Burlington Stores Inc (BURL) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Burlington Stores Inc., third-quarter 2025 earnings webcast. Please note that this call is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎收看伯靈頓百貨公司2025年第三季財報網路直播。請注意，本次通話正在錄音。

(Operator Instructions) Thank you. I'd now like to hand the call over to Mr. David Glick, Group Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

（操作說明）謝謝。現在我將把電話交給集團高級副總裁兼投資者關係主管大衛·格里克先生。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate everyone's participation in today's conference call to discuss Burlington's fiscal 2025 third-quarter operating results. Our presenters today are Michael O'Sullivan, our Chief Executive Officer; and Kristin Wolfe, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。感謝大家今天參加電話會議，討論伯靈頓公司 2025 財年第三季的經營業績。今天的演講嘉賓是我們的執行長邁克爾·奧沙利文，以及我們的執行副總裁兼財務長克里斯汀·沃爾夫。

Before I turn the call over to Michael, I would like to inform listeners that this call may not be transcribed, recorded or broadcast without our expressed permission. A replay of the call will be available until December 2, 2025.

在將電話交給麥可之前，我想告知聽眾，未經我們明確許可，不得對本次通話進行轉錄、錄音或廣播。本次電話會議的錄音回放將保留至 2025 年 12 月 2 日。

We take no responsibility for inaccuracies that may appear in transcripts of this call by third parties. Our remarks and the Q&A that follows are copyrighted today by Burlington Stores. Remarks made on this call concerning future expectations, events, strategies, objectives, trends or projected financial results are subject to certain risks and uncertainties.

對於第三方提供的通話記錄中可能出現的不準確之處，我們概不負責。我們的演講以及接下來的問答環節的版權歸伯靈頓百貨公司所有。本次電話會議中有關未來預期、事件、策略、目標、趨勢或預期財務表現的評論存在一定的風險和不確定性。

Actual results may differ materially from those that are projected in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include those that are described in the company's 10-K and in our other filings with the SEC, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

實際結果可能與此類前瞻性聲明中預測的結果有重大差異。此類風險和不確定性包括公司 10-K 表格和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中描述的風險和不確定性，所有這些文件均透過引用明確納入本文。

Please note that the financial results and expectations we discuss today are on a continuing operations basis. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures we discuss today to GAAP measures are included in today's press release.

請注意，我們今天討論的財務表現和預期都是基於持續經營業務的。今天討論的非GAAP指標與GAAP指標的調節表已包含在今天的新聞稿中。

As a reminder, as indicated in this morning's press release, all profitability and metrics discussed on this call exclude costs associated with bankruptcy acquired leases. These pretax costs amounted to $11 million and $0 million, respectively, during the fiscal third quarters of 2025 and 2024, and $28 million and $9 million, respectively, for the first nine months of 2025 and 2024.

再次提醒大家，正如今天早上的新聞稿中所述，本次電話會議討論的所有獲利能力和指標均不包括與破產收購租賃相關的成本。2025 年和 2024 年第三財季的稅前成本分別為 1,100 萬美元和 0 萬美元，2025 年和 2024 年前九個月的稅前成本分別為 2,800 萬美元和 900 萬美元。

Now here's Michael.

現在是麥可。

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I would like to cover four topics this morning. Firstly, I will discuss our third-quarter results. Secondly, I will review our updated fourth quarter and full-year guidance. Thirdly, I will provide some early thinking on the outlook for 2026. And lastly, I will comment on the progress we are making towards our longer-range financial goals. Then I will turn the call over to Kristin to provide additional details.

謝謝你，大衛。各位早安，感謝各位的參與。今天上午我想談四個話題。首先，我將討論我們第三季的業績。其次，我將回顧我們更新後的第四季和全年業績預期。第三，我將對 2026 年的前景提出一些初步看法。最後，我將談談我們在實現長期財務目標方面取得的進展。然後我會把電話轉給克莉絲汀，讓她提供更多細節。

Okay. Let's start with our Q3 results. Total sales increased 7% in the third quarter at the high end of our guidance. This was on top of 11% sales growth last year. This means that, year-to-date, total sales have increased 8% on top of 11% year-to-date growth last year. Comp store sales for the third quarter increased 1%. We started the quarter well with a strong back-to-school trend, but in September, we saw a significant drop-off in traffic to our stores, driven by warmer-than-usual weather.

好的。我們先來看第三季業績。第三季總銷售額成長7%，達到我們預期的高端水準。這是在去年11%的銷售成長基礎上取得的。這意味著，今年迄今的總銷售額在去年同期成長 11% 的基礎上又成長了 8%。第三季同店銷售額成長1%。本季開局良好，返校季的銷售勢頭強勁，但到了 9 月，受天氣異常溫暖的影響，我們門市的客流量大幅下降。

As we have discussed previously, we have very strong brand equity in outerwear. Many shoppers still think of us as Burlington Coat Factory. Outerwear is a great business and a source of competitive strength, but this means that in Q3, our comp trend is very sensitive to weather, much more so than competitors.

正如我們之前討論過的，我們在外套領域擁有非常強大的品牌資產。許多顧客仍然把我們看作是伯靈頓外套工廠。外套業務規模龐大，是競爭優勢的來源，但這意味著第三季我們的競爭趨勢對天氣非常敏感，比競爭對手敏感得多。

In some years, the impact is positive, in some years, it is negative. This year, it was negative. That said, in mid-October, once the weather turned cooler, our comp trend picked up to the mid-single digits. And that momentum of mid-single-digit comp growth continued through the first three weeks of November.

有些年份影響是正面的，有些年份則影響是負面的。今年結果是負數。也就是說，10 月中旬，天氣轉涼後，我們的同業拆借趨勢上升到個位數中段。11 月的前三週，同業薪酬持續維持個位數中段的成長動能。

Finishing up on Q3, I would like to comment on earnings. Despite the weather-driven slowdown in our sales trend in Q3, we still delivered margin expansion that was well ahead of last year and earnings growth that significantly beat our guidance. It's worth calling out that this was despite the considerable headwind that we faced from tariffs.

第三季即將結束，我想就獲利情況談談看法。儘管第三季受天氣影響銷售趨勢放緩，但我們的利潤率仍遠超去年同期，獲利成長也顯著超過了我們的預期。值得一提的是，這是在我們面臨關稅帶來的巨大阻力的情況下所取得的成果。

Moving on to the fourth quarter. We are maintaining our previously issued comp store sales guidance of 0% to 2%. We feel good about our recent trend, but it is still early in the quarter and, in the coming weeks, we'll be up against very strong comparisons from last year. So it makes sense to remain cautious. That said, given the strong margin and expense trends that we are seeing, we are increasing our Q4 margin and EPS guidance. To be clear, we are adjusting our full-year 2025 earnings guidance passing along all of our beats to earnings in Q3 and factoring in our higher Q4 earnings outlook.

