Academy Sports and Outdoors Inc (ASO) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Academy Sports and Outdoors Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year-End 2022 Results Conference Call. At this time, this call is being recorded.

早上好，女士們，先生們，歡迎來到學院體育與戶外第四季度和 2022 財年末業績電話會議。此時，此通話正在錄音中。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

I will now turn the call over to Matt Hodges, Vice President of Investor Relations for Academy Sports and Outdoors. Matt, please go ahead.

我現在將把電話轉給學院體育和戶外投資者關係副總裁 Matt Hodges。馬特，請繼續。

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the Academy Sports & Outdoors Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2022 Financial Results call. Participating on the call are Ken Hicks, Chairman, President and CEO; Michael Mullican, Executive Vice President and CFO, and Steve Lawrence, Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer.

大家，早安。感謝您參加 Academy Sports & Outdoors 第四季度和 2022 財年財務業績電話會議。參加電話會議的有董事長、總裁兼首席執行官 Ken Hicks；執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Michael Mullican 和執行副總裁兼首席營銷官 Steve Lawrence。

As a reminder, statements in today's earnings release and the comments made by management during this call may be considered forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors identified in the earnings release and in our SEC filings.

提醒一下，今天的收益發布中的聲明和管理層在本次電話會議上發表的評論可能被視為前瞻性聲明。這些陳述受風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致我們的實際結果與我們的預期和預測存在重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括但不限於收益發布和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中確定的因素。

The company undertakes no obligation to revise any forward-looking statements. Today's remarks also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in today's earnings release, which is available at investors.academy.com.

公司不承擔修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務。今天的評論還涉及某些非 GAAP 財務措施。與最具可比性的 GAAP 指標的對賬包含在今天的收益發布中，可在 investors.academy.com 上獲取。

Unless otherwise noted, comparisons are to 2021, the 2019 comparisons also provided where appropriate, to benchmark performance given the impact of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

除非另有說明，否則比較是與 2021 年相比，2019 年的比較也在適當情況下提供，以在 2020 年和 2021 年大流行的影響下對績效進行基準測試。

I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Ken Hicks.

我現在將把電話轉給我們的首席執行官 Ken Hicks。

Thank you, Matt. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. As we wrap up and reflect upon fiscal 2022, we closed out a year that was both rewarding and challenging. During the fourth quarter and the full year, we faced pressure from the uncertain macroeconomic environment and comp periods of our strongest financial results.

謝謝你，馬特。早上好，感謝大家今天加入我們。在我們總結和反思 2022 財年時，我們結束了既有收穫又充滿挑戰的一年。在第四季度和全年，我們面臨不確定的宏觀經濟環境和我們最強勁的財務業績期間的壓力。

Our team effectively executed against our strategic plan. And as a result, we delivered solid earnings, generated and returned a significant amount of free cash flow, grew market share and created value for our stakeholders despite not meeting our sales expectations.

我們的團隊有效地執行了我們的戰略計劃。因此，儘管沒有達到我們的銷售預期，但我們實現了可觀的收益，產生並返回了大量的自由現金流，增加了市場份額並為我們的利益相關者創造了價值。

Turning to our fourth quarter results. We reported net sales of $1.75 billion and negative 5.1% comparable sales. During the quarter, we had our highest sales day ever on Black Friday and a strong Cyber Monday. We then saw the return of the traditional shopping level in the first couple of weeks of December, followed by consumers return in the week of Christmas.

轉向我們的第四季度業績。我們報告的淨銷售額為 17.5 億美元，可比銷售額為負 5.1%。在本季度，我們在黑色星期五和網絡星期一迎來了有史以來最高的銷售日。然後，我們在 12 月的前幾週看到傳統購物水平的回歸，隨後消費者在聖誕節那週回歸。

Overall, footwear and apparel sales grew, while outdoors and sports and recreation experienced sales declines. Steve will discuss our sales results in more detail later in the call. In terms of profitability, fourth quarter adjusted net income grew 12.5% to $163.5 million or $2.04 of adjusted diluted earnings per share, led by gross margin expansion from lower freight costs, a sales mix shift towards soft goods and efficiently managing our SG&A expenses.

總體而言，鞋類和服裝銷售額增長，而戶外、運動和娛樂銷售額下降。史蒂夫稍後將在電話中更詳細地討論我們的銷售結果。就盈利能力而言，第四季度調整後淨收入增長 12.5% 至 1.635 億美元或調整後攤薄每股收益 2.04 美元，這主要得益於運費成本下降帶來的毛利率增長、銷售組合轉向軟商品以及有效管理我們的 SG&A 費用。

During the year, led by our dedicated team members, Academy accomplished many of the strategic and operational goals we set at the beginning of the year. For example, we strengthened existing markets and entered new markets with the successful opening of 9 new stores. This was our first year of opening new stores since 2019 and we're pleased with the overall performance of this class of stores. Each opening also provided unique opportunities that we are learning from and leveraging to improve future store openings. We grew our omnichannel business by adding new features to enhance our customer shopping experience.

這一年，在我們敬業的團隊成員的帶領下，Academy 完成了我們在年初設定的許多戰略和運營目標。例如，我們鞏固現有市場並進入新市場，成功開設了 9 家新店。這是我們自 2019 年以來開設新店的第一年，我們對此類商店的整體表現感到滿意。每次開業也提供了獨特的機會，我們正在從中學習並利用這些機會來改善未來的商店開業。我們通過添加新功能來提升我們的客戶購物體驗，從而發展我們的全渠道業務。

In 2022, e-commerce sales were 10.7% of total merchandising sales, up 140 basis points from 2021 and 1 year ahead of our goal to achieve a 10% penetration rate.

2022 年，電子商務銷售額佔商品銷售總額的 10.7%，比 2021 年提高 140 個基點，比我們實現 10% 滲透率的目標提前一年。

For the full year, approximately half of our e-commerce sales were buy-online-pick-up-in-store and over 75% of all e-commerce sales were fulfilled through our stores. In addition, our mobile app saw a 180% increase in the number of downloads compared to 2021. Our omnichannel business is a competitive advantage for us as it utilizes our store base to drive higher sales conversion with healthy margins.

全年，我們大約一半的電子商務銷售額是在線購買店內提貨，超過 75% 的電子商務銷售額是通過我們的商店完成的。此外，與 2021 年相比，我們的移動應用程序的下載量增加了 180%。我們的全渠道業務對我們來說是一個競爭優勢，因為它利用我們的商店基礎來推動更高的銷售轉化率和健康的利潤率。

We provided a great customer experience. We continue to invest in the look and feel of the stores to increase engagement. In 2022, we remodeled 11 existing stores. We also upgraded our technology throughout the store chain to improve checkout times and to manage store labor, resulting in more customer-facing hours to focus on delivering an enjoyable and fun shopping experience to our customers.

我們提供了出色的客戶體驗。我們繼續投資於商店的外觀和感覺以增加參與度。 2022年，我們改造了11家現有門店。我們還升級了整個連鎖店的技術，以縮短結賬時間並管理商店勞動力，從而增加面向客戶的時間，專注於為我們的客戶提供愉快而有趣的購物體驗。

We also continue to enhance our product assortment with our preferred vendor partners as well as new ones to ensure we're in stock with the inventory our customers want while not losing our focus on value. In 2022, these efforts led to record customer service scores exceeding last year's strong results. We invested in and completed several internal projects to increase efficiency of our store operations, merchandise planning and allocation and supply chain. These efforts will pay dividends for years to come. We increased our engagement in meaningful ESG practices by publishing an updated ESG report in May, followed by a greenhouse gas emission supplement reporting our Scope 1 and 2 emissions in December.

我們還繼續與我們的首選供應商合作夥伴以及新供應商合作夥伴一起加強我們的產品分類，以確保我們有客戶想要的庫存，同時不會失去我們對價值的關注。 2022 年，這些努力帶來了創紀錄的客戶服務得分，超過了去年的強勁成績。我們投資並完成了幾個內部項目，以提高我們商店運營、商品規劃和分配以及供應鏈的效率。這些努力將在未來幾年帶來回報。我們在 5 月發布了更新的 ESG 報告，隨後在 12 月發布了報告範圍 1 和範圍 2 排放的溫室氣體排放補充文件，從而加強了對有意義的 ESG 實踐的參與。

And we generated solid profits and cash flow. We used our cash flow to execute our comprehensive capital allocation strategy in order to increase total shareholder return. In 2022, Academy returned $614 million to stakeholders through $490 million worth of share repurchases, $24 million in dividend payouts and $100 million in debt reduction while also supporting our growth initiatives and financial stability.

我們產生了可觀的利潤和現金流。我們利用現金流來執行全面的資本配置策略，以增加股東總回報。 2022 年，學院通過價值 4.9 億美元的股票回購、2400 萬美元的股息支付和 1 億美元的債務減免向利益相關者返還了 6.14 億美元，同時還支持我們的增長計劃和財務穩定。

The team's accomplishments in 2022 has strengthened the foundation we have built over the past several years and positioned Academy for a major growth phase as we head into fiscal 2023. I'd like to thank all of the Academy team members for their efforts over the past year. As we begin fiscal 2023, we anticipate that consumers will remain pressured and mindful of their spending due to the current economy.

該團隊在 2022 年取得的成就鞏固了我們在過去幾年中建立的基礎，並使 Academy 在我們進入 2023 財年時處於一個重要的增長階段。我要感謝所有 Academy 團隊成員過去所做的努力年。在我們開始 2023 財年之際，我們預計由於當前的經濟形勢，消費者將繼續承受壓力並註意他們的支出。

With this as a backdrop, our market position as a value leader is more important than ever. We appeal to a wide demographic of consumers with our everyday value proposition and broad assortment of good, better, best national and private brands to meet our customers' needs of having fun at an affordable price. Our focus in 2023 will be investing for the long-term growth. We plan to continue the progress made over the last few years by continuing to improve our operations and focusing on the things we can control as a company to grow the business.

以此為背景，我們作為價值領導者的市場地位比以往任何時候都更加重要。我們以我們的日常價值主張和種類繁多的好、更好、最好的國家和私人品牌吸引廣泛的消費者群體，以滿足我們的客戶以可承受的價格獲得樂趣的需求。我們在 2023 年的重點將是為長期增長進行投資。我們計劃通過繼續改善我們的運營並專注於我們作為一家公司可以控制的事情來發展業務，從而延續過去幾年取得的進展。

The main growth priorities for Academy in 2023 are: expanding the store base in existing and new markets with the opening of 13 to 15 new stores, continuing to build a more powerful omnichannel business, driving growth from our existing stores by improving service and productivity, strengthening our merchandising assortment, and attracting and engaging customers and leveraging and scaling our supply chain to support our future growth.

Academy 在 2023 年的主要增長重點是：通過開設 13 至 15 家新店擴大現有市場和新市場的門店基礎，繼續打造更強大的全渠道業務，通過改善服務和生產力來推動現有門店的增長，加強我們的商品分類，吸引和吸引客戶，利用和擴大我們的供應鏈以支持我們未來的增長。

These priorities, along with our established, differentiated market position, built on value, assortment and service, as well as our strong relationships with key vendors give us an excellent runway for growth in 2023 and beyond. The Academy team is excited about the opportunities that are in front of us as we strive towards achieving our vision of becoming the best sports and outdoors retailer in the country, while providing fun for all and creating value for our stakeholders.

