0.47 per share on a diluted basis, compared to net income of $31.5 million or $0.65 per share on a diluted basis for the prior year 26-week period ended August 3, 2019.

Net sales for the 13-week second quarter increased 6% to $216 million, compared to net sales of $203.8 million for the prior year 13-week second quarter. Online sales for the quarter increased 99% to $46 million compared to net sales of $23.1 million for the prior year 13-week fiscal period.

Year-to-date net sales decreased 18.2% to $331.4 million for the 26-week fiscal period ended August 1, 2020 compared to net sales of $405.1 million for the prior year 26-week fiscal period ended August 3, 2019.

Online sales for the year-to-date period increased 64.3% to $78.1 million, compared to net sales of $47.5 million for the prior year 26-week fiscal period. For the quarter UPTs increased approximately 3.5%, the average unit retail increased to approximately 3% and the average transaction value increased to approximately 7%.

Year-to-date, UPTs increased approximately 3%, the average unit retail increased approximately 1%, and the average transaction value increased to approximately 3.5%.

Gross margin for the quarter was 43.2%, up from 38.6% in the prior year second quarter. The year-over-year increase was a result of 190-basis point improvement in merchandise margins, and 270-basis points of leveraged occupancy buying and distribution costs, given the strong topline performance for the period that stores were open and strong online sales throughout the quarter.

For the year-to-date period gross margin was 36.3%, down from 38.4% for the same period last year. The year-over-year decrease was the result of deleveraged occupancy buying and distribution costs, partially offset by a 90-basis point improvement in merchandise margins.

SG&A expenses for the quarter were 22.1% of net sales, compared to 29% for the same period a year ago. On a dollar basis, SG&A declined $11.2 million from $59.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 to $47.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2020. This decline was the result of a $12 million reduction in compensation and benefit related expenses, along with reductions in certain other operating expenses including travel expenses and store supplies. These reductions were partially offset by increased shipping costs resulting from our strong online growth.

SG&A for the year-to-date period was 27.4% of net sales compared to 28.9% for the same period a year ago.

On a dollar basis, SG&A for the year-to-date period declined $26.1 million from $117 million in fiscal 2019 to $90.9 million for fiscal 2020. Again, the decline was the result of a $26 million reduction in compensation and benefit related expenses, along with reductions in certain other operating expenses, and was partially offset by increased freight costs resulting from our strong e-com sales.

Our operating margin for the quarter was 21.1%, compared to 9.6% for the second quarter of fiscal 2019. For the year-to-date period, our operating margin was 8.9%, compared to 9.5% for the same period last year. Other income for the quarter was $0.4 million, compared to $2.1 million for the second quarter of 2019, and other income for the year-to-date period was $1 million, compared to $3.3 million in the prior year.

Income tax expense as a percentage of pre-tax net income for both the current and prior year fiscal quarter was 24.5%, bringing second quarter net income to $34.7 million for fiscal 2020, compared to $16.4 million for fiscal 2019.

Income tax expense as a percentage of net income for both the current and prior year, year-to-date periods was also 24.5%, bringing year-to-date net income to $22.9 million for 2020, compared to $31.5 million for fiscal 2019.

Our press release also included a balance sheet as of August 1, 2020, which included the following;: inventory of $116.5 million, which was down approximately 10% from inventory of a $129.1 million as of August 3, 2019, and total cash and investments of $294.9 million, which compares to $249.4 million at the end of fiscal 2019, and $245.6 million as of August 3, 2019.

We ended the quarter with $106.1 million in fixed assets net of accumulated depreciation. Our capital expenditures for the quarter were $1.3 million and depreciation expense was $5.5 million. For the year-to-date period capital expenditures were $3.5 million and depreciation expense was $11 million.

Year-to-date capital spending is broken down as follows: $2.6 million for store remodels and technology upgrades, and $0.9 million for capital spending at the corporate headquarters and distribution center.