進入第四節。我們維持先前發布的同店銷售額成長預期，即 0% 至 2%。我們對近期的發展趨勢感到滿意，但現在仍是本季初期，在接下來的幾周里，我們將面臨與去年同期非常高的基數。所以保持謹慎是明智之舉。儘管如此，鑑於我們目前看到的強勁利潤率和支出趨勢，我們將提高第四季度利潤率和每股收益預期。需要明確的是，我們正在調整 2025 年全年盈利預期，將第三季度所有超出預期的盈利都納入考慮，並考慮了我們更高的第四季度盈利預期。

I would like to call out that we started this fiscal year with EBIT margin guidance of flat to up 30 basis points. Our updated full-year 2025 guidance now calls for expansion of 60 to 70 basis points. This is despite pressure from tariffs, and it is on top of 100 basis points of margin improvement in 2024. We are excited about the progress we are making on margin expansion. I will return to this topic in a few moments when I talk about our longer-range financial goals. But first, I would like to share our initial thoughts on the outlook for 2026.

我想指出，我們本財年伊始給出的息稅前利潤率預期為持平或成長 30 個基點。我們更新後的 2025 年全年業績預期要求擴大 60 至 70 個基點。儘管面臨關稅壓力，但該公司仍實現了這一目標，而且在 2024 年利潤率還提高了 100 個基點。我們對利潤率擴張的進展感到興奮。稍後在談到我們的長期財務目標時，我會再回到這個主題。但首先，我想先分享我們對 2026 年前景的初步看法。

We are early in the budget process, but as a starting point, we're planning for total sales growth in the high single digits. We now expect to open 110 net new stores in 2026. This is higher than previously discussed and it reflects the strength of our new store pipeline and the performance we are seeing from new stores. We are excited for these new store openings.

預算編制工作尚處於早期階段，但作為起點，我們計劃實現總銷售額接近兩位數的成長。我們現在預計到 2026 年將淨增加 110 家門市。這比之前討論的要高，反映了我們新店建設的強勁勢頭以及新店目前的良好業績。我們對這些新店的開幕感到非常興奮。

For comp sales, we are assuming growth of flat to 2% in 2026. This should sound familiar. It is our typical off-price playbook. There is significant economic uncertainty, and we do not know how this might affect our business in 2026. So we will plan our business conservatively at 0% to 2% comp sales growth and then be ready to chase if the trend is stronger.

對於同店銷售額，我們假設到 2026 年成長持平或 2%。這聽起來應該很耳熟。這是我們典型的低價促銷策略。目前經濟情勢存在著很大的不確定性，我們不知道這會對我們2026年的業務產生怎樣的影響。因此，我們將保守地規劃業務，預計同店銷售成長率為 0% 至 2%，如果趨勢更強，我們將隨時準備追趕。

In terms of operating margin expansion, for budgeting purposes, we are assuming that at 2% comp growth, our operating margin would be flat versus this year. Then 10 to 15 basis points higher for each point of comp above 2%.

就營業利潤率擴張而言，出於預算目的，我們假設同店銷售額成長 2%，則我們的營業利潤率將與今年持平。對於高於 2% 的每個百分點，漲幅增加 10 至 15 個基點。

Before I turn the call over to Kristin, there is one more topic that I would like to talk about. I would like to provide an update on our longer-range financial goals. As a reminder, two years ago, we shared our objective of getting to approximately $1.6 billion in operating income in 2028. The headline is that we feel good about the progress that we are making towards this goal.

在把電話交給克莉絲汀之前，我還有最後一個話題想談談。我想向大家報告我們的長期財務目標。提醒一下，兩年前，我們曾提出目標，也就是在 2028 年實現約 16 億美元的營業收入。總的來說，我們對在實現這一目標方面取得的進展感到滿意。

We are tracking in line with where we thought we would be at this point. We are especially pleased with the progress we have made in driving operating margin. This means that at the high end of our updated 2025 margin guidance, we will have achieved 170 basis points of the 400 basis points of opportunity that we identified two years ago. And of course, we will have achieved this despite the negative headwind from tariffs.

我們目前的進展與我們預期的一致。我們尤其對在提高營業利潤率方面取得的進展感到滿意。這意味著，按照我們更新後的 2025 年利潤率預期上限計算，我們將實現兩年前確定的 400 個基點機會中的 170 個基點。當然，即便麵臨關稅帶來的不利影響，我們依然能夠實現這一目標。

Apart from margin expansion, the other drivers of our long-range financial model are new store sales and comp store sales growth. On new store sales, we are even more bullish now about our new store opening program than we were two years ago. Originally, we had assumed that we would open 100 net new stores a year in the period 2024 to 2028. In fact, this year, we will open 104; and in 2026, we are now planning to open 110 net new stores. Based on our new store pipeline, there is a possibility that we could sustain or even exceed this stronger pace of new store openings.

除了利潤率擴張之外，我們長期財務模型的其他驅動因素是新店銷售額和同店銷售成長。對於新店銷售，我們現在對新店開業計劃的信心甚至比兩年前更大。最初，我們預計在 2024 年至 2028 年期間，每年將淨增加 100 家門市。事實上，今年我們將開設 104 家新店；到 2026 年，我們計劃淨增 110 家新店。根據我們新的門市籌備計劃，我們有可能保持甚至超過這種更快的門市開業速度。

The other major driver of our long-range model is comp sales growth. As I discussed in the context of our Q3 results, leaving weather aside, we feel good about the underlying comp trends that we are seeing. We believe that we can achieve average annual comp sales growth in the range of 4% to 5% over the remaining years of the long-range plan, in other words, between now and 2028. Of course, we recognize there are a lot of external variables that can affect comp growth, so in the nearer term, as we always do, we will plan our business conservatively, and then chase.

我們長期模型的另一個主要驅動因素是同店銷售成長。正如我在第三季業績報告中所討論的那樣，撇開天氣因素不談，我們對目前看到的潛在同業趨勢感到滿意。我們相信，在長期計畫的剩餘年份裡，也就是從現在到 2028 年，我們可以實現年均同店銷售額成長 4% 到 5%。當然，我們也意識到有許多外部因素會影響同業成長，因此，短期內，我們將像往常一樣，採取保守的業務計劃，然後再伺機而動。

Now I would like to turn the call over to Kristin to review our Q3 results, updated 2025 guidance and high-level outlook for 2026 in more detail. Kristin?

現在我想把電話交給克莉絲汀，讓她更詳細地回顧我們第三季的業績、更新後的 2025 年業績指引以及 2026 年的整體展望。克里斯汀？

Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone. I will start with some additional color on Q3. Then I will talk about our updated guidance. Lastly, I will comment on our initial outlook for 2026.

謝謝你，邁克爾，大家早安。我將從第三季開始添加一些額外的色彩。接下來我將談談我們更新後的指導。最後，我將談談我們對 2026 年的初步展望。

Starting with the third quarter. Total sales grew 7%, while comp store sales increased 1%, both within our guidance range. As Michael described, our comp trend in the third quarter fell off significantly after the back-to-school period driven by warmer weather, but then picked up to mid-single digits in mid-October.