這些優先事項，連同我們建立在價值、分類和服務基礎上的差異化市場地位，以及我們與主要供應商的牢固關係，為我們在 2023 年及以後的增長提供了極好的跑道。學院團隊對擺在我們面前的機遇感到興奮，因為我們正在努力實現我們的願景，即成為該國最好的運動和戶外用品零售商，同時為所有人提供樂趣並為我們的利益相關者創造價值。

Finally, I'd like to extend an invitation to you to tune into Academy's upcoming Analyst and Investor Day on April 3 and 4 here in Katy, Texas, where we will introduce the company's new long-range plan with financial targets. More details will be announced soon.

最後，我想邀請您收看 Academy 即將於 4 月 3 日至 4 日在德克薩斯州凱蒂舉行的分析師和投資者日，屆時我們將介紹公司新的長期計劃和財務目標。更多細節將很快公佈。

I'll now turn the call over to Michael to provide more details on our fourth quarter financial results, new stores and provide our initial 2023 guidance. Michael?

我現在將電話轉給邁克爾，提供有關我們第四季度財務業績、新店的更多詳細信息，並提供我們 2023 年的初步指導。邁克爾？

Thanks, Ken. Good morning, everyone. I will start by reviewing our fourth quarter and full year performance and then move on to discuss our initial financial outlook for 2023. Net sales for the fourth quarter were $1.75 billion with comparable sales of negative 5.1%. Sales were lower than planned due to fewer transactions, partially offset by an increase in average ticket size. When compared to 2019, Q4 sales increased by 27.4%. For the full year, net sales were $6.4 billion, with comparable sales of negative 6.4%. When compared to 2019, our full year sales increased by 32.4%. We maintained or gained market share in all product divisions for the full year, and our market share is well above 2019 levels.

謝謝，肯。大家，早安。我將首先回顧我們第四季度和全年的業績，然後繼續討論我們對 2023 年的初步財務展望。第四季度的淨銷售額為 17.5 億美元，可比銷售額為負 5.1%。由於交易減少，銷售額低於計劃，但部分被平均票價增加所抵消。與 2019 年相比，第四季度銷售額增長了 27.4%。全年淨銷售額為 64 億美元，可比銷售額為負 6.4%。與 2019 年相比，我們的全年銷售額增長了 32.4%。我們全年在所有產品部門的市場份額保持或增加，我們的市場份額遠高於 2019 年的水平。

Switching to gross margin. In the fourth quarter, gross margin was $572.5 million with a rate of 32.8%, a 50-basis point improvement over Q4 of last year. The rate improvement was driven primarily by lower freight costs and a sales mix shift towards soft goods, partially offset by more promotional activity. For the full year, gross margin was $2.2 billion with a rate of 34.6% of sales. This rate is 10 basis points below fiscal 2021 but 500 basis points higher than fiscal 2019. This is the second consecutive year Academy has finished with an annual margin rate above 34%. We are realizing sustainable benefits driven by the merchandising changes made over the last few years, including more thoughtful inventory management, systems upgrades and greater localization.

轉向毛利率。第四季度，毛利率為 5.725 億美元，增長率為 32.8%，比去年第四季度提高了 50 個基點。費率提高的主要原因是較低的運費和銷售組合轉向軟商品，部分被更多的促銷活動所抵消。全年毛利率為 22 億美元，佔銷售額的 34.6%。這一比率比 2021 財年低 10 個基點，但比 2019 財年高 500 個基點。這是學院連續第二年以高於 34% 的年利潤率結束。我們正在實現過去幾年商品銷售變化所帶來的可持續利益，包括更周到的庫存管理、系統升級和更大程度的本地化。

In the fourth quarter, our operating income rate increased by 70 basis points to 11.7%, making this the eighth quarter in a row Academy has reported double-digit operating income rates. Taken all together, net income grew 11.2% in the fourth quarter to $157.7 million. When compared to Q4 2019, net income increased by more than 780%. Fourth quarter GAAP diluted earnings per share increased 25.5% to $1.97 per share. Fourth quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 26.7% to $2.04 per share. For the full year, net income was $628 million, or 9.8% of sales compared to $671.4 million or 9.9% of sales in 2021.

第四季度，我們的營業收入率增長了 70 個基點，達到 11.7%，這使學院連續第八個季度報告了兩位數的營業收入率。總而言之，第四季度淨收入增長 11.2%，達到 1.577 億美元。與 2019 年第四季度相比，淨收入增長超過 780%。第四季度 GAAP 攤薄後每股收益增長 25.5% 至每股 1.97 美元。第四季度調整後每股攤薄收益增長 26.7% 至每股 2.04 美元。全年淨收入為 6.28 億美元，佔銷售額的 9.8%，而 2021 年為 6.714 億美元，佔銷售額的 9.9%。

Fiscal 2022 GAAP diluted earnings per share increased 5.2% to a record $7.49 per share. Fiscal 2022 adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 1.3% to $7.70 per share. Our balance sheet remains very strong with $337 million in cash and no outstanding borrowings on our $1 billion credit facility at the end of the fiscal year.

2022 財年 GAAP 攤薄後每股收益增長 5.2%，達到創紀錄的每股 7.49 美元。 2022 財年調整後的攤薄每股收益增長 1.3% 至每股 7.70 美元。我們的資產負債表仍然非常強勁，擁有 3.37 億美元的現金，並且在本財年結束時我們的 10 億美元信貸額度沒有未償還的借款。

Academy continues to generate meaningful positive cash flow delivering $242.8 million in net cash from operating activities during Q4 and $552 million for the full year. During the fourth quarter, we continued to execute our comprehensive capital allocation plan by returning cash to our stakeholders in the following manner: repurchasing 1.9 million shares for approximately $100 million, paying out $6 million in dividends and paying down $100 million of our term loan, reducing our total debt to $595 million, which is not due until 2027. In addition, the Board recently approved a 20% dividend increase to $0.09 per share payable on April 13, 2023, to stockholders of record as of March 23, 2023.

Academy 繼續產生可觀的正現金流，第四季度經營活動產生的淨現金為 2.428 億美元，全年為 5.52 億美元。在第四季度，我們繼續執行全面的資本配置計劃，通過以下方式向利益相關者返還現金：以約 1 億美元的價格回購 190 萬股股票，支付 600 萬美元的股息並償還 1 億美元的定期貸款，將我們的總債務減少到 5.95 億美元，直到 2027 年才到期。此外，董事會最近批准將 20% 的股息增加到每股 0.09 美元，並於 2023 年 4 月 13 日支付給截至 2023 年 3 月 23 日在冊的股東。

Our year-end inventory balance was $1.3 billion, a 9.5% increase compared to Q4 2021. When compared to Q4 of 2019, inventory dollars were up 16.7% while units declined by 7%.

我們的年末庫存餘額為 13 億美元，與 2021 年第四季度相比增長了 9.5%。與 2019 年第四季度相比，庫存美元增長了 16.7%，而單位數量下降了 7%。

Drilling down to store level metrics. Sales per square foot in 2022 were $340 per foot and operating income per store was $3.2 million. When compared to 2019, sales per square foot have increased 29%, and operating income per square foot has grown by more than 350%. These industry-leading productivity measures give us great optimism as we increase the pace of our store opening program.

深入到商店級別的指標。 2022 年每平方英尺的銷售額為每英尺 340 美元，每家商店的營業收入為 320 萬美元。與 2019 年相比，每平方英尺的銷售額增長了 29%，每平方英尺的營業收入增長了 350% 以上。隨著我們加快開店計劃的步伐，這些行業領先的生產力措施讓我們非常樂觀。

2022 was a test-and-learn year as we built up the capability to open new stores at scale again. We opened in brand new markets such as Virginia and West Virginia. We also built new capabilities by retrofitting takeover spaces and designing and implementing new store layout. To summarize, we have proven over the last several years that our business model is durable and able to produce profits through various macroeconomic environments. 2022 was the second consecutive year that Academy has delivered gross margins greater than 30%, operating margins above 13% and free cash flow margin greater than 6%. Our free cash flow has enabled us to repurchase more than $400 million of shares and pay down $100 million of debt in each of the last 2 years.

2022 年是測試和學習的一年，因為我們再次建立了大規模開設新店的能力。我們在弗吉尼亞和西弗吉尼亞等全新市場開張。我們還通過改造接管空間以及設計和實施新的商店佈局來構建新功能。總而言之，我們在過去幾年證明了我們的商業模式是持久的，能夠在各種宏觀經濟環境中產生利潤。 2022 年是學院毛利率超過 30%、營業利潤率超過 13% 和自由現金流利潤率超過 6% 的連續第二年。我們的自由現金流使我們能夠在過去兩年中每年回購超過 4 億美元的股票並償還 1 億美元的債務。

Turning to 2023. We entered the year in a very strong financial position, with good inventory levels and a healthy cash balance. Our goal is to improve our ability to increase sales and profits over the long term through new store openings, omnichannel expansion and increasing the productivity of existing stores, all while generating significant free cash flow.

轉向 2023 年。我們以非常強勁的財務狀況進入了這一年，擁有良好的庫存水平和健康的現金餘額。我們的目標是通過開設新店、全渠道擴張和提高現有商店的生產力來提高我們長期增加銷售額和利潤的能力，同時產生可觀的自由現金流。

Academy is providing the following initial guidance for fiscal 2023. Net sales of $6.5 billion to $6.7 billion which is 2.5% to 5% growth. Comparable sales are expected to range from negative 2% to positive 1%. Gross margin rate between 34% and 34.4%. GAAP income before taxes is expected to range from $705 million to $780 million, GAAP net income of between $535 million and $595 million. GAAP diluted earnings of $6.70 per share to $7.45 per share. Adjusted diluted earnings per share, which excludes certain estimated expenses, such as stock compensation, are expected to range from $7 per share to $7.75 per share. The earnings per share estimates are calculated on a share count of 80.2 million diluted weighted average shares outstanding for the full year and do not include any potential repurchase activity using our remaining $300 million repurchase authorization.

Academy 為 2023 財年提供以下初步指導。淨銷售額為 65 億美元至 67 億美元，增長率為 2.5% 至 5%。可比銷售額預計在負 2% 到正 1% 之間。毛利率在34%至34.4%之間。 GAAP 稅前收入預計在 7.05 億美元至 7.8 億美元之間，GAAP 淨收入在 5.35 億美元至 5.95 億美元之間。 GAAP 每股攤薄收益為 6.70 美元至每股 7.45 美元。調整後的攤薄每股收益（不包括股票補償等某些估計費用）預計在每股 7 美元至 7.75 美元之間。每股收益估計數是根據全年 8020 萬股攤薄加權平均流通股計算得出的，不包括使用我們剩餘的 3 億美元回購授權進行的任何潛在回購活動。

Fiscal 2023 is a 53-week year for us. We expect this extra week to add approximately $85 million of sales to the year. Here, our additional modeling assumptions reflected in our additional guidance. SG&A expenses are expected to be approximately 100 basis points higher than in 2022. This is the result of the 53rd week and from investments in new stores, technology to support growth and an increase in digital marketing. Interest expense is expected to be $43 million, down from $46 million in fiscal '22 due to our reduced debt levels.