During the quarter, we opened two new Buckle Youth stores and one new full line store, and we also closed three locations, which brings our year-to-date count to three new stores, one full remodel and five store closures. For the remainder of the year, we plan on completing three additional full store remodels.

Based on current store plans, we still expect our capital expenditures to be in the range of $7 million to $10 million, which includes both planned store projects and IT investments. Buckle ended the quarter with 446 retail stores in 42 states, compared with 449 stores in 42 states at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2019.

And now I’ll turn the call over to Kelli Molczyk, Vice President of women's Merchandising.

[Kelli Molczyk, VP of Women's Merchandising]

Thanks, Tom. I would like to start by highlighting the performance of our Women's Merchandise categories for the quarter. Women's merchandise sales for the fiscal quarter were up approximately 6% against the prior year fiscal quarter. Average denim price points increased from $72.55 in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, to $74.60 in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.

For the quarter our women's business was approximately 46.5% of net sales, compared to 46% last year, and average women's price point increased about 6% from $36.50 to $38.65.

For the quarter, the women's business saw nice responses to several key categories. Our selection in denim was well-received as we continue to evolve the category by building, creating and offering our guests the biggest collection in fits, finishes, bottom openings, rises, inseams and waist sizes. Our focus remains on creating denim for everybody.

Our private label and exclusive product continues to grow as a larger part of our overall denim business. In addition to denim, we also had a nice response to our selection of shorts that we expanded throughout the quarter.

As the effects of COVID evolve, we navigated through our on-order and adjusted our flow and overall inventory by category, as well as made shifts in the types of products that we delivered throughout the quarter. We saw a favorable response to these changes as comfort fabric, simplistic styling, e-silhouettes, graphics tees and slip-on footwear were drivers of sales.

I continue to be extremely proud of the hard work and dedication our women design team puts into building our business. With all the uncertainties through and around the pandemic, the team did an amazing job managing our inventory, which shows the several of our key categories ended the quarter with average price points up, and our markdown position down, contributing to healthy margins.

With our inventory in a comfortable position, we retain the flexibility to act and react to what's ahead. Our focus remains on on-trend, livable and functional denim-friendly products.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Bob Carlberg, Senior Vice President of Men's Merchandising to discuss the performance of our Men's Merchandise categories.

[Bob Carlberg, SVP of Men's Merchandising]

Thanks Kelly. Men's Merchandise sales for the fiscal quarter were up 5% in comparison to the prior year fiscal quarter. Average denim price points increased from $85.60 in the second quarter of 2019 to $87.85 in the second quarter of 2020. For the quarter our men's business was approximately 53.5% of net sales compared to 54% last year, and average men's price points increased approximately 1% from $45.45 to $45.80.

As our results reflected Buckle managed to the COVID crisis incredibly well. The strength of our entire men's team was evident in the way we responded to a challenge in an ever changing situation. I've never been more proud of our team. We took a planning approach that mitigated risk, was respectful of our strong vendor partnerships, and still allowed us to provide a strong presentation as we reopened our stores. This approach also allowed us to maintain our normal low markdown cadence and end the quarter in an excellent inventory position.

Spring and summer categories were especially good throughout the quarter. Footwear, shorts and accessories were standout departments. Overall, there was a large amount of fresh products including more color and fashion styling. We are attracting a younger fashion guest as well as taking care of the tried and true Buckle guest. Denim stayed strong as we added more destruction, light finishes as well as lightweight and CoolMax fabrics. Our private brands continue to capture a growing share of our business with BKE at the core, and each of our private brands attracting a different guest.

Additionally, our newest street denim category performed well throughout the quarter.

Now turning to results on a combined basis, accessory sales for the fiscal quarter were up approximately 6% against the prior year fiscal quarter, while footwear sales were up about 32%. These two categories accounted for approximately 10% and 9.5% respectively, of the second quarter net sales, which compares to 9.5% and 7.5% for each in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Average accessory prices were up approximately 4.5% and average footwear price points were up about 0.5%.