從第三季開始。總銷售額成長了 7%，同店銷售額成長了 1%，皆在我們的預期範圍內。正如邁克爾所描述的那樣，受天氣變暖的影響，第三季開學季後，我們的同店銷售額大幅下降，但在 10 月中旬回升至個位數。

The gross margin rate for the third quarter was 44.2%, an increase of 30 basis points versus last year. This was driven by a 10 basis point increase in merchandise margin and a 20 basis point decrease in freight expenses.

第三季毛利率為 44.2%，比去年同期成長 30 個基點。這主要得益於商品毛利率上升 10 個基點以及運費下降 20 個基點。

Moving down the P&L. Our Q3 product sourcing costs were $214 million, versus $209 million in the third quarter of last year. Product sourcing costs decreased 40 basis points compared to last year. This was primarily driven by leverage in supply chain through continued cost savings and efficiency initiatives.

向下移動損益表。我們第三季的產品採購成本為 2.14 億美元，去年同期為 2.09 億美元。產品採購成本比去年下降了40個基點。這主要是透過持續的成本節約和效率提升舉措，在供應鏈中發揮槓桿作用而實現的。

Adjusted SG&A costs in Q3 levered 20 basis points versus last year. This leverage was primarily achieved in store-related costs. Our store teams drove significant leverage in store payroll through numerous efficiency and productivity initiatives.

第三季調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用較去年同期成長了 20 個基點。這種優勢主要體現在門市相關成本。我們的門市團隊透過多項提高效率和生產力的舉措，大幅降低了門市薪資成本。

Q3 adjusted EBIT margin was 6.2%, 60 basis points higher than last year. This was well above our guidance range of down 20 basis points to flat. Our Q3 adjusted earnings per share was $1.80, which came in well above our guidance range. This represents a 16% increase versus the prior year.

第三季調整後息稅前利潤率為 6.2%，比去年同期高出 60 個基點。這遠高於我們先前預測的下跌20個基點至持平的區間。我們第三季調整後每股收益為 1.80 美元，遠超過我們的預期範圍。這比上一年增長了16%。

At the end of the quarter, comparable store inventories were down 2% versus the end of the third quarter of 2024. Let me provide a little more context here. In Q3, we saw a significant slowdown in our comp trends, a weather-driven slowdown. But using our Merchandising 2.0 tools, our planners and merchants were able to react very quickly to adjust receipts, especially in cold weather categories. So despite the slowdown, our store inventories are well balanced, current and very clean going into the fourth quarter.

本季末，同店庫存比 2024 年第三季末下降了 2%。讓我再補充一些背景資訊。第三季度，我們的同店銷售趨勢明顯放緩，這是由天氣因素導致的放緩。但藉助我們的商品管理 2.0 工具，我們的規劃人員和銷售人員能夠迅速做出反應，調整收據，尤其是在寒冷天氣類別中。因此，儘管經濟成長放緩，但進入第四季度，我們門市的庫存仍然保持良好平衡、及時更新且非常乾淨。

Moving on to our reserve inventory. Reserve inventory was 35% of our total inventory, versus 32% of our inventory last year. In dollar terms, reserve inventory was up 26% compared to last year. We are pleased with the quality of the merchandise and the values and brands that we have in reserve. And as a reminder, we use reserve inventory as ammunition to chase the sales trend. For example, our reserve includes great outerwear buys that we made earlier this year that we've been pulling out over the last few weeks to fuel the trend since the weather turned cold in mid-October.

接下來是我們的儲備庫存。儲備庫存佔總庫存的 35%，而去年同期為 32%。以美元計，儲備庫存比去年增加了 26%。我們對庫存商品的品質以及我們所擁有的價值和品牌感到滿意。再次提醒大家，我們將儲備庫存當作彈藥，以因應銷售趨勢。例如，我們的儲備包括今年早些時候我們購買的一些很棒的外套，自 10 月中旬天氣轉冷以來，我們在過去幾週一直在把它們拿出來，以滿足這股潮流。

We ended the third quarter with approximately $1.5 billion in liquidity. This consisted of $584 million in cash and $948 million in availability on our ABL. We had no outstanding borrowings on the ABL at the end of the quarter.

第三季末，我們的流動資金約為15億美元。這包括 5.84 億美元現金和 9.48 億美元的可用資產抵押貸款。截至季末，我們的資產抵押貸款 (ABL) 沒有未償還的借款。

During the third quarter, we repurchased $61 million in stock. And at the end of the quarter, we had $444 million remaining on our repurchase authorization. In Q3, we opened 73 net new stores, bringing our store count at the end of the quarter to 1,211 stores. This included 85 new store openings, 10 relocations and 2 closings. We now expect to open 104 net new stores in fiscal 2025, up from our original estimate of 100 net new stores.

第三季度，我們回購了價值 6,100 萬美元的股票。到季度末，我們的回購授權額度還剩 4.44 億美元。第三季度，我們淨增加 73 家門市，使季度末門市總數達到 1,211 家。其中包括 85 家新店開業、10 家門市搬遷和 2 家門市關閉。我們現在預計在 2025 財年將淨增 104 家門市，高於我們最初估計的淨增 100 家門市。

Now I will turn to our outlook for the fourth quarter and full year for fiscal 2025. We are maintaining our fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 guidance for comp sales and total sales. We are guiding comparable store sales to be flat to up 2%, with total sales to increase 7% to 9% for the fourth quarter.

現在我將展望我們對 2025 財年第四季和全年的業績。我們維持對 2025 財年第四季同店銷售額和總銷售額的預期。我們預計第四季同店銷售額將持平或成長 2%，總銷售額將成長 7% 至 9%。

We are raising our adjusted EBIT margin and adjusted earnings per share guidance for the fourth quarter. We now expect our adjusted EBIT margin to increase by 30 to 50 basis points. This margin outlook now translates to an adjusted earnings per share range of $4.50 to $4.70, an increase of 9% to 14% versus the fourth quarter of last year.

我們將上調第四季度調整後息稅前利潤率和調整後每股收益預期。我們現在預計調整後的息稅前利潤率將提高 30 至 50 個基點。根據目前的利潤率預期，調整後的每股盈餘範圍為 4.50 美元至 4.70 美元，比去年第四季成長 9% 至 14%。

For full-year fiscal 2025, after factoring in our actual Q3 results and our improved outlook for Q4, we expect comp store sales growth of 1% to 2%, total sales to increase approximately 8%, and EBIT margins to range from an increase of 60 to 70 basis points.

考慮到我們實際的第三季業績以及我們對第四季度業績的改善預期，我們預計 2025 財年全年同店銷售額將增長 1% 至 2%，總銷售額將增長約 8%，息稅前利潤率將增長 60 至 70 個基點。

As Michael noted earlier, this fiscal 2025 EBIT margin guidance is 40 basis points higher than our original full-year guidance at the high end. And this is despite the significant pressure from tariffs. Finally, factoring in Q3 actuals and updated Q4 guidance, adjusted earnings per share are now expected to be in the range of $9.69 to $9.89, an increase of 16% to 18% for the full-year 2025.