2023 財年對我們來說是 53 週的一年。我們預計這額外的一周將為全年增加約 8500 萬美元的銷售額。在這裡，我們的額外指導中反映了我們額外的建模假設。 SG&A 費用預計將比 2022 年高出約 100 個基點。這是第 53 週的結果，來自對新店的投資、支持增長的技術和數字營銷的增加。由於我們的債務水平降低，利息支出預計為 4300 萬美元，低於 22 財年的 4600 萬美元。

Capital expenditures are forecasted to range from $200 million to $250 million. We expect to generate $450 million to $500 million of free cash flow.

資本支出預計在 2 億美元至 2.5 億美元之間。我們預計將產生 4.5 億至 5 億美元的自由現金流。

With that, I will turn the call over to Steve for more details around our merchandising and operations performance. Steve?

有了這個，我將把電話轉給史蒂夫，了解有關我們的商品銷售和運營績效的更多細節。史蒂夫？

Thanks, Michael. As you heard from Michael and Ken, our Q4 sales came in at $1.75 billion, which is a 5.1% comp decline versus 2021 but was up 27% versus our 2019 baseline and it was fairly similar to our Q3 trend, which was up 30% versus 2019. In terms of how the quarter played out, we saw the traffic patterns return to a more normalized pre-COVID holiday season. We did not get the same pull forward of demand in November that we've seen in the past couple of years when there was scarcity of supply in the market across many key categories. Improved inventory levels across most retailers allowed customers to wait later in the calendar to take advantage of the deals they anticipated would be out there.

謝謝，邁克爾。正如您從邁克爾和肯那裡聽到的那樣，我們第四季度的銷售額為 17.5 億美元，與 2021 年相比下降了 5.1%，但與我們 2019 年的基線相比增長了 27%，這與我們第三季度的趨勢非常相似，後者增長了 30%與 2019 年相比。就本季度的表現而言，我們看到流量模式恢復到更正常的 COVID 前假期。我們在 11 月份沒有像過去幾年那樣看到需求的增長，當時許多關鍵類別的市場供應短缺。大多數零售商的庫存水平有所提高，使客戶可以在日曆的後期等待，以利用他們預期會出現的交易。

As we expected, we did see customers turn out to shop during the normal kick off to holiday that is the Thanksgiving weekend and had the largest shopping day in the company's history on Black Friday. Similar to pre-COVID years, once we got past Thanksgiving, we saw the early December low return with the shopping and traffic ramping back up in the last week leading up to Christmas. Overall, while the holiday season had its challenges, we are pleased that we held on to the majority of the gains we've made during the past couple of years.

正如我們所預料的那樣，我們確實看到顧客在正常的感恩節週末開始購物，並且在黑色星期五迎來了公司歷史上最大的購物日。與 COVID 之前的年份類似，一旦我們過了感恩節，我們就會看到 12 月初的低迴報率，購物和交通在聖誕節前的最後一周回升。總的來說，雖然假期有挑戰，但我們很高興我們保持了過去幾年取得的大部分成果。

Breaking Q4 now by division, we saw continued sales momentum in the soft goods half of the business, with footwear up 2.2% for last year and apparel running a 1.8% increase versus '21. The footwear business was driven by strength in our big brands such as Nike, Brooks and SKECHERS along with new brands like HEYDUDE. We also continue to benefit from more controlled distribution by some of our key vendor partners as it allows us to get access to more products while also driving consumers to our stores.

現在按部門劃分第四季度，我們看到軟商品業務的一半持續銷售勢頭，去年鞋類增長 2.2%，服裝比 21 年增長 1.8%。鞋類業務受到耐克、布魯克斯和斯凱奇等大品牌以及 HEYDUDE 等新品牌實力的推動。我們還繼續受益於我們的一些主要供應商合作夥伴更受控制的分銷，因為它使我們能夠獲得更多產品，同時也吸引消費者光顧我們的商店。

On the apparel side, we benefited from having a much better inventory position across all of our cold weather seasonal categories from key national brands such as Nike and Carhartt. Another win for us on the soft goods side of the business was the performance of key private brands such as BCG, Magellan, Freely and R.O.W.

在服裝方面，我們受益於 Nike 和 Carhartt 等主要民族品牌在所有寒冷季節類別中的庫存狀況要好得多。我們在軟商品業務方面的另一個勝利是 BCG、Magellan、Freely 和 R.O.W 等主要自有品牌的表現。

These brands are packed with value and continue to be growth engines for us. The hard goods side of the business had a more challenging Q4 with sports and rec sales down 7.2% and outdoor sales down 9.3%. In terms of our sports and rec business, we saw strength in our sporting goods products but continued softness in some of the COVID surge categories, such as bikes and fitness equipment. On the outdoor front, our biggest challenge remains the hunting business, which while still up 15% versus 2019 was down 7% versus last year. While we ran a decline for last year, Q4 was an improvement over the third quarter of 2022 as we continue to anniversary large surges in demand by the scarcity of supply that was still prevalent a year ago.

這些品牌充滿價值，並將繼續成為我們的增長引擎。該業務的耐用品方面在第四季度更具挑戰性，運動和娛樂銷售額下降 7.2%，戶外銷售額下降 9.3%。在我們的運動和娛樂業務方面，我們看到了我們的體育用品產品的優勢，但在一些 COVID 激增的類別中持續疲軟，例如自行車和健身器材。在戶外方面，我們最大的挑戰仍然是狩獵業務，雖然與 2019 年相比仍增長 15%，但與去年相比下降了 7%。雖然我們去年有所下降，但第四季度比 2022 年第三季度有所改善，因為我們繼續紀念一年前仍然普遍存在的供應短缺導致需求大幅激增。

Shifting to margins. Our gross margin rate for Q4 came in at 32.8%, which was a 50-basis point increase versus 2021 and was up 580 basis points versus 2019. Merchandise margin was down 110 basis points versus last year, which was in line with where we planned it. Knowing that this year is going to be a return to a more normalized promotional holiday, we strategically layered in discounts around key time periods to help drive traffic and provide great value offerings to our customers while maintaining strong profitability. Our fourth quarter merchandise margins, while down to last year, was still up 490 basis points versus 2019. We continue to attribute the majority of the gross margin gain versus 2019 to the hard work the teams have done over the past couple of years around improving buying and planning and allocation disciplines and processes.

轉移到利潤率。我們第四季度的毛利率為 32.8%，比 2021 年提高了 50 個基點，比 2019 年提高了 580 個基點。商品利潤率比去年下降了 110 個基點，這符合我們的計劃它。知道今年將回歸更加正常化的促銷假期，我們在關鍵時間段戰略性地分層折扣，以幫助增加流量並為我們的客戶提供超值產品，同時保持強勁的盈利能力。我們第四季度的商品利潤率雖然低於去年，但仍比 2019 年高 490 個基點。我們繼續將與 2019 年相比的大部分毛利率增長歸功於團隊在過去幾年中圍繞改進所做的辛勤工作採購、規劃和分配紀律和流程。

We expect to see more promotions during 2023 and have accounted for this in our initial gross margin guidance that Michael shared with you earlier.

我們預計在 2023 年會看到更多促銷活動，並且已在邁克爾早些時候與您分享的我們最初的毛利率指導中考慮到這一點。

Turning to inventory. We are pleased that our teams continue to show strong inventory management discipline. We ended the year with inventory up 9.5% versus last year, which is lower than the 12.8% increase we ended the fourth quarter with. When we compare against 2019, our sales were up 32.4% with only 16.7% more inventory. You may remember that last year, we still had several businesses that we were operating with a constrained supply chain. We are no longer in this situation and for the most part, we're at healthy stock levels across most categories.

轉向庫存。我們很高興我們的團隊繼續表現出強大的庫存管理紀律。我們年底的存貨比去年增加了 9.5%，低於第四季度結束時的 12.8% 的增幅。與 2019 年相比，我們的銷售額增長了 32.4%，而庫存僅增加了 16.7%。您可能還記得，去年，我們仍有幾家企業在供應鏈受限的情況下運營。我們不再處於這種情況，而且在大多數情況下，我們在大多數類別中都處於健康的庫存水平。

Beneath the surface, we're also in a much better place in terms of our inventory content with a much greater emphasis on forward-facing spring categories. The supply chain was still fairly disrupted in Q4 of '21. And as a result, we did not get the level of spring transitional product that we needed. With a more normalized supply chain this year, we're running 2023 with our inventories in a much better place.

在表面之下，我們在庫存內容方面也處於更好的位置，更加強調前向彈簧類別。供應鏈在 21 年第四季度仍然相當中斷。結果，我們沒有獲得所需的春季過渡產品級別。隨著今年供應鏈更加規範化，我們將在 2023 年以更好的庫存運行。

As we turn the page and shift our focus to 2023, we have several reasons for optimism. First, the improved inventory levels and content that I just mentioned has positioned us well in many of our seasonal categories to take advantage when the weather warms up. Second, we have increased our investment in hot trending businesses such as team sports and cleats, while also going after categories such as fishing and camping where competitors have continued to pull back.

當我們翻過這一頁並將重點轉移到 2023 年時，我們有幾個理由感到樂觀。首先，我剛才提到的改進的庫存水平和內容使我們在許多季節性類別中處於有利地位，以便在天氣變暖時利用。其次，我們加大了對團隊運動和防滑釘等熱門業務的投資，同時也在競爭者不斷撤退的釣魚和露營等類別上進行了投資。

Third, we're redoubling our focus on value with an expanded list of everyday value items across all of our categories, coupled with increased emphasis across all customer touch points and stores, online and in marketing. Fourth, we're continuing to lean into new initiatives and brands that resonate with our core target customer. Fundamental ideas you'll see in our stores and on academy.com for the spring includes such ideas as the launch of Birkenstock in footwear and extending Googan, which is one of our most popular brands in fishing baits and equipment into apparel. And rolling out Bogg Bags, the new must-have all-purpose summer tote that works equally well on the sidelines as well the beach.

第三，我們正在加倍關注價值，擴大我們所有類別的日常價值項目清單，並更加重視所有客戶接觸點和商店、在線和營銷。第四，我們將繼續致力於與我們的核心目標客戶產生共鳴的新舉措和品牌。您將在我們的商店和 academy.com 上看到的春季基本創意包括推出 Birkenstock 鞋類產品以及將我們最受歡迎的魚餌和設備品牌之一 Googan 擴展到服裝中。並推出 Bogg Bags，這款新款必備的多功能夏季手提袋在場邊和海灘上同樣適用。

Finally, we continue to make strides towards having a much more digitally targeted advertising focus while reducing our reliance on traditional broadcast and print. There are several new enhancements coming this year, including a new and much more robust customer data platform. Combination of better tools, coupled with constantly improving and refining our strategies and tactics around digital marketing should allow us to continue to improve our overall marketing reach and effectiveness by increasing customer engagement.

最後，我們繼續朝著更加數字化的目標廣告重點邁進，同時減少對傳統廣播和印刷的依賴。今年將推出幾項新的增強功能，包括一個新的、更強大的客戶數據平台。更好的工具的組合，加上不斷改進和完善我們圍繞數字營銷的戰略和策略，應該使我們能夠通過增加客戶參與度來繼續提高我們的整體營銷範圍和有效性。

In closing, we believe that we are well positioned to grow sales and gain market share in 2023. Customers continue to gravitate towards the categories we carry and the work we're doing to reinforce our position as the value leader in the space, coupled with our new store expansion, positions us well to pick up market share.