Again on a combined basis for the quarter denim accounted for approximately 32% of sales, and tops accounted for approximately 13.5%, which compares to 33% and 34% in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. For the quarter our private label business represented approximately 31% of sales.

And with that, we welcome your questions. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]. And our first question comes from Steve Marotta from C.L. King & Associates. Please go ahead.

[Steve Marotta, C.L. King & Associates]

Good morning, everybody. Congratulations on a terrific quarter, given all the pandemic issues. Can you please update us on the online digital infrastructure? At this moment in time, where it is? What investments do you intend to make over the next six to 12 months? And let's start there.

[Dennis Nelson, President and CEO]

Good morning, Steve. Thanks for the question. I'll let Tom answer that one for you.

[Tom Heacock, SVP, Finance, Treasurer and CFO]

Yes. Thank you, Steve. Good morning. We feel really strong about where we're at with e-com and a lot of what we've done. We have a really talented IT team that does a lot of the development for our website. So a lot of the projects, a lot of the things we're doing are internally developed.

One of the big drivers of growth has been ship-from-store, like we've talked about. We've expanded our online selection of inventory, starting in a limited way. In the fourth quarter, expanded in February and have expanded to even more categories more SKUs through the first part of the year, and that's been a big driver of our growth to be able to offer our in-store inventory for sale, online for online orders and also be able to fill it directly from stores or shipping from our stores directly to guests.

The next iteration of that and what we're working on for fall is really the next expansion of omni-channel, allowing guests to buy online, pick up in-store and an offering buy today, get it today, so they can shop at their local store, buy it online and pick it up. And COVID has really accelerated the demand for a lot of those things, and those were things that we had them flagged before and have been working on for a while, and are really excited about.

[Steve Marotta, C.L. King & Associates]

The ship-from-store that you mentioned first, is that now 100% across stores in categories? And if not, when would you expect it would be?

[Tom Heacock, SVP, Finance, Treasurer and CFO]

It's in all stores. And so we had again -- and started last fall on a limited basis in terms of both stores and categories to test it and learn. And it saw a really nice response to those categories. So started expanding, it saw some nice online growth in February, before COVID which ship-from-store and that expanded inventory selection was a big driver of that.

As we've reopened stores post-COVID, again, it seems really important to have all that inventory available. So it is all stores, and almost all SKUs. There are some requirements, I mean we're smart about it and making sure from a margin perspective, we're selling the right product and it makes sense to sell that product from in-store. But it is most product, most categories.

[Steve Marotta, C.L. King & Associates]

I understand. Your expense structure, obviously from an SG&A standpoint was down significantly year-over-year. That's not all terrifically surprising, I think the magnitude was a little bit given the sales were up in the quarter. And I know that you don't give forward guidance, but can you talk a little bit about what you've cut? What you would expect to be permanent? What you would expect to be more temporary with the vacillation in sales associated with the pandemic?

[Tom Heacock, SVP, Finance, Treasurer and CFO]

Yes. I mean, like we mentioned, we don't give forward guidance. So looking ahead for SG&A, it's hard to say like we called out the biggest driver was compensation of benefits or labor related, similar to e-com. And that was a focus especially for store labor going back to the second-half of last year, and we saw nice improvement there through both the third and fourth quarter.

Again, COVID was the big driver of why it was down so much in the second quarter. We certainly wouldn't expect that to continue, but a lot of the increase, I think it was $12 million total decrease for the quarter was really heavily weighted towards May. As stores were closed and we furloughed the majority of our teammates, and then as we brought those back, we saw payrolls build to where -- at the end of July, they're still down year year-over-year, but obviously not at the rate they were earlier in the quarter.

I think we've learned a lot. The stores are operating and malls are operating with reduced hours. So we're running with leaner teams in the stores. The stores have done an incredible job, opening up, running really fast, working hard, taking care of our guests, but they're operating with leaner teams. And I would expect that would continue. And we'll continue to focus on payroll, but the magnitude of what it will be for the back-half of the year, we can't really say.