正如邁克爾之前指出的那樣，這一 2025 財年 EBIT 利潤率預期比我們最初全年預期的上限高出 40 個基點。儘管面臨巨大的關稅壓力，情況依然如此。最後，考慮到第三季實際數據和更新後的第四季指引，預計 2025 年全年調整後每股盈餘將在 9.69 美元至 9.89 美元之間，成長 16% 至 18%。

Finally, I would like to touch on our preliminary FY26 outlook. We are in the early stages of the budgeting process, so this could change. But at this point, we are planning on total sales growth in the high single digits. We are assuming at least 110 net new stores. And we're planning comp store sales in the range of flat to up 2%. For operating margin, as Michael said, we are assuming that, at a 2% comp growth, our operating margin will be flat to this year. And we expect leverage of 10 to 15 basis points for each additional point of comp.

最後，我想談談我們對 2026 財年的初步展望。我們目前還處於預算編制過程的早期階段，所以情況可能會有所改變。但目前，我們預計總銷售額將實現接近兩位數的成長。我們預計至少新增 110 家門市。我們預計同店銷售額將持平或成長 2%。正如麥可所說，就營業利潤率而言，我們假設，在 2% 的同店成長率下，我們的營業利潤率將與今年持平。我們預計，每增加一個基點的薪酬，槓桿作用將達到 10 到 15 個基點。

And now I will turn the call back over to Michael.

現在我將把電話轉回給麥可。

Thank you, Kristin. Before I turn the call over to the operator for your questions, I would like to summarize a few of the key points from today's call.

謝謝你，克里斯汀。在將電話轉交給接線員回答您的問題之前，我想總結一下今天通話的幾個要點。

Firstly, Q3 was impacted by warmer weather in September through early October. Once the weather normalized, our trend improved to mid-single-digit comp growth. And we are off to a strong start for Q4 with comps up mid-single digits for the first three weeks of November.

首先，第三季受到9月至10月初氣溫偏高的影響。天氣恢復正常後，我們的業績成長趨勢有所改善，達到個位數中段水準。第四季開局強勁，11 月前三週的同店銷售額實現了個位數中段的成長。

Secondly, we are pleased with our margin trends. We are updating our full-year 2025 guidance to reflect the earnings beat in Q3 as well as our improved earnings outlook for Q4. At this point, we are maintaining our previously issued Q4 comp guidance of 0% to 2%.

其次，我們對利潤率趨勢感到滿意。我們正在更新 2025 年全年業績預期，以反映第三季獲利超出預期以及我們對第四季獲利前景的改善。目前，我們維持先前發布的第四季同店銷售額成長預期，即成長0%至2%。

Thirdly, we are pleased with how we are tracking towards our long-range financial goals, especially the pace of margin expansion. And within this long-range financial plan, we think there may be additional upside in terms of our new store opening program.

第三，我們對實現長期財務目標的進展感到滿意，尤其是利潤率擴張的速度。在這個長期財務計畫中，我們認為新店開幕計畫可能還有額外的成長空間。

Now I would like to turn the call over for your questions.

現在我想把電話交給你們，請你們提問。

(Operator Instructions) Matthew Boss, JPMorgan.

（操作說明）Matthew Boss，摩根大通。

So on relative performance, your comp this quarter came in below both of your off-price peers. This is a clear reversal from results in the second quarter and over the last year. Clearly, you cited weather was a factor. But how concerned are you by this change in your relative comp versus peers?

因此，就相對業績而言，你本季的業績低於你的兩家折扣店同業。這與第二季和去年同期的業績形成了明顯的逆轉。顯然，你提到了天氣是一個因素。但您對自身薪酬相對於同業的這種變化有多擔心？

Matt, thank you for the question. You're right. Just to lay out the facts, we ran a 1% comp in Q3, our peers were 6% and 7%, very impressive. That's a very significant difference. I can't give you a complete bridge, but at a high level, let me try and dissect that gap.

馬特，謝謝你的提問。你說得對。簡單來說，我們第三季的同業拆借成長率為 1%，而我們的同業分別為 6% 和 7%，非常出色。這是一個非常顯著的差異。我無法為你搭建一座完整的橋樑，但從宏觀層面來說，讓我試著分析這個差距。

I'll start with the obvious. We know that weather was the biggest driver of our slowdown in Q3. That's not an excuse, but it is a partial explanation. We changed our name some years ago, but shoppers still call us Burlington Coat Factory. So mild weather in September and October has a huge impact on our business. This is a real thing, and it is unique to us, I think, versus our peers.

我先從最顯而易見的說起。我們知道，天氣是我們第三季業績放緩的最大原因。這並非藉口，但可以部分解釋。我們幾年前改了名字，但顧客仍然稱我們為伯靈頓外套工廠。因此，九月和十月的溫和天氣對我們的業務產生了巨大影響。這是真實存在的，而且我認為，這是我們獨有的，與我們的同齡人相比。

Now in September and October, cold weather merchandise ballooned to more than 20% of our assortment. In the third quarter, our comp sales for ladies and men's coats, jackets, boots and cold weather accessories, all these important categories were down double digits. Now they bounced back in mid-October once it turned cold, but by then, it was too late to really drive the quarter.

現在到了九月和十月，冬季商品占我們商品種類的20%以上。第三季度，我們男女外套、夾克、靴子和禦寒配件等重要品類的同店銷售額均出現兩位數下滑。10月中旬天氣轉冷後，他們的業績有所回升，但到那時，已經太晚了，無法真正推動本季業績成長。

Let me go a little further and try to quantify the weather impact on our comp in Q3. If you strip out the drag on our overall comp from cold weather categories, the categories I just listed, and if I make an adjustment for the impact that lower weather-related traffic had on the rest of the store, then I can get to the low end of a mid-single-digit comp.

讓我更進一步，試著量化天氣對我們第三季業績的影響。如果剔除寒冷天氣類別（即我剛才列出的類別）對我們整體銷售額的拖累，並調整與天氣相關的客流量減少對商店其他部分的影響，那麼我可以達到個位數中段的銷售額增長。

In other words, I do not get to 6% or 7% comp. So in my view, weather only explains half of the gap versus peers. Now usually, in off-price, when your comp is lower than your peers, it's just the customer telling you that they prefer the value and the assortment that they found elsewhere.

換句話說，我拿不到 6% 或 7% 的薪水。所以在我看來，天氣因素只能解釋與同行之間一半的差距。通常情況下，在折扣店裡，如果你的商品價格低於同行，那就表示顧客更喜歡在別處找到的商品價值和種類。

In the second quarter when we ran a 5% comp growth ahead of our peers, the customer was voting for us. But in Q3, that changed. Now we have some hypotheses on why, but we have more work to do to really tear that apart and then aggressively go after that performance difference.

第二季度，我們的同店銷售額比同業高出 5%，這是客戶對我們投下的票。但到了第三季度，情況就改變了。現在我們對原因有了一些假設，但我們還需要做更多的工作來真正深入分析，然後積極地去彌補這種效能差距。

But before I leave the question, let me just call out a silver lining. The comp numbers that our peers have just reported reaffirm that the off-price shopper at all income levels is alive and well. Leaving aside the weather, the major implication for us is that we need to take better advantage of that than we did in the third quarter.