最後，我們相信我們有能力在 2023 年增加銷售額並獲得市場份額。客戶繼續傾向於我們所提供的類別和我們正在做的工作以鞏固我們作為該領域價值領導者的地位，再加上我們的新店擴張使我們能夠很好地獲得市場份額。

Now I'd like to turn the call back over to Ken for some closing comments. Ken?

現在我想把電話轉回給 Ken，徵求一些結束意見。肯？

Thank you, Steve. Academy shown that the operational improvements we've made to our business over the past 4 years were structural and have driven higher levels of performance and profitability compared to when we began making them. By making the changes you've heard us describe many times on these calls, we have operationally and financially transformed the company and laid the foundation for an exciting growth phase. We expect to achieve this growth by opening a significant number of new stores over the next several years, continuing to expand our omnichannel business, elevating the performance of the existing store base and leveraging and scaling our supply chain.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。 Academy 表明，我們在過去 4 年中對業務所做的運營改進是結構性的，與我們開始進行改進時相比，它們推動了更高水平的績效和盈利能力。通過做出您在這些電話會議上多次描述過的改變，我們已經在運營和財務上改變了公司，並為令人興奮的增長階段奠定了基礎。我們希望通過在未來幾年內開設大量新店、繼續擴展我們的全渠道業務、提升現有商店基礎的績效以及利用和擴展我們的供應鏈來實現這一增長。

We remain realistic about the challenges the macroeconomic environment presents, but we are confident in our plan and in our ability to navigate uncertain times with our value offering, compelling assortments and position of financial strength as we strive to be the best sports and outdoor retailer in the country. We look forward to sharing our new long-range plan with you in April. Until then, have fun out there.

我們對宏觀經濟環境帶來的挑戰保持現實態度，但我們對我們的計劃充滿信心，並且相信我們有能力通過我們的價值提供、引人注目的分類和財務實力來度過不確定的時期，因為我們努力成為最好的運動和戶外零售商國家。我們期待在四月份與您分享我們新的長期計劃。在那之前，盡情享受吧。

We'll now open up the call for your questions. Thank you.

我們現在將打開您的問題的電話。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question comes from the line of Robert Ohmes from Bank of America.

我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Robert Ohmes。

This is Alex Perry on for Robbie. So I just wanted to ask a little bit about the gross margin. So it's expected to come down year-over-year. Maybe just help us with the key components that you're sort of contemplating there? It sounds like a more promotional environment and pressure on merch margins. But do you -- are you going to see mixed tailwinds as the hunt business continues to remain under pressure? And how does freight play into this? And then how would you characterize the overall apparel environment right now? Is it promotional out there? There seems to be a lot of mixed commentary there.

這是羅比的亞歷克斯佩里。所以我只想問一下毛利率。因此，預計它會逐年下降。也許只是幫助我們解決您正在考慮的關鍵組件？這聽起來像是一個更具促銷性的環境和對商品利潤率的壓力。但是你 - 隨著狩獵業務繼續承受壓力，你會看到混合順風嗎？貨運如何發揮作用？那麼您如何描述目前的整體服裝環境？那裡有促銷嗎？那裡似乎有很多混合評論。

Alex, it's Michael. I'll take the first question and then pass it over to Steve. With respect to gross margin rate, I'd like to remind everyone, keep in mind, we're starting from a pretty high place. We're 500 basis points higher than we were in 2019. And so we've been hanging out on top of the gross margin rate mountain for a really long time. Merchandise margins next year, we believe, will be a bit lower to allow for some additional promotional activity and to maintain our everyday value positioning with our customer that they expect from us, particularly right now in this environment. That will be offset in some degree, by some supply chain tailwinds as we will see some supply chain savings next year due to lower container costs. All other gross margin puts and takes will maintain relatively consistent. I think Steve can take the question on the apparel side.

亞歷克斯，是邁克爾。我將回答第一個問題，然後將其傳遞給史蒂夫。關於毛利率，我想提醒大家，記住，我們的起點很高。我們比 2019 年高出 500 個基點。因此，我們在毛利率山頂徘徊了很長時間。我們相信，明年的商品利潤率會有所降低，以允許進行一些額外的促銷活動，並保持我們與客戶對我們的期望的日常價值定位，尤其是在目前這種環境下。這將在一定程度上被一些供應鏈的順風所抵消，因為我們將看到明年由於較低的集裝箱成本而節省了一些供應鏈。所有其他毛利率看跌期權和毛利率將保持相對一致。我認為史蒂夫可以回答服裝方面的問題。

Yes. We're actually very happy with where our apparel business is. It was one of our better trending categories for Q4, and we expect that to be a growth engine for us as we go into 2023. If you go back a year ago and you think about where we were, there was still a pretty constrained supply chain, and we really weren't happy with the level of transition merchandise we got last year post Christmas, heading into spring.

是的。我們實際上對我們的服裝業務所處的位置非常滿意。這是我們第四季度趨勢較好的類別之一，我們預計這將成為我們進入 2023 年的增長引擎。如果你回到一年前，想想我們的處境，供應仍然非常有限連鎖店，我們對去年聖誕節後進入春季的過渡商品水平真的不滿意。

As we said in the prepared comments, the place we're at today is a much better forward-facing inventory position. We feel really ready to take advantage when the weather turns warm. And that certainly was a win for us on the margin front in Q4 as we do mix forward with more apparel, more or that is a tailwind for us, and we have that baked into the guidance that Michael shared with you earlier.

正如我們在準備好的評論中所說，我們今天所處的位置是一個更好的前瞻性庫存狀況。當天氣變暖時，我們真的準備好利用它了。這對於我們在第四季度的利潤率方面來說無疑是一場胜利，因為我們確實將更多服裝與更多服裝混合在一起，或者這對我們來說是一個順風，我們已經將其融入了邁克爾早些時候與您分享的指導中。

Perfect. And then just my follow-up question is, how are you thinking about transactions versus ticket this year, especially with the better inventory positions on a year-over-year basis, would you still expect traffic to remain under pressure and then what is driving that? Is that still pressure from the lapping of the multi trips from the ammo stock outs?

完美的。然後我的後續問題是，你如何看待今年的交易與門票，特別是在同比更好的庫存狀況下，你是否仍然預計交通會繼續承受壓力，然後是什麼在推動那？彈藥缺貨造成的多次往返的壓力是否仍然存在？

Yes. I think the consumer is obviously under pressure, and that has an impact on traffic. That said, we believe that people still are excited about having the experience that they can have with sports and outdoors. And we believe that while transactions may be challenged some in the coming year that the assortment that we have, what we've done with pricing, what we're doing with our in-stocks will help us continue to grow and develop the business even though the consumer is challenged.

是的。我認為消費者顯然承受著壓力，這對流量有影響。也就是說，我們相信人們仍然對擁有運動和戶外體驗感到興奮。我們相信，雖然來年交易可能會受到一些挑戰，但我們擁有的品種、我們在定價方面所做的工作、我們在庫存方面所做的工作將幫助我們繼續發展和發展業務，甚至儘管消費者受到挑戰。

Just a little bit of additional color on that one, Alex. One of the things we look at when we've got businesses that are running down and our field business was down, is whether the business is demand challenged or share challenged. And the biggest portion of our sales mix was really compartmentalized in our field division and that corresponds with some of the traffic decline that we've seen. We took share in the quarter in that business. We've taken a lot of share over the few years. Ammunition is the biggest piece of that. And we are seeing that stabilize. So we certainly think the traffic will rebound. Those trends are improving. So we look forward to that business stabilizing going forward.

亞歷克斯，只是在那上面加了一點顏色。當我們的業務停滯不前並且我們的現場業務停滯時，我們關注的一件事是業務是否受到需求挑戰或份額挑戰。我們銷售組合的最大部分實際上是在我們的現場部門中劃分的，這與我們看到的一些流量下降相對應。我們在該業務的季度中佔有一席之地。幾年來，我們取得了很多份額。彈藥是其中最大的一部分。我們看到這種情況趨於穩定。所以我們當然認為流量會反彈。這些趨勢正在改善。因此，我們期待該業務在未來穩定下來。

Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Horvers from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Christopher Horvers。

This is Megan Alexander on for Chris. Maybe a couple of related questions on the top line. So similar to what you provided on 3Q, are you able to strip out the ammo headwind and kind of tell us how the business performed, excluding that? And then as you think about how you're planning the business for '23, are you still looking at 2019 as the reference point? And kind of assuming that trend, ex-ammo holds, so broadly assuming normal seasonality, and if so, how should we think about the cadence of comps over the year?

這是克里斯的梅根亞歷山大。也許在最上面有幾個相關的問題。與您在第 3 季度提供的內容非常相似，您能否排除彈藥逆風並告訴我們業務表現如何，不包括在內？然後，當您考慮如何規劃 23 年的業務時，您是否仍以 2019 年為參考點？並且假設這種趨勢，ex-ammo 成立，所以廣泛假設正常的季節性，如果是這樣，我們應該如何考慮一年中的節奏？

Yes, this is Steve. I'll take the first part. When you look at our business, we called out strength in the soft goods side of apparel (inaudible) increases for the year. As Michael said, the hunting category was probably the biggest headwind we faced. We also had some challenges in some of the surge categories that we saw a pull forward of demand in the last couple of years like bikes and fitness equipment. As we got past holiday, a lot of those things start to even out. And as we look into this year, what we really see happening is that ammo headwind and that hunting headwind starts to diminish as we go through the quarters and starts to normalize. We're up against one kind of last surge quarter in Q1. But as we get through the quarters, we expect them to sequentially get better and improve as we progress through the year.

是的，這是史蒂夫。我先講第一部分。當你看我們的業務時，我們呼籲今年服裝（聽不清）增長的軟商品方面的實力。正如邁克爾所說，狩獵類別可能是我們面臨的最大阻力。我們在過去幾年看到需求增長的一些激增類別也遇到了一些挑戰，例如自行車和健身器材。隨著假期的結束，很多事情開始趨於平緩。當我們回顧今年時，我們真正看到的是彈藥逆風和狩獵逆風開始減弱，因為我們經歷了幾個季度並開始正常化。我們正面臨第一季度的最後一個激增季度。但是隨著我們度過這些季度，我們希望它們會隨著我們在這一年的進步而依次變得更好和改進。

And we're seeing a good result in not just apparel and footwear, there are a number of other businesses. Steve talked about team sports and things like outdoor cooking. We look forward to seeing some of the camping areas come back. So this is -- one of the strengths of the company is the breadth of our assortment and our ability to compete in a bunch of different classifications. With regard to 2023, we think that the pattern of the sales will get to be more normalized, more like historical and not some of the surges that we've seen in the last few years.