[Steve Marotta, C.L. King & Associates]

Helpful. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And we have another question and that comes from Richard Dearnley from Longport Partners. Please go ahead.

[Richard Dearnley, Longport Partners LP]

Good morning. Do you have any feeling that the second quarter sales were helped from just a catch-up from the first quarter? And then has August slowed back down again as Walmart and Target have said?

[Dennis Nelson, President and CEO]

Thanks for the question, Richard. There was probably some pent-up demand from the first quarter that helped our second quarter. And I think we have to really give credit to our sales team for working hard to be -- first we had to close down, but they then prepared for the opening. And everybody's hard work and preparation gave us a good start. We probably got a little advantage opening before maybe a few of the other retailers. So that was beneficial.

But I think with our sales management team doing a great job, our merchandisers focusing in on the right product for the season, and having a great selection in the key categories. We’re very beneficial. And then support from the home office to help execute everything was great.

So that's kind of the issue on the second quarter sales. And then as Tom mentioned earlier, we do not give forecasts for future sales.

[Richard Dearnley, Longport Partners LP]

Right. Back-to-school isn't very important relative to lots other retailers. Did you see any business that was new, and clearly back-to-school that you hadn't seen before?

[Dennis Nelson, President and CEO]

I think that's a little difficult to answer at the moment. We're hearing that schools are opening later in some markets, and some are scheduled. So, hopefully, we'll be able to review that question at the next earnings call.

[Richard Dearnley, Longport Partners LP]

Okay. Yes, it’s a major mess out there. Okay. Thank you.

[Dennis Nelson, President and CEO]

Thank you.

[Operator]

And we have no further questions at this time. [Operator Instructions] We have a question from Jon Braatz from Kansas City Capital. Please go ahead.

[Jon Braatz, Kansas City Capital]

Good morning. Tom, a question for you. When you look at your cash balances, how much of those cash balances might there be some rent deferrals and maybe payroll tax deferrals if you're doing that? I'm trying to get a sense of what -- how much you have been able to defer?

[Tom Heacock, SVP, Finance, Treasurer and CFO]

Yes. I mean, if you look at payables on the balance sheet is up year-over-year, the biggest driver there would be some of the rent deferrals. We haven't quantified exactly what that is, but it's meaningful, but not overly significant to the increase in cash balance. Probably the bigger impact on cash increases year-to-date and year-over-year has been not paying dividends. That’s been much more meaningful than rent deferrals to this.

Any payroll tax credits or deferrals have been much smaller than both of those. So, yes, we do have rent deferrals, that's part of it, and some payroll tax credit deferrals. But that's pretty small for the payroll tax part.

[Jon Braatz, Kansas City Capital]

Are you seeing any -- maybe in the next -- by the end of the year, renegotiation of rents? Do you see that on the horizon?

[Dennis Nelson, President and CEO]

Jon, we continually work with all our landlords. And as we've mentioned before, we have a lot of short-term leases. We've been averaging somewhere around 90 to 100 renewals each year. So that gives us the opportunity to evaluate each location and figure it out appropriately. So I think we have a good handle on that. And we're continuing to review if we have our stores in the best location for that, particular community we're in and that's been working well.

[Jon Braatz, Kansas City Capital]

Okay. Tom, one follow-up. When will the rent deferrals be paid?

[Tom Heacock, SVP, Finance, Treasurer and CFO]

Depends on the landlord, but most of them should be repaid by the end of the year. Some of them have already started to repay. And again, we paid essentially a full month of rent for April, and most of the deferrals were May and June. Some have been paid back already and some will be paid back at various points through the rest of the year.

[Jon Braatz, Kansas City Capital]

Okay. Thank you, Tom.

[Operator]

And we have no further questions in the queue right now.

[Dennis Nelson, President and CEO]

There's no other questions, we can wrap it up. And hope everyone enjoys the rest of the day, and thanks for participating.

[Operator]

And that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using the AT&T Executive Teleconference Service. You may now disconnect.