但在我結束這個問題之前，請容許我指出一線希望。同行們剛公佈的比較數據顯示，各收入階層的折扣購物者依然活躍且需求旺盛。拋開天氣因素不談，這對我們來說最重要的意義在於，我們需要比第三季更好地利用天氣條件。

Great. And then, Kristin, as a follow-up, could you provide more color on the 60 basis points of operating margin expansion in the quarter, particularly just given as we think about the pressures that you faced from tariffs and the 1% comp?

偉大的。那麼，克里斯汀，作為後續問題，你能否更詳細地說明一下本季營業利潤率增長 60 個基點的原因，特別是考慮到你們面臨的關稅壓力和 1% 的同店銷售額增長？

Yeah. First, it's worth reiterating that we really are pleased with the 6.2% operating margin in the quarter, up 60 basis points versus last year on a 1% comp, as you noted in your question. Let me provide the major puts and takes, starting with gross margin.

是的。首先，值得重申的是，我們對本季 6.2% 的營業利潤率非常滿意，比去年同期增長了 60 個基點（去年同期為 1%），正如您在問題中提到的那樣。讓我從毛利率開始，介紹一下主要的優點和缺點。

First, our merchandise margin increased 10 basis points. And within merchandise margin, there was a lot going on. Tariffs had a negative impact on markup, but we were able to offset this impact through numerous actions, such as negotiating with our vendors, adjusting the mix and driving a faster turn. The net impact of all this was much more favorable than we originally guided back in August. This was really driven by our tariff mitigation strategies.

首先，我們的商品毛利率提高了10個基點。商品利潤率方面，也發生了許多變化。關稅對加價產生了負面影響，但我們透過與供應商談判、調整產品組合和加快週轉速度等多種措施抵消了這種影響。所有這些因素的最終結果比我們8月份最初的預期要好得多。這實際上是由我們的關稅緩解策略所驅動的。

Now staying in gross margin, freight levered by 20 basis points. This was due to greater efficiencies and cost savings initiatives, particularly in transportation. So our overall gross margin increased 30 basis points versus the third quarter of last year, all this despite the impact from tariffs.

現在毛利率保持不變，運費槓桿率為 20 個基點。這主要歸功於效率提升和成本節約措施，尤其是在交通運輸領域。因此，儘管受到關稅的影響，我們的整體毛利率仍比去年第三季提高了 30 個基點。

On product sourcing costs, moving down the P&L, we drove 40 basis points of leverage here. This was driven by supply chain and efficiency initiatives in our DCs. We're excited about the consistent progress we've made in streamlining our supply chain costs.

在產品採購成本方面，我們透過降低損益表成本，實現了 40 個基點的槓桿效應。這是由我們配送中心的供應鏈和效率提升措施所推動的。我們很高興在精簡供應鏈成本方面取得了持續進展。

And moving on to SG&A. We showed about 20 basis points of leverage here on a 1% comp. And this was driven by efficiency initiatives in stores, such as speeding up checkout times at point of sale. Offsetting this leverage was higher depreciation, which de-levered about 20 basis points driven by increased CapEx in supply chain and new stores. So taken all together, this drove the 60 basis points of EBIT expansion in the quarter.

接下來是銷售、一般及行政費用。這裡我們展示了在 1% 的比較基準下約 20 個基點的槓桿率。這主要得益於門市提高效率的舉措，例如加快收銀台的結帳速度。抵銷這種槓桿作用的是更高的折舊，由於供應鏈和新店的資本支出增加，導致槓桿率下降了約 20 個基點。綜上所述，這推動了本季息稅前利潤成長 60 個基點。

Ike Boruchow, Wells Fargo.

艾克·博魯喬夫，富國銀行。

I guess my question, kind of piggybacking off of Matt's, is, so the comp growth in Q3 was lower than peers, but the margin and earnings were actually pretty much better. How should we reconcile that? And then really more importantly, are there choices that you made during the quarter that may have driven the higher margin in Q3 at the expense of sales?

我想問的問題，算是藉用 Matt 的問題，是這樣的：雖然第三季的同店銷售成長低於同行，但利潤率和收益實際上要好得多。我們該如何調和這兩者之間的關係？更重要的是，你在本季做出的某些選擇是否導致第三季利潤率上升，而銷售額卻下降了？

Well, I'll take that, Ike. Thank you for the question, it's a good question. I think the direct answer is yes, there were decisions or choices that we made that helped drive our margin in Q3 but may have had a negative impact on our sales.

好的，我接受，艾克。謝謝你的提問，這是一個很好的問題。我認為直接的答案是肯定的，我們做出的一些決定或選擇有助於提高第三季的利潤率，但可能對我們的銷售額產生了負面影響。

And I'll give you a couple of examples, but maybe I should just preface what I'm going to say with a couple of points. Firstly, our margin and earnings performance in Q3 was very strong. Margins were up 60 basis points and adjusted EPS grew 16%. We've also taken up full-year earnings guidance. In other words, we've rolled right over tariffs.

我舉幾個例子，但或許我應該先說明幾點。首先，我們第三季的利潤率和獲利表現非常強勁。利潤率上升了 60 個基點，調整後每股收益成長了 16%。我們也發布了全年獲利預期。換句話說，我們已經徹底取消了關稅。

Secondly, on comp sales, to reiterate, the biggest driver of the slowdown that we saw was weather. If I adjust our comp for weather, we probably would have been pretty happy with the outcome. But as I explained a moment ago, that only explains half of the gap between our 1% comp growth and our peers 6% and 7% comp.

其次，關於同店銷售額，再次強調，我們看到的銷售放緩的最大驅動因素是天氣。如果我調整一下比賽的因素（例如天氣），我們可能就會對結果相當滿意了。但正如我剛才解釋的那樣，這只能解釋我們 1% 的薪資成長與同業 6% 和 7% 的薪資成長之間差距的一半。

So if I come back to your question, yes, there were choices that we made that might explain our relatively strong margin and earnings performance and our weaker comp growth in Q3. Now these were choices that we made as part of our tariff mitigation strategies. And let me describe two specific examples.

所以，回到你的問題，是的，我們所做的一些選擇或許可以解釋我們相對強勁的利潤率和獲利表現，以及第三季較弱的同店銷售成長。這些都是我們為因應關稅而採取的選擇。讓我舉兩個具體的例子。

Firstly, when tariffs were first introduced, we reduced our sales and receipt plans for categories where the margin impact was too significant. We did not feel like we could raise retails in those categories and we did not want to accept the margin compression.

首先，當關稅剛推出時，我們減少了利潤率影響過大的類別的銷售和收款計畫。我們覺得無法提高這些類別的零售額，也不想接受利潤率下降。

That meant that in some businesses, especially some categories in home, our inventory levels and assortments were, they were very light in Q3. And we saw that in terms of the sales in those categories, the sales were lower. Now that wasn't an error. It was a deliberate decision. I would say it was an economically rational decision. And it worked. It may have hurt sales, but it drove our earnings in Q3.