我們不僅在服裝和鞋類領域看到了良好的結果，還有許多其他業務。史蒂夫談到了團隊運動和戶外烹飪之類的事情。我們期待看到一些露營區回來。所以這就是——公司的優勢之一是我們品種的廣度和我們在一系列不同類別中競爭的能力。關於 2023 年，我們認為銷售模式將變得更加正常，更像歷史，而不是我們在過去幾年看到的一些激增。

That said, we're moving off of 2019. We set a much higher plateau, and that's where we are. And you know what I think, 3 years was enough to prove that we're not going to fall back down to 2019. So that's where we're moving from. We look at the business being more normalized in terms of the flow through the year. This year, as Michael said in the guidance, we anticipate the first part being a little bit more challenged, but we look forward to sequential improvement as we move through the year.

也就是說，我們正在離開 2019 年。我們設定了一個更高的平台，這就是我們現在的位置。你知道我的想法，3 年足以證明我們不會退回到 2019 年。這就是我們的出發點。我們看到業務在全年的流量方面更加規範化。今年，正如邁克爾在指南中所說，我們預計第一部分會面臨更多挑戰，但我們期待在這一年中取得連續改進。

And just to add 1 point to that. As Ken said, we expect it to be more of a normal cadence. But at a higher baseline, I mean, when you look at a lot of these surge categories that we talk about, we're still way up to where we were in '19. And as a matter of fact, those categories in aggregate are pacing ahead of the company average for that time period.

並為此添加 1 點。正如 Ken 所說，我們希望它更像是一種正常的節奏。但在更高的基線上，我的意思是，當你看到我們談論的許多這些激增類別時，我們仍然處於 19 年的水平。事實上，這些類別的總體速度超過了該時期公司的平均水平。

Got it. All really helpful. Maybe as a follow-up, Ken, there's been a lot of investor speculation about you, potentially the timing of you announcing your succession plan. So can you maybe share your thoughts on that today? And how you think about your role at Academy and what that could look like over, say, the next 1 to 3 years?

知道了。一切都非常有幫助。也許作為後續行動，肯，投資者對你有很多猜測，可能是你宣布繼任計劃的時間。那麼，您今天可以分享一下您的想法嗎？你如何看待你在學院的角色，以及未來 1 到 3 年的情況？

Yes. We're not trying, the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I'm having fun, enjoying it. I like Academy. Our Board has taken a very thoughtful approach to succession planning. And as with any Board, it's a thorough process. And I would envision that I will be associated with Academy for some time to come. I'm -- I would like to -- I love Academy, and I'd like to be a part of it for the future. What that is exactly, we'll see. But for right now, I'm enjoying and having fun.

是的。我們沒有嘗試，關於我死亡的謠言被誇大了。我很開心，很享受。我喜歡學院。我們的董事會對繼任計劃採取了非常周到的方法。與任何董事會一樣，這是一個徹底的過程。我會設想我將在未來一段時間內與學院聯繫在一起。我——我想——我喜歡學院，我想在未來成為它的一部分。那到底是什麼，我們拭目以待。但就目前而言，我很享受，也很開心。

Our next question comes from the line of Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman。

This is Jackie on for Simeon. Just honing in on the kind of big-ticket durables categories in the business, which are the economically sensitive. On a unit basis, kind of how are those categories trending versus 2019? Is there stability, any deterioration? Or are they kind of holding at this higher water level? And I guess the broader question with that is do you think if they're holding, is this indicative of kind of a higher level of growth in sporting goods generally as a category and what would be driving that?

這是 Jackie 替 Simeon 做的。只是專注於業務中對經濟敏感的高價耐用品類別。在單位基礎上，這些類別與 2019 年相比有何趨勢？有穩定嗎，有惡化嗎？或者他們是在某種程度上保持在這個更高的水位？我想更廣泛的問題是你認為如果他們持有，這是否表明體育用品作為一個類別總體上有更高水平的增長，是什麼推動了這一點？

Yes. I mean we definitely are seeing the declines versus last year in some of those categories. I mentioned fitness equipment being one, kayaks being one. Those are still above baseline, much higher than the company average. So we're up 32% versus '19 in those categories in aggregate and well ahead of that. As we move into 2023, we see some of these surge categories starting to level off, and we think we can start moving back to growth. Fishing is a great category where big surge, last year is a little choppy, but we expect this year as competitors pull back in that category further they'll be growth.

是的。我的意思是我們肯定會看到其中一些類別與去年相比有所下降。我提到健身器材是其中之一，皮划艇是其中之一。這些仍然高於基線，遠高於公司平均水平。因此，我們在這些類別中總體上比 19 年增長了 32%，並且遠遠領先於此。隨著我們進入 2023 年，我們看到其中一些激增類別開始趨於平穩，我們認為我們可以開始恢復增長。釣魚是一個大幅增長的大類別，去年有點起伏不定，但我們預計今年隨著競爭對手進一步撤回該類別，他們將會增長。

Some of the bigger ticket ones with longer replacement cycles like fitness or kayaks, we anticipate those will continue to be challenged for a little bit longer, but we've modeled that into our plans and it's in the guidance that we've given you guys.

一些更換週期較長的大門票，如健身或皮划艇，我們預計這些將繼續受到挑戰更長的時間，但我們已經將其納入我們的計劃中，並且在我們給你們的指導中.

That said, there are some -- it's not this amorphous group. We've got some big-ticket things like outdoor cooking that are very good and some of the other big-ticket categories within other parts of the business. With that said, as I think the important thing is that our base is much higher than it was 3 years ago. And so we're working from a higher base and look forward to grow from there.

也就是說，有一些——不是這個無定形的群體。我們有一些非常好的戶外烹飪等大件物品，以及業務其他部分的其他一些大件物品。話雖如此，我認為重要的是我們的基數比 3 年前高得多。因此，我們在更高的基礎上工作，並期待從那裡發展。

Got it. And just one quick follow-up. On the 34% to 34.4% gross margin guide for '23, this is above the prior long-term range that you guys have given. Is this the kind of right run rate that we should think about post '23 going forward? And I guess, what are the key levers we should think about in terms of maintaining that higher gross margin rate over time?

知道了。並且只是一個快速跟進。在 23 年 34% 至 34.4% 的毛利率指南中，這高於你們之前給出的長期範圍。這是我們在 23 年後應該考慮的正確運行率嗎？而且我想，在長期保持較高的毛利率方面，我們應該考慮哪些關鍵槓桿？

Yes. I think certainly, our expectations are -- have -- are higher than they were a few years ago when we rolled out that initial guide. And we certainly look forward to providing more color around our expectations going forward at our Investor Day in a few weeks. But we previously said 32% to 32.5% and we expect that to be higher.

是的。我想當然，我們的期望比幾年前我們推出最初指南時的期望更高。我們當然期待在幾週後的投資者日為我們的預期提供更多色彩。但我們之前說過 32% 到 32.5%，我們預計會更高。

Our next question comes from the line of Greg Melich from Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Greg Melich。

Two questions. The first one is to help frame sort of the share and traffic gains over the last few years. So if the 3-year comp is running up high 20s or 30%, is it fair to assume now that transactions are still positive versus 2019, but almost all of that comes from ticket size?

兩個問題。第一個是幫助確定過去幾年的份額和流量收益。因此，如果 3 年期的補償率高達 20 或 30%，那麼現在假設交易與 2019 年相比仍然是正數是否公平，但幾乎所有這些都來自門票規模？

Transactions are well up versus '19. We also have seen an increase in ticket size as the hard goods business has become a bigger percent of the total.

與 19 年相比，交易量明顯增加。我們還看到，隨著耐用品業務佔總數的比例越來越大，門票數量也在增加。

Okay. So they're both still up meaningfully. It's not like flat on one and up 30 in the second.

好的。所以他們仍然有意義。這不像一個持平，第二個上升 30。

Yes, yes.

是的是的。

Okay. Got it. And then the second was, Michael, maybe help us understand the SG&A. I guess, how did you manage to leverage it in the fourth quarter with the sales coming in a bit light? And as you described, that 100 bps investment in '23, could you tell us when you'd see the biggest pressure on SG&A through the year?

好的。知道了。然後第二個是，邁克爾，也許可以幫助我們了解 SG&A。我想，您是如何在第四季度銷售額略有下降的情況下利用它的？正如你所描述的那樣，23 年的 100 個基點投資，你能告訴我們什麼時候你會看到全年 SG&A 的最大壓力嗎？

Greg, certainly, sales were a little softer than we thought in the quarter, but good teams adjust. And I'm proud of the team and what we've done to navigate the sales miss and grow adjusted net income by 12%, largely through expense management. I'll tell you the logistics and supply chain teams did a great job managing expenses, really getting out there and being aggressive, managing container costs, managing the distribution centers, merchants did their role in pursuing some vendor allowances and those kinds of things.

格雷格，當然，本季度的銷售額比我們想像的要疲軟，但優秀的團隊會進行調整。我為團隊以及我們為克服銷售失誤並將調整後的淨收入增長 12% 所做的努力感到自豪，主要是通過費用管理。我會告訴你，物流和供應鏈團隊在管理費用方面做得很好，真正走出去，積極進取，管理集裝箱成本，管理配送中心，商家在追求一些供應商津貼和諸如此類的事情上發揮了自己的作用。

So we were able to bring the quarter in, I think, in a way that we're very proud of. And despite the challenges, we lead the sector in free cash flow margin. I'm pretty proud of that. This (inaudible) business generates a lot of cash, our ability to return over $600 million to shareholders in a year where we ran down and invested the most capital back into the business that we've invested since 2017 sets us up well for the future. And I think it shows we've got a very durable business model with a very capable team.

因此，我認為，我們能夠以一種我們引以為豪的方式進入這個季度。儘管面臨挑戰，我們在自由現金流利潤率方面仍處於行業領先地位。我為此感到非常自豪。這項（聽不清）業務產生了大量現金，我們有能力在我們倒閉的一年內向股東返還超過 6 億美元，並將大部分資金重新投入到我們自 2017 年以來投資的業務中，這為我們的未來奠定了良好的基礎.我認為這表明我們有一個非常持久的商業模式和一個非常有能力的團隊。

With respect to next year, I would say 20 basis points of the deleverage is tech investments related to our initiatives, omnichannel, supply chain, our customer data initiatives. Those are big, big levers for us, and they require some tech investments. About 30 basis points of the deleverage relates to new store growth and a combination of the construction of the new stores themselves and some additional marketing that we'll have to deploy to make sure they get off to a good start. I'd say, 10 basis points is for 53rd week. You got a little bit of stock comp deleverage and the rest is just kind of small stuff. So I hope that's helpful.

關於明年，我想說去槓桿化的 20 個基點是與我們的計劃、全渠道、供應鏈、我們的客戶數據計劃相關的技術投資。這些對我們來說是很大很大的槓桿，它們需要一些技術投資。去槓桿化的大約 30 個基點與新店的增長以及新店本身的建設以及我們必須部署的一些額外營銷相結合，以確保它們有一個良好的開端。我會說，第 53 周是 10 個基點。你有一點股票補償去槓桿化，剩下的只是一些小東西。所以我希望這會有所幫助。

That's very helpful. And I guess the last one, I just want to make sure the first quarter, how is it trending? Are we in the range? Or could we presumably be below it just given the comps (inaudible)?

這很有幫助。我猜最後一個，我只想確定第一季度的趨勢如何？我們在範圍內嗎？或者，我們是否可以僅考慮到補償（聽不清）就低於它？

They don't let me answer this question because every time I do, I confuse people. So I'll let Michael to...

他們不讓我回答這個問題，因為每次我這樣做，都會讓人感到困惑。所以我會讓邁克爾...

Well, Greg, I'll go back to what Steve said. We expect that the year will improve as we move along. And we can't say a whole lot more about that. We don't provide the inter-quarter guidance but we expect the year to improve as we go. I think we're off to a start that we expected.

好吧，格雷格，我會回到史蒂夫所說的。我們預計，隨著我們的前進，這一年會有所改善。關於這一點，我們不能說太多。我們不提供季度間指導，但我們預計今年會有所改善。我認為我們的開端符合我們的預期。

And I'd say, beneath the surface, we've had on this, and we've got some really healthy businesses out there. I just want to reiterate that. I mean our apparel business, footwear business, our team sports business, we think there's a lot of opportunity in categories like hunting and fishing as they start to cycle some of these trends. Inventory is in the best position it's been in, in a long time, our value position in the space. We have a lot of reasons to be positive.

我要說的是，在表面之下，我們已經有了這方面的經驗，而且我們有一些非常健康的業務。我只想重申這一點。我的意思是我們的服裝業務、鞋類業務、我們的團隊運動業務，我們認為在狩獵和釣魚等類別中有很多機會，因為它們開始循環其中的一些趨勢。很長一段時間以來，庫存處於我們在空間中的價值位置的最佳位置。我們有很多理由保持樂觀。

That's great. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Good luck, guys.

那太棒了。我們幾週後見。祝大家好運。

Our next question comes from the line of Kate Fitzsimons from Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Kate Fitzsimons。

I guess I wanted to switch gears and speak to some of the store openings. You guys are targeting this year, 13 to 15, can you just expand whether this is a mix of new and existing markets and how we should think about that? And you noted some interesting learnings from the 9 new stores you guys had done last year. So if you could just provide some more color there. And then I have a question on the balance sheet.

我想我想換檔並在一些商店開業時發言。你們今年的目標是 13 到 15，你們能否擴大這是否是新市場和現有市場的混合體，我們應該如何考慮？你們注意到了你們去年開辦的 9 家新店的一些有趣經驗。因此，如果您可以在那裡提供更多顏色。然後我在資產負債表上有一個問題。

Sure. I'll give you a little bit of color on the program overall. As a reminder, this was a test-and-learn year and a year about capability building as we entered a new phase for the company, which is really one of accelerated multiyear unit growth. We tested a lot. We learned a lot. We tested new markets. We tested different store layouts. We looked at different marketing approaches. We developed the capability to retrofit existing spaces, which is not one frankly this company ever had. I think in the past decade, we might have only retrofitted 1 or 2 spaces. So I would say, overall, we're pleased with the progress of the new store program. As a whole, the current vintage will clear the 20% ROIC hurdle that we've established.

當然。我會給你一些關於整個程序的顏色。提醒一下，這是測試和學習的一年，也是關於能力建設的一年，因為我們進入了公司的一個新階段，這實際上是多年單位加速增長的一個階段。我們測試了很多。我們學到了很多。我們測試了新市場。我們測試了不同的商店佈局。我們研究了不同的營銷方法。我們開發了改造現有空間的能力，坦率地說，這是該公司從未有過的能力。我想在過去的十年裡，我們可能只改造了一兩個空間。所以我想說，總的來說，我們對新店計劃的進展感到滿意。總的來說，當前的年份將清除我們已經建立的 20% 的 ROIC 障礙。

We feel comfortable with that. I will say when you adopt a test-and-learn mindset, if everything you try works exactly the way you want it to, you probably didn't test enough. And so we had some stores that did phenomenally well. We had others that came a little bit short of our expectation and we have learnings in both instances, and we're applying them. I want to reemphasize a critical point. Only a handful of our mature stores, and I mean a handful had 4-wall EBIT rates in the single digits. So of the 268 stores we have, 258 stores are doing double-digit 4-wall EBIT margin. So our bottom quartile stores outperform the competition on a productivity standpoint, on a profit dollar standpoint. And so even though we haven't put our best to forward, this is a powerful part of our toolkit that we look forward to speaking more about going forward.

我們對此感到滿意。我會說，當你採用測試和學習的心態時，如果你嘗試的一切都完全按照你想要的方式工作，那麼你可能沒有進行足夠的測試。因此，我們有一些表現非常出色的商店。我們還有其他一些比我們預期的要少一些，我們在這兩種情況下都學到了東西，我們正在應用它們。我想再次強調一個關鍵點。只有少數我們成熟的商店，我的意思是少數 4 牆的息稅前利潤率為個位數。因此，在我們擁有的 268 家商店中，有 258 家商店的 4 壁 EBIT 利潤率達到兩位數。因此，從生產力的角度來看，從利潤的角度來看，我們墊底的四分之一商店的表現優於競爭對手。因此，即使我們還沒有全力以赴，但這是我們工具包的一個強大部分，我們期待著更多地談論未來。

We've never shut a store because of profitability issues in this company, and we're not tinkering with the fundamental business model. We have a business model that works. We just need to scale it. So we look forward to accelerating it. We're confident in that. I can't tell you all the learnings because we don't want to give away our game plan but look forward to talking more about it in a few weeks at Investor Day.

我們從來沒有因為這家公司的盈利問題而關閉一家商店，我們也沒有修補基本的商業模式。我們有一個行之有效的商業模式。我們只需要擴展它。所以我們期待加速它。我們對此充滿信心。我不能告訴你所有的經驗教訓，因為我們不想放棄我們的遊戲計劃，但期待在幾週後的投資者日上更多地談論它。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just secondly, switching gears to some of the free cash flow priorities for 2023. You guys have been pretty aggressive on the buyback, certainly appreciate the raise in the dividend. I am curious if you could speak to how you're evaluating the debt on the balance sheet. You bought back $100 million in Q4. I believe $400 million of that 2027 note is callable later this year. So I am just curious how you're evaluating the debt portion of the balance sheet and cash returns this year.

好的。這很有幫助。其次，將齒輪轉向 2023 年的一些自由現金流優先事項。你們在回購方面非常積極，當然感謝股息的提高。我很好奇你是否可以談談你如何評估資產負債表上的債務。你在第四季度回購了 1 億美元。我相信 2027 年票據中的 4 億美元可以在今年晚些時候贖回。所以我很好奇你如何評估今年資產負債表的債務部分和現金回報。

Sure. Over the past 3 years, we've generated over $2 billion in free cash flow. And for a company of our market cap, for a company of our size, that's pretty extraordinary. And when you generate $2 billion in free cash flow while investing in the business, you can do a lot of things. And we're going to continue to take the approach we've had. I think we're beyond the point where we've reached the stability point of our journey. We want to invest back in the business, which is why you see the capital dollars increasing next year.

當然。在過去 3 年中，我們產生了超過 20 億美元的自由現金流。對於我們市值的公司，對於我們規模的公司來說，這是非常了不起的。當您在投資業務的同時產生 20 億美元的自由現金流時，您可以做很多事情。我們將繼續採用我們已經採用的方法。我認為我們已經超出了我們已經達到旅程穩定點的地步。我們想重新投資於業務，這就是為什麼你會看到明年資本金增加的原因。

After that, I think we've got a lot of runway to do a number of different things, and we'll continue to take that portfolio approach with buybacks, which over the past few years, buying back over $900 million of ASO stock at average price around $40. It's been a pretty good return. We'll continue to take a dual approach and look at the debt. I think from a debt level standpoint, we're in a pretty good spot. I don't like the rate and we'll keep looking at the rates. And if those get away from us, we'll take out the variable rate debt before we look at the 6% callable debt to answer your question. So that's how we think about it.

在那之後，我認為我們有很多跑道可以做很多不同的事情，我們將繼續採用回購的投資組合方法，在過去的幾年裡，回購了超過 9 億美元的 ASO 股票平均價格在 40 美元左右。這是一個很好的回報。我們將繼續採取雙管齊下的方式來審視債務。我認為從債務水平的角度來看，我們處於一個非常好的位置。我不喜歡這個利率，我們會繼續關注利率。如果這些遠離我們，我們將在查看 6% 的可贖回債務以回答您的問題之前取出可變利率債務。這就是我們的想法。

One more thing on the stores that I want to highlight. We get questions all the time about the format. We think the big stores that have broad and exciting assortments do well. We think big stores that are highly profitable, can put smaller stores that are less profitable out of business. And so we're not going to tinker with our model a heck of a lot. As we go forward, we're going to focus on the stores that are in that [55,000] and above range.

我想強調的關於商店的另一件事。我們總是收到有關格式的問題。我們認為擁有廣泛而令人興奮的品類的大型商店做得很好。我們認為高利潤的大商店可以讓利潤較低的小商店倒閉。所以我們不會對我們的模型進行太多修改。隨著我們的前進，我們將專注於 [55,000] 及以上範圍內的商店。

And as part of your first question also, we are continuing to fill out markets that we've been, in Houston, Atlanta. We are adding on to adjacent markets like Panama City, Lexington and moving into new areas. We will continue to do that. We will do it in a more powerful way. But one of the things we're seeing, these are all working and where the competition has done some of the things that they're talking about, our stores continue to do well. As Michael said, we believe in the big box and the biggest box is working.

作為你第一個問題的一部分，我們將繼續填補我們在亞特蘭大休斯頓的市場。我們正在增加巴拿馬城、列剋星敦等鄰近市場，並進入新地區。我們將繼續這樣做。我們將以更強大的方式做到這一點。但是我們看到的一件事是，這些都在起作用，並且在競爭對手已經完成了他們正在談論的一些事情的情況下，我們的商店繼續表現良好。正如邁克爾所說，我們相信大盒子，而最大的盒子正在發揮作用。

Kate, last thing, if I didn't hit it, 100% of what we're talking about is self-funded from cash from operations. I think that's obvious but 100% of what we're talking about is self-funded from the cash that we generate.

凱特，最後一件事，如果我沒有說到的話，我們所說的 100% 都是通過運營現金自籌資金。我認為這很明顯，但我們所談論的 100% 都是從我們產生的現金中自籌資金的。

Our next question comes from the line of Brian Nagel from Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自 Oppenheimer 的 Brian Nagel。

Congrats on the -- you continue to reposition the business successfully. My question, I do want to focus my first question, on just the back -- well, backdrop, with the sector backdrop. As you look at the operating environment for Academy, if I guess, Q3 to Q4 and then what we're seeing here in early '23, are dynamics from the consumer's perspective or even competitively, are they getting more challenging for you? Or is it staying the same?

恭喜——您繼續成功地重新定位業務。我的問題，我確實想把我的第一個問題集中在後面——嗯，背景，行業背景。當您查看 Academy 的運營環境時，如果我猜，第三季度到第四季度，然後我們在 23 年初在這裡看到的，是從消費者的角度甚至是競爭的角度來看的動態，它們對您來說是否更具挑戰性？還是保持不變？

Brian, I think the consumer -- our view of the industry is still very bullish. It's a big industry that's very fragmented, depending on who you talk to, it's well over [$120 billion] it could be [$140 billion] and nobody has a significant share. So from that degree, it's open. We are not, I believe, as discretionary as other parts of the discretionary business. The kids still going to play baseball. You're still going to do your hobby of camping. The families are still going to get together on the patio. Now you may not spend as much. The kid may not get a Marucci bat, they may get a Louisville Slugger. You may buy a little less expensive fishing rod. That said, that's where we fit in with our value because we trade from the opening price to where the enthusiast is and they can find what they need to afford managing through this.