這意味著在某些業務領域，尤其是家居領域的某些類別，我們在第三季的庫存水準和產品種類非常少。我們看到，這些類別的銷售額都較低。那可不是錯誤。這是經過深思熟慮的決定。我認為這是一個經濟上合理的決定。而且奏效了。雖然這可能影響了銷售額，但卻推動了我們第三季的獲利。

Now I should add that as tariff rates have come down, we've gone back and we've taken up sales and receipt plans in most of the categories that were affected. So I would expect this impact to be less significant in Q4.

現在我應該補充一點，隨著關稅稅率的下降，我們已經恢復了先前的銷售和收據計劃，並在大多數受影響的類別中重新實施了這些計劃。因此，我預計這種影響在第四季會較小。

But a second example. As Kristin described a moment ago, another step that we took to help offset tariffs was to trim inventory levels in many businesses across the store and force a faster turn. Again, this helped to offset the margin pressure from tariffs. Now we only really took that step in Q3, not in Q4. We already turned very fast in Q4, so we didn't want to try and force a faster turn going into holiday. But again, in Q3, that approach drove earnings, but it may have hurt sales.

但還有第二個例子。正如克里斯汀剛才所描述的那樣，為了幫助抵消關稅的影響，我們採取的另一項措施是削減商店內許多業務的庫存水平，並加快週轉速度。同樣，這有助於抵消關稅帶來的利潤壓力。我們實際上是在第三季才採取了這一步驟，而不是在第四季。我們在第四季已經實現了快速轉型，所以我們不想在假期前強行加快轉型速度。但同樣，在第三季度，這種做法雖然提高了獲利，但可能損害了銷售。

So for both of the examples I've just given, at a high level, those decisions worked. We fully absorbed tariff pressure on our margin, and we drove very strong margin and earnings growth in Q3. And all this happened actually despite a slowdown in comp sales due to weather. Normally, a slowdown like that would drive deleverage.

所以，就我剛才舉的兩個例子而言，從整體來看，這些決定都是有效的。我們完全承受了關稅對利潤率的壓力，並在第三季度實現了非常強勁的利潤率和獲利成長。儘管受天氣影響，同店銷售額有所下降，但所有這些業績仍然實現了。通常情況下，這樣的經濟放緩會導致去槓桿化。

Anyway, with that said, we really need to do a full after-action assessment on Q3. Now that we have our competitors comp results, we need to go back and hindsight our performance and identify anything we could have done or should have done differently.

總之，綜上所述，我們確實需要對第三季進行全面的事後評估。現在我們有了競爭對手的業績數據，我們需要回顧並反思我們自身的表現，找出我們本來可以或應該採取的不同做法。

Got it. And then maybe, Kristin, just to elaborate maybe a little more on the 2026 initial outlook, key risk opportunities in the outlook, anything else you could share?

知道了。克里斯汀，或許我們可以再詳細說明 2026 年的初步展望、展望中的關鍵風險機遇，還有其他什麼可以分享的嗎？

Yeah. Great. Ike, we're still somewhat early in the process. We're actively working through the budget for 2026. So let me give some headlines on how we're thinking about it.

是的。偉大的。艾克，我們目前還處於這個過程的早期階段。我們正在積極制定2026年的預算。那麼，讓我簡要介紹一下我們對此的看法。

The outlook for next year is pretty hard to predict with significant economic and political uncertainty that could absolutely affect consumers' discretionary spending. There are potential tailwinds like the possibility of higher tax refunds in the early part of next year. And then there are potential headwinds like tariff-driven price increases, which could put additional inflationary pressure on our core customer.

明年的經濟和政治前景很難預測，存在很大的不確定性，這絕對會影響消費者的可支配支出。明年年初可能會有更高的退稅額等利多因素。此外，還有關稅上漲等潛在不利因素，這可能會對我們的核心客戶造成額外的通膨壓力。

Michael spoke to this earlier, but given this uncertainty, we're planning to stick with our off-price playbook. That really means planning comps at flat to 2% and positioning us to chase the trend if it's stronger. In terms of new stores, we mentioned this in the prepared remarks, but it's worth reiterating, we feel very good about the new store pipeline. We are planning to open at least 110 net new stores in 2026. So combined with our comp guidance, this should drive a high single-digit increase in total sales.

Michael 之前也談過這一點，但鑑於這種不確定性，我們計劃繼續沿用我們的低價策略。這意味著要將同店銷售額控制在 2% 以內，並做好準備，以便在趨勢更強時順勢而為。關於新店方面，我們在準備好的演講稿中已經提到過，但值得重申的是，我們對新店的籌備工作感到非常樂觀。我們計劃在 2026 年至少淨增 110 家門市。因此，結合我們的同店銷售預期，這將推動總銷售額達到接近兩位數的成長。

On the operating margin side, as we've said, we're modeling operating margin flat to last year at the 2% comp. We do expect 10 to 15 basis points of leverage for every point above a 2% comp. And then there's a couple of things in the margin, a couple of puts and takes. We are planning for slightly higher merch margin as we look to offset any impact of tariffs, particularly as we lap the fall season next year.

正如我們之前所說，在營業利潤率方面，我們預期營業利潤率將與去年持平，年比變動率為 2%。我們預計，每超過 2% 的比較基準，槓桿率將達到 10 到 15 個基點。此外，還有一些細節要注意，一些買賣的可能性。我們計劃略微提高商品利潤率，以抵消關稅帶來的任何影響，尤其是在明年秋季銷售旺季到來之際。

We're planning for continued supply chain productivity gains next year, but there will be offsets here due to the startup costs and the initial ramp-up of our new Southeastern distribution center which we plan to open in the first half of 2026.

我們計劃明年繼續提高供應鏈生產力，但由於啟動成本以及我們計劃於 2026 年上半年開設的東南地區新配送中心的初期運營，將會有一些抵消作用。

And finally, we do expect fixed cost leverage on the high single-digit total sales growth, but we also are expecting higher depreciation, which creates deleverage. The higher depreciation is really due to the higher CapEx spend in supply chain and our increased number of new stores. Those are really the main call-outs for 2026 at this point.

最後，我們預期固定成本槓桿作用將對高個位數的總銷售成長產生影響，但我們也預期折舊將增加，導致去槓桿化。折舊增加主要是因為供應鏈資本支出增加以及新店數量增加所致。目前來看，這些是 2026 年的主要展望。

Lorraine Hutchinson, Bank of America.

洛琳‧哈欽森，美國銀行。

Michael, one of your off-price peers is accelerating comps with more focus on marketing, more in-store inventory and a store refresh. Do you see any risk that Burlington will lose market share?

邁克爾，你的一家折扣店同行正在透過更注重行銷、增加店內庫存和翻新店鋪來加速同店銷售成長。您認為伯靈頓有失去市佔率的風險嗎？

Lorraine, thank you for the question. It's a good question. I'm going to avoid talking about any specific competitor, but I think I can still try to answer your question maybe in more general terms.

洛林，謝謝你的提問。這是個好問題。我不想談論任何特定的競爭對手，但我認為我還是可以嘗試用更一般的方式來回答你的問題。

I'll start by saying that actually we like innovation and fresh ideas. We believe in off-price retail, and anything that drives off-price awareness and excitement is a good thing. In fact, I'd go further and say that a strong off-price sector is important for us. So it's good that our off-price peers are achieving very strong results.

首先我想說的是，我們其實很喜歡創新和新鮮的想法。我們相信折扣零售，任何能提高消費者對折扣零售的認知度和興趣的事情都是好事。事實上，我還要進一步指出，強大的折扣零售業對我們至關重要。因此，我們的低價同業取得非常強勁的業績是一件好事。

But your question was more about potential risks to Burlington. So let me come at it from that angle. I think there are two important points that I would make here. Firstly, when we talk among each -- to each other and when we talk to analysts and when we talk to investors, I think we sometimes talk about off-price as if it were a separate, isolated, ring-fenced segment of retail.

但你的問題更多的是關於伯靈頓可能面臨的風險。那麼，我就從這個角度來談談這個問題吧。我認為這裡有兩點需要強調。首先，當我們彼此交談、與分析師交談、與投資者交談時，我認為我們有時談論折扣商品時，就好像它是一個獨立的、孤立的、與世隔絕的零售領域。

But the customer does not think of it that way. The customer does not respect the boundaries of off-price. If she needs a pair of pants or a dress, she might shop Burlington or one of our off-price peers. But we know from our own research that she also cross-shops department stores, specialty retailers. In fact, any retailer where shale likes the assortment. She doesn't care about our off-price business definition. She just cares about finding a great deal and great value in the categories, brands and styles that she's looking for.

但顧客可不這麼想。顧客不尊重折價商品的界線。如果她需要一條褲子或一條裙子，她可能會去伯靈頓百貨公司或我們其他折扣店同行那裡購物。但我們自己的調查顯示，她也會在百貨公司和專賣店購物。事實上，任何零售商都喜歡頁岩的各種產品。她不在乎我們對折扣店業務的定義。她只關心在她想要的類別、品牌和款式中找到物美價廉的好東西。

Now if you're an off-price, if you're an investor in off-price, I think it's very important that you understand this. This is not like the retail market for office supplies. We aren't three companies just scrapping it out for market share in a limited space called off-price. It's bigger than that. We compete in a very large and competitively fragmented market for apparel, accessories, shoes, home, beauty and so on. Off-price is really just a small part of that overall market.

如果你是折扣商品的投資者，或者你是折扣商品領域的投資者，我認為你理解這一點非常重要。這與辦公用品零售市場不同。我們不是三家在名為「折扣」的有限領域中爭取市場份額的公司。事情遠不止如此。我們在服裝、配件、鞋履、家居、美容等領域，身處在一個規模龐大且競爭激烈的分散市場。折扣商品實際上只佔整個市場的一小部分。

Our opportunity is to take share from non-off-price retailers. That's what has been happening over a long period of time. So I mean, just to bring it up to -- just to throw in some numbers. Today we announced 7% total sales growth in Q3 on top of 11% growth last year. At those growth rates, it's self-evident that we are taking market share, but so are our off-price peers.

我們的機會在於從非折扣零售商手中奪取市場份額。這種情況已經持續很久了。所以我的意思是，只是想提一下——只是想給一些數字。今天我們宣布，第三季總銷售額成長7%，而去年同期成長了11%。按照這樣的成長速度，我們顯然正在搶佔市場份額，但我們的折扣零售商同業也是如此。

These share gains are not coming at the expense of each other. Mathematically, that wouldn't be possible. These share gains are coming from non-off price. And I think that the shift from traditional full-price retail to off-price is unlikely to end anytime soon. So that's the first point.

這些份額的成長並非以犧牲彼此為代價。從數學角度來說，這是不可能的。這些市場佔有率的成長並非來自降價促銷。而且我認為，從傳統的全價零售轉向折扣零售的轉變不太可能很快結束。這是第一點。

The second point I would make is that despite everything I've just said, I think it's very important and useful for us to pay close attention to our off-price peers. They matter. They operate a similar business model to us. They've been very successful over the years, and we can learn a lot from them. So if our off-price peers come up with new ways of doing things, new processes in stores, new innovative marketing programs, then we need to pay close attention.

我想提出的第二點是，儘管我剛才說了這麼多，但我認為密切關注我們的低價同行對我們來說非常重要且有用。它們很重要。他們的商業模式和我們類似。多年來他們取得了巨大的成功，我們可以從他們身上學到很多東西。因此，如果我們的折扣零售商同行想出了新的經營方式、新的門市流程、新的創新行銷方案，那麼我們就需要密切關注。

Now not all of those ideas will work, of course. And certainly, not all of them will make sense for us. But we need to be open to new ideas that could help drive our business and actually drive off-price retail in general.

當然，這些方法並非都能奏效。當然，並非所有這些觀點都對我們有意義。但我們需要對可能有助於推動我們業務發展，並真正推動整個折扣零售業發展的新想法持開放態度。

Let me finish up. Again, your question was about risk to Burlington. Right now, I see off-price as a whole as being very healthy. For 2025, we now expect to grow total sales by 8% on top of 11% last year. And at the high end of our guidance, we now expect to achieve EPS growth of 18% on top of 38, sorry, 34% last year.

讓我把話說完。再次強調，你的問題是關於伯靈頓面臨的風險。目前來看，我認為折扣零售業整體發展狀況良好。預計到 2025 年，總銷售額將在去年 11% 的成長基礎上再成長 8%。按照我們預期的上限，我們現在預計每股收益將成長18%，而去年是38%，抱歉，是34%。

By any metric, those are very healthy numbers. I anticipate that our off-price peers are going to be successful too. But I don't see that as a risk. In fact, it's better for us if the off-price segment as a whole continues to perform well.

無論從哪個角度來看，這些都是非常健康的數字。我預期我們的低價競爭對手也會成功。但我並不認為這是一種風險。事實上，如果整個折扣零售市場繼續保持良好表現，對我們來說更有利。

And I wanted to follow up on pricing. Did you take price in 3Q? And what impact did that have on your comp? And then what's your strategy on pricing for the fourth quarter?

我想了解一下價格狀況。你們第三季有詢價嗎？那對你的薪資有什麼影響？那麼，你們第四季的定價策略是什麼？

Yes. It's a good question. I would sum up our pricing strategy in three words, be very careful. We recognize that, because of tariffs, prices are going up across the retail industry. But we will not raise prices unless we've seen them go up elsewhere.

是的。這是個好問題。我會用三個字概括我們的定價策略：謹慎行事。我們意識到，由於關稅的影響，零售業的價格普遍上漲。但除非其他地方也提價，否則我們不會漲價。

And even then, we will test and monitor the impact of those price increases. We've said this many times before, we have a very price-sensitive customer. We know that the reason that they shop at Burlington is that they're looking for a great deal. Our core strategy is to offer great value. And of course, that means keeping prices low.

即使如此，我們仍將測試和監控這些價格上漲的影響。我們之前已經多次說過，我們的客戶對價格非常敏感。我們知道他們去伯靈頓購物的原因是他們想買到物美價廉的商品。我們的核心策略是提供極具價值的產品。當然，這意味著要保持低價。

Now our approach to tariffs this year has been to avoid retail price increases and to focus instead on finding other margin and expense offsets. Kristin described those actions earlier. We're very pleased with how that approach has worked. It's allowed us to avoid price increases but still to grow margin and earnings this year.