布賴恩，我認為消費者——我們對這個行業的看法仍然非常樂觀。這是一個非常分散的大行業，取決於你與誰交談，它遠遠超過 [1200 億美元]，也可能是 [1400 億美元]，但沒有人擁有很大的份額。所以從那個程度來說，它是開放的。我認為，我們不像全權委託業務的其他部分那樣全權委託。孩子們仍然要去打棒球。你仍然會做你的野營愛好。家人仍將在露台上聚會。現在你可能不會花那麼多錢。孩子可能得不到 Marucci 球棒，他們可能得到 Louisville Slugger。你可以買便宜一點的魚竿。也就是說，這就是我們符合我們價值的地方，因為我們從開盤價交易到愛好者所在的地方，他們可以找到他們需要的東西來負擔得起管理。

That said, the consumer is challenged. And I think we're going to see at least for the first part of this year, possibly a little bit longer, the consumer being challenged and having to make decisions. We think one of the decisions will be, I'm going to continue to support my interest in hobbies and I'm going to want to stay healthy. And I'm going to make sure that I look for value, and we provide both of those things.

也就是說，消費者面臨挑戰。我認為至少在今年上半年，我們將看到消費者面臨挑戰並不得不做出決定，時間可能會更長一些。我們認為其中一個決定是，我將繼續支持我對愛好的興趣，並且我想要保持健康。我要確保我尋找價值，我們提供這兩種東西。

And Brian, back to my earlier point, the businesses that we have that frankly were softer than we thought were demand challenged, not share challenged. And I think your question about competition, we have great competition. We respect them. They do a good job. But one of the things that's happened over the past 3 years is there's greater segmentation in our channel. And so I think our lane is more clearly defined and it's a little bit wider than it was a few years ago.

布賴恩，回到我之前的觀點，坦率地說，我們擁有的業務比我們想像的要軟，因為需求受到挑戰，而不是份額受到挑戰。我認為你關於競爭的問題，我們有很大的競爭。我們尊重他們。他們做得很好。但過去 3 年發生的事情之一是我們的渠道更加細分。所以我認為我們的車道更加清晰，比幾年前寬了一點。

Yes. I just wanted to add a couple of points around Ken's comment around value. I think that's one of the things that gives us confidence even if the economy has continued to be a little bumpy. We know customers even if they stop traveling, will nest at home. A lot of categories we carry certainly service that. But when you think about our position as the value provider in the space, we definitely think there's also an opportunity for customers to trade down to us. We've been really focused on making sure that all these key items that we have that there's no value in holding price on, in some cases, we roll back price on some items.

是的。我只是想圍繞 Ken 關於價值的評論補充幾點。我認為這是給我們信心的事情之一，即使經濟繼續有點顛簸。我們知道客戶即使停止旅行，也會窩在家裡。我們提供的許多類別當然可以滿足這一要求。但是當你想到我們作為該領域價值提供者的地位時，我們肯定認為客戶也有機會向我們低價交易。我們一直非常專注於確保我們擁有的所有這些關鍵商品沒有保持價格的價值，在某些情況下，我們會降低某些商品的價格。

We've talked about offering value to expand the promotions. So that's certainly embedded in what happened in Q4 and what we're doing going forward because we're being more thoughtful about that. And then even clearance, clearance is the way we deliver value. And that's something that we've gotten a lot smarter about how we manage and use those traffic drivers during certain time periods. So we actually feel like even if the economy continues to be a little bumpy, that we're well positioned in terms of the categories we carry, the diverse nature of them and the value that we provide that we will do fine.

我們已經討論過提供價值以擴大促銷活動。所以這肯定嵌入在第四季度發生的事情以及我們正在做的事情中，因為我們對此更加深思熟慮。然後甚至清關，清關是我們傳遞價值的方式。這就是我們在特定時間段內如何管理和使用這些交通司機方面變得更加聰明的事情。所以我們實際上覺得，即使經濟繼續有點顛簸，我們在我們所擁有的類別、它們的多樣性以及我們提供的價值方面處於有利地位，我們會做得很好。

That's all very helpful. If I can just follow up with 1, also just relatively bigger picture your question. So a lot of talk within your broader space about bloated inventories at manufacturers, at retailers having a lot of these, have started to work down, they remain elevated and then result in price promotion. So from an Academy's perspective, I guess how do you see this dynamic? And is this a challenge for -- broadly speaking, is this a challenge for you? Or is it more of an opportunity?

這一切都非常有幫助。如果我可以跟進 1，也可以相對更大地描述您的問題。因此，在更廣泛的領域內，關於製造商和零售商的大量庫存的大量討論已經開始減少，它們仍然處於高位，然後導致價格上漲。所以從學院的角度來看，我猜你如何看待這種動態？這對 - 廣義上講，這對你來說是一個挑戰嗎？還是更多的是機會？

Yes. I mean I would start with -- I think we've done a really good job of managing our inventory. That's one of the things I think has kind of been a hallmark over the past year of how we've managed through this. Our inventory was up 9.5% at the end of the quarter. That was up 16.7% versus where we were in '19. But if you look at it on a unit basis, it was down 7% and that's with 9 more stores. And at the same time, our sales were up 33%. So we feel like our inventory is back in stock across most categories. We feel like it's well positioned for spring. I mean certainly, we've seen some more clearance, elevated clearance activity out there and some increased promotions and we tried to address that. But we haven't seen that really creep into our business or impact us as much.

是的。我的意思是我會開始 - 我認為我們在管理庫存方面做得非常好。我認為這是過去一年我們如何度過難關的一個標誌。我們的庫存在本季度末增長了 9.5%。這比我們在 19 年的水平增長了 16.7%。但如果你以單位為基礎來看，它下降了 7%，而且還有 9 家商店。與此同時，我們的銷售額增長了 33%。所以我們覺得我們的庫存在大多數類別中都有庫存。我們覺得它適合春天。我的意思是，當然，我們已經看到了更多的許可、更高的許可活動以及更多的促銷活動，我們試圖解決這個問題。但我們還沒有看到它真正滲透到我們的業務中或對我們產生如此大的影響。

Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Imbro from Stephens Inc.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stephens Inc. 的 Daniel Imbro。

Michael, I want to start on the SG&A side. Maybe stepping back from this year, that was helpful color on what's going to drive the deleverage. But I think about -- you guys have mentioned your ability to still drive down SG&A per store over the recent quarters. And so I guess, taking out the tech investments, are you looking at a same-store SG&A level? Where are we in the journey of profit improvement per store and SG&A improvement per store as you look at the assets today?

邁克爾，我想從 SG&A 方面開始。也許從今年開始，這對推動去槓桿化的因素有幫助。但我想——你們提到了你們在最近幾個季度仍然能夠降低每家商店的 SG&A 的能力。所以我想，除去技術投資，你是在看同店的 SG&A 水平嗎？當您查看今天的資產時，我們在每家商店的利潤改善和每家商店的 SG&A 改善的旅程中處於什麼位置？

With respect to the work that the stores are doing, I tell you, I'll tip my cap to them, they've done a great job really managing tasks out of the stores that don't add a lot of value to the customer. And so we've been able to give labor to the customer, customer-facing hours while taking hours out of the store on an overall basis. I think that there's always things you can do, but for the most part, that journey is over with. Where we will have some additional improvement is, probably through the supply chain. There will be some benefit there. But overall, I think the most of that work with respect to stores, that's -- I think that we're ahead of this maturity curve.

關於商店正在做的工作，我告訴你，我會向他們小費，他們在管理商店外的任務方面做得很好，這些任務不會為客戶增加很多價值.因此，我們已經能夠為客戶提供面向客戶的工作時間，同時在總體上從商店中抽出時間。我認為總有一些事情是你可以做的，但在大多數情況下，這段旅程已經結束了。我們將有一些額外改進的地方可能是通過供應鏈。那裡會有一些好處。但總的來說，我認為大部分與商店相關的工作，那就是 - 我認為我們領先於這條成熟曲線。

Yes. We do -- are doing some things with labor scheduling. We put in a new system, Kronos, this past year, and that has helped us get more of the labor at the right time in the right places. But the stores have done a great job, the supply chain, we are just early in the journey there.

是的。我們確實 - 正在做一些關於勞動力安排的事情。在過去的一年裡，我們安裝了一個新系統 Kronos，這幫助我們在正確的時間正確的地點獲得了更多的勞動力。但是商店做得很好，供應鏈，我們才剛剛開始那裡的旅程。

Great. That dovetails well into the next question, a follow-up, it is going to be, thinking about some of these supply chain initiatives you guys have talked about, I think, a warehouse management software, a multi-store delivery on the actual store delivery side. I thought the time that you communicated was to be able to roll out later in '23, and we see some benefit this year, but more into '24. I guess, one, would that still be your timing expectation? And then two, any way to help size up kind of the gross margin benefit that we could see from some of these investments as we think about the out years and what that could look like?

偉大的。這與下一個問題非常吻合，一個後續問題，我認為，考慮你們談到的一些供應鏈計劃，倉庫管理軟件，實際商店的多商店交付交貨方。我認為你溝通的時間是能夠在 23 年晚些時候推出，我們今年看到了一些好處，但更多的是到 24 年。我想，第一，這仍然是您的時間期望嗎？然後兩個，有什麼方法可以幫助我們評估我們可以從其中一些投資中看到的毛利率收益，因為我們考慮了未來幾年以及它可能是什麼樣子？

We'll talk more about the long-term benefits in our Investor Day. But for this year, we will not get a benefit from the warehouse management systems. We'll be putting it in the very tail end of the year. We're beginning to put it at the end of the year. The benefits that we're going to have in the supply chain are really coming on the import freight side from lower container costs. So a lot more to come for the next several years after this year with the supply chain. There's a lot more that we can do and improve on.

我們將在投資者日更多地討論長期利益。但是今年，我們不會從倉庫管理系統中受益。我們將把它放在年底。我們開始把它放在今年年底。我們將在供應鏈中獲得的好處實際上是來自較低的集裝箱成本的進口貨運方面。因此，在今年之後的未來幾年，供應鏈還會有更多的事情發生。我們還有很多可以做和改進的地方。

Systematically, we're doing some things like the warehouse management system we put in place this past year, a trailer yard management system. We are doing some operational improvements, high-capacity racking and things that we will see some small benefits early on but the larger benefits, things like you talked about, about multi-store trucking and things like that, that's going to be occurring over the next couple or 3 years. And -- but we're seeing the industry-wide benefit of lower freight cost over this year.

系統地，我們正在做一些事情，比如我們去年實施的倉庫管理系統，一個拖車場管理系統。我們正在做一些運營改進，大容量貨架和我們會在早期看到一些小好處的事情，但更大的好處，就像你談到的那樣，關於多店卡車運輸和類似的事情，這將在未來發生未來夫婦或 3 年。而且——但我們看到了今年貨運成本降低對整個行業的好處。

Our next question comes from the line of Seth Basham from Wedbush Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wedbush Securities 的 Seth Basham。

This is Nathan Friedman on for Seth. Just wanted to follow up on the gross margin sustainability. Maybe you can share more color behind the higher expectations versus the prior 32% to 32.5%? Is it just merchandise margin improvement is being -- is more sticky and sustainable in light of higher promotions? Or is there a larger runway for a supply chain that could drive gains to offset this or something else?

這是賽斯的內森·弗里德曼。只是想跟進毛利率的可持續性。也許你可以分享更多與之前 32% 到 32.5% 相比更高預期背後的顏色？是否只是商品利潤率的提高 - 鑑於更高的促銷活動更具粘性和可持續性？或者供應鍊是否有更大的跑道可以推動收益來抵消這個或其他什麼？

I'll start on the merch margin, I'll let Michael talk about the other components. I mean, we're certainly at a much higher level than we were 3 years ago from a merch margin perspective. It's up over 500 basis points during that time period. We do see some promotions creeping back in and expect that going forward. But to be clear, I don't think we're ever going to go back to where we were in 2019 and prior from a promotional intensity perspective.

我將從商品利潤率開始，讓邁克爾談談其他組成部分。我的意思是，從商品利潤率的角度來看，我們的水平肯定比 3 年前高得多。在此期間上漲了 500 多個基點。我們確實看到一些促銷活動重新開始，並期待這種情況繼續發生。但需要明確的是，從促銷強度的角度來看，我認為我們永遠不會回到 2019 年及之前的狀態。

I also think that during that time period, we've made a lot of improvements in just the fundamentals of how we manage the business. The inventory management process, the allocation system being much more thoughtful about where and how we're putting goods, the clearance strategy that we're running. All these things that we've done from an MP&A perspective have long-term benefits that we think are going to be sticky. So there may be a little bit of erosion next year in merch margin relative to this year with some more promotions. But we think the vast majority of what we picked up over the last couple of years is going to stick to our roots.

我還認為，在那段時間裡，我們在管理業務的基礎上做出了很多改進。庫存管理流程、分配系統更加考慮我們將貨物放在哪里以及如何放貨，以及我們正在運行的清關策略。我們從 MP&A 的角度所做的所有這些事情都有長期的好處，我們認為這些好處會很粘。因此，與今年相比，明年的商品利潤率可能會受到一些侵蝕，因為會有更多的促銷活動。但我們認為，我們在過去幾年中獲得的絕大多數東西都將紮根於我們的根基。

Got it. And maybe just a housekeeping question. Just curious where you're expecting your inventory growth for the upcoming year knowing that you're well positioned for the spring, but any more color there would be great.

知道了。也許只是一個內務管理問題。只是想知道您對來年的庫存增長有何期待，因為您已經為春季做好了準備，但如果有更多的顏色，那就太好了。

I think as we progress through the year, you're going to see the inventory start to normalize closer to where it was last year. We started getting back in stock halfway -- about halfway through last year. So I think you'll see the inventory start to normalize onto a Y-o-Y basis as we get deeper into the year.

我認為隨著我們今年的進展，你會看到庫存開始正常化，接近去年的水平。我們開始在中途恢復庫存——大約是去年的一半。因此，我認為隨著今年的深入，您會看到庫存開始正常化到 Y-o-Y 基礎上。

Our next question comes from the line of John Heinbockel from Guggenheim.

我們的下一個問題來自古根海姆的 John Heinbockel。

This is (inaudible). I am on for John. A quick question on (inaudible) and what do you expect from bigger ticket items? And anything you can call out from maybe the more casual consumers and versus your most engaged? You guys mentioned improvements in targeting and data analytics. So anything you can call out there would be great. Then I have a quick follow-up.

這是（聽不清）。我支持約翰。關於（聽不清）的快速問題以及您對大件商品有何期望？你可以從更隨意的消費者和你最投入的消費者那裡得到什麼？你們提到了定位和數據分析方面的改進。所以任何你能在那裡喊出來的東西都會很棒。然後我有一個快速跟進。

Yes. I would say that kind of the story over the past year has been that our best engaged customers are shopping with us more and are spending more with us, that's certainly embedded in our numbers. We certainly picked up a lot of onetime customers during the pandemic, particularly in the early days, when we're the only kind of store open and other people weren't.

是的。我想說的是，過去一年的情況是，我們參與度最高的客戶更多地與我們一起購物，並在我們這裡消費更多，這肯定體現在我們的數字中。在大流行期間，我們當然吸引了很多曾經的顧客，尤其是在早期，當時我們是唯一一家開門的商店，而其他人則沒有。

The good news is, we've gotten a lot of data on them. We know how to contact them. It's one of the things that we've really been working on beneath the surface, is being much better in terms of our targeted marketing outreach. We've taken our traditional media spend way down, and it's now over 50% targeted and it's going to keep increasing from there. We'll talk a little bit about that at the Investor Day. We've got a new customer data platform coming on board that's going to really help us be even more sharpen our targeting. We're seeing really high reactivation rates on lapsed customers, which is also something we're really excited about, both happening currently and in the future.

好消息是，我們已經獲得了大量關於它們的數據。我們知道如何联系他們。這是我們在表面之下真正努力的事情之一，在我們有針對性的營銷推廣方面要好得多。我們已經降低了傳統媒體的支出，現在已經超過 50%，而且還會繼續增加。我們將在投資者日討論這個問題。我們已經有了一個新的客戶數據平台，這將真正幫助我們更加明確我們的目標。我們看到流失客戶的重新激活率非常高，這也是我們非常興奮的事情，無論是現在還是將來都會發生。

Great. Appreciate that color. And based on store visits, inventory, especially apparel and footwear look about as clear (inaudible) as it's ever been. Are comp store units close to up in that the low single digits area? And can you chase -- and can you chase if the demand backdrop is somewhat better than where it's sitting at right now?

偉大的。欣賞那種顏色。根據商店訪問情況，庫存，尤其是服裝和鞋類，看起來與以往一樣清晰（聽不見）。 comp store units 是否接近於那個低個位數區域？你能追逐——如果需求背景比現在更好，你能追逐嗎？

Yes. I would say comp store units versus last year are up a little bit versus 2019 are still down 7%. Once again, that's with 9 more stores. So we're operating a lot leaner today than we were 3 or 4 years ago when there was top stock throughout the store. That being said, what was really interesting is, we learned in pandemic, we could turn faster. We learned how nimble the teams could be in terms of chasing goods. And so we haven't lost that. That's in our muscle memory now. And so if business starts to accelerate, we feel like we've got the inventory to do the business and we're going to chase additional goods. Conversely, if we see it slow down, we feel like we've been very nimble in management on both sides.

是的。我想說的是，與去年相比，商店單位略有上升，而 2019 年仍下降了 7%。再一次，還有 9 家商店。因此，與 3 或 4 年前整個商店的庫存最多時相比，我們今天的運營要精簡得多。話雖這麼說，真正有趣的是，我們在大流行病中學到了，我們可以轉得更快。我們了解了團隊在追逐商品方面的靈活性。所以我們沒有失去它。那是我們現在的肌肉記憶。因此，如果業務開始加速，我們覺得我們有足夠的庫存來開展業務，我們將追逐更多商品。相反，如果我們看到它放緩，我們會覺得我們在雙方的管理上都非常靈活。

Yes. Part of it is also, some of the things that Steve and his team have put in place allow us to flow the merchandise better. So we don't have to carry as much inventory to do the volume and it moves through the system. So better planning and flow, and that's -- our supply chain has been able to handle it, but we think the improvements that we're putting in place for the future will make it even more able to handle the flow and we can improve our inventory productivity.

是的。部分原因是，史蒂夫和他的團隊已經實施的一些措施使我們能夠更好地流通商品。因此，我們不必攜帶那麼多的庫存來完成交易量，它會在系統中移動。所以更好的規劃和流程，那就是 - 我們的供應鏈已經能夠處理它，但我們認為我們為未來所做的改進將使它更有能力處理流程，我們可以改進我們的庫存生產力。

Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for one more question. And the question is from Patrick Hollander from Goldman Sachs.

女士們，先生們，我們還有時間再問一個問題。問題來自高盛的 Patrick Hollander。

You guys opened 9 net new stores in 2022. You mentioned you took share during the year across categories. We were just wondering if there's any data you can share around the ramp-up in spend from new customers? Has there been kind of different shopping patterns from new customers in new categories that you're taking share from or new customers at new stores that you've opened in infill markets or new markets?

你們在 2022 年淨開了 9 家新店。你們提到你們在這一年中獲得了跨類別的份額。我們只是想知道您是否可以分享有關新客戶支出增加的任何數據？您在新類別中分享的新客戶或您在填充市場或新市場開設的新商店的新客戶是否有不同的購物模式？

So we see new stores, candidly, as a really great way to expand our brand and attracting customers. I mean you think about some of the new markets we're in, like Short Pump, obviously, all those customers are new to Academy and new shoppers for us. As we've gone into new markets, we've done, I think, a better job of localizing the assortment. One of the things we've done in the past and tried to reintroduce in '19 and prior was we kind of took a Texas-based assortment approach and tried to apply it broadly and that didn't work.

因此，坦率地說，我們將新店視為擴大品牌和吸引客戶的絕佳方式。我的意思是，你想想我們所處的一些新市場，比如 Short Pump，顯然，所有這些客戶都是 Academy 的新客戶，也是我們的新購物者。當我們進入新市場時，我認為我們在本地化分類方面做得更好。我們過去做過並試圖在 19 年及之前重新引入的一件事是，我們採用了一種基於德克薩斯州的分類方法，並試圖廣泛應用它，但沒有奏效。

So we've actually seen some pretty positive reaction to some of the localization efforts we put in place this year. But that being said, as Michael said, there's always learnings we're going to have and we're taking those learnings from '22, and we're going to apply into '23 and be heck a lot smarter about how we market, how we assort and how we manage those stores.

因此，我們實際上看到了對我們今年所做的一些本地化工作的一些非常積極的反應。但話雖這麼說，正如邁克爾所說，我們總是會學到東西，我們正在從 22 年吸取這些經驗，我們將應用到 23 年，並且對我們的營銷方式更加聰明，我們如何分類以及如何管理這些商店。

All right. I appreciate everybody's time and attention. And hopefully, we helped you better understand why we're so bullish on our future and what we've got ahead of us. It was a challenging quarter and challenging times. But that said, we're well positioned for that, and we've got the right team to accomplish what we need to accomplish and achieve our goals.

好的。我感謝大家的時間和關注。希望我們能幫助您更好地理解為什麼我們如此看好我們的未來以及我們的未來。這是一個充滿挑戰的季度和充滿挑戰的時代。但話雖如此，我們為此做好了準備，而且我們擁有合適的團隊來完成我們需要完成的工作並實現我們的目標。

We look forward to seeing all of you at the Analyst Meeting in the first part of April. And we think you'll be excited in our new plan and our outlook for the future. With that, I hope everybody has a great day and a lot of fun out there. Thank you.

我們期待在 4 月上旬的分析師會議上與大家見面。我們認為您會對我們的新計劃和我們對未來的展望感到興奮。有了這個，我希望每個人都有美好的一天，並在那裡玩得很開心。謝謝。

Thank you. The conference of Academy Sports and Outdoors has now concluded. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝。學院運動與戶外會議現已結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開線路。