今年我們對關稅的應對策略是避免提高零售價格，而是專注於尋找其他利潤和費用抵銷途徑。克里斯汀之前已經描述過這些行為。我們對這種方法的效果非常滿意。這使我們能夠避免提價，同時也能在今年實現利潤率和收益的成長。

Now of course, we have tested some things. We've tried some higher prices. And in Q3, when we saw other retailers take prices up, we tested higher retails in some categories. But I would say that those pricing tests were in a very limited number of areas. And mostly the higher retails worked.

當然，我們已經測試了一些東西。我們嘗試過更高的價格。第三季度，當我們看到其他零售商漲價時，我們也測試了一些品類的更高零售價。但我認為，這些定價測試僅限於非常有限的幾個地區。而且大部分情況下，較高的零售價都奏效了。

We saw very little resistance from customers. So going forward, I would say that we will probably get more aggressive, but we kind of have to see what happens in Q4. And also, of course, we need to see what happens with tariff rates going forward.

我們幾乎沒有遇到客戶的阻力。所以展望未來，我認為我們可能會採取更積極的策略，但我們還得看看第四季會發生什麼。當然，我們也需要觀察未來關稅稅率的走勢。

John Kernan, TD Cowen.

約翰·克南，TD Cowen。

Happy almost Thanksgiving. Michael, it sounds like you see -- thanks. It sounds like you're seeing an opportunity to take up the number of new store openings and the cadence of growth. Can you expand a bit upon this? What are you seeing in terms of the new store pipeline both from a real estate perspective and also potential new store productivity?

感恩節快樂！邁克爾，聽起來你明白了——謝謝。聽起來你看到了增加新店開幕數量和加快成長步伐的機會。能再詳細解釋一下嗎？從房地產角度以及新店的潛在生產力角度來看，您對新店的籌建前景有何看法？

John, it's Kristin. I'll take this one. We're really pleased with the performance of our new stores across the board. They've been delivering results that are in line or better than expectations, as well as our financial hurdles. It really reinforces the strength of our site selection process and the appeal of Burlington really across markets.

約翰，我是克里斯汀。我選這個。我們對新店的整體表現非常滿意。他們所取得的成果符合預期甚至超越預期，也克服了我們的財務障礙。這充分證明了我們選址流程的有效性，以及伯靈頓在各個市場上的吸引力。

And it's worth pointing out just some data. Our Q3 comp, of course, is at the midpoint of our guidance, but our total sales growth in Q3 was at the high end of our guidance, up 7%. And this was driven by new stores. And based on our Q4 guidance, our total sales increase is planned at 9% at the high end as we benefit from the slew of new stores we just opened in the third quarter, 73 net new.

值得一提的是，這裡還有一些數據。當然，我們第三季的同店銷售額處於預期的中點，但第三季的總銷售額成長達到預期的上限，成長了 7%。而這主要得益於新店的開幕。根據我們對第四季業績的預測，由於第三季新開了73家門市，預計總銷售額將成長9%。

Now as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we now expect to open 104 net new stores this year. This is a modest step-up from our original plan of 100 net new. And this increase reflects really two things. First, the ability to pull forward some openings that were originally slated for 2026. And secondly, the strength of our real estate pipeline.

正如我在準備好的演講稿中提到的，我們預計今年將淨增加104家門市。這比我們最初計劃的淨新增 100 個單位略有增加。而這一增長實際上反映了兩件事。首先，可以將一些原定於 2026 年開放的項目提前開放。其次，是我們強大的房地產專案儲備。

Looking ahead to 2026, we're raising that new store target to at least 110 net new stores. This is supported by this robust pipeline but also by 45 leases we secured from the Joann Fabrics bankruptcy. These incremental sites really give us confidence in sustaining the high level of growth next year.

展望 2026 年，我們將新店目標提高到至少淨增 110 家門市。這得益於我們強大的專案儲備，也得益於我們從 Joann Fabrics 破產案中獲得的 45 份租賃合約。這些新增站點確實讓我們有信心在明年保持高成長水準。

And as for the pipeline for 2027 and beyond, it's still early to provide specific numbers, but I will say we feel very good about the long-term opportunity. Our real estate team continues to identify attractive locations, and we already have a very healthy pipeline for new stores beyond 2026.

至於 2027 年及以後的發展規劃，現在提供具體數字還為時過早，但我可以說我們對長期的發展前景感到非常樂觀。我們的房地產團隊繼續尋找有吸引力的地點，我們已經有非常健康的 2026 年以後新店開幕計劃。

Got it. Maybe as a follow-up. Obviously, all three off-price retailers are resonating strongly with consumers. I'd like to have Michael frame the industry's opportunity. You're clearly feeling more bullish on the number of stores, maybe a little bit more cautious on comp sales, but more bullish on the potential margin expansion potential for the business. Is that the right way to think about?

知道了。或許可以作為後續報道。顯然，這三家折扣零售商都引起了消費者的強烈共鳴。我想請麥可闡述這個產業的機會。顯然，你對門市數量更加樂觀，對同店銷售額可能略顯謹慎，但對業務的潛在利潤擴張潛力更加樂觀。這種思考方式正確嗎？

Great. Yeah, John, thanks for that question. It's a good question. So two years ago, we shared our objective of getting to approximately $1.6 billion in operating income by 2028. The headline is that we feel very good about the progress we're making towards this goal. We're tracking in line with where we thought we would be at this point. And we're especially pleased with the progress we made in driving operating margin.

偉大的。是的，約翰，謝謝你的提問。這是個好問題。因此，兩年前，我們提出了 2028 年實現約 16 億美元營業收入的目標。最重要的是，我們對在實現這一目標方面取得的進展感到非常滿意。我們目前的進展與預期基本一致。我們尤其對提高營業利潤率所取得的進展感到滿意。

At the high end, Michael said this earlier but it's worth repeating, at the high end of our updated 2025 margin guidance, we will have achieved 170 basis points of the 400 basis points of opportunity that we identified two years ago. And we will have achieved this despite the negative headwind from tariffs.

麥可之前說過，但值得重申的是，在我們更新後的 2025 年利潤率預期上限，我們將實現兩年前確定的 400 個基點機會中的 170 個基點。儘管面臨關稅帶來的不利影響，我們依然能夠實現這一目標。

So really to sum up, we're pleased with the progress. But the way you characterize the long-range model in your question is about right. It's true we're more bullish on new stores, and we are more bullish on margin expansion. On the comp, we still believe we can drive an average annual comp growth of 4% to 5% over the remaining three years of the long-range plan. But we recognize that there is external uncertainty, so we are slightly more cautious here.

總而言之，我們對所取得的進展感到滿意。但你在問題中對長程模型的描述基本上正確。我們確實更看好新店開業，也更看好利潤率擴張。在薪資方面，我們仍然相信，在長期計劃的剩餘三年內，我們可以實現平均每年 4% 至 5% 的薪資成長。但我們意識到有外在不確定因素，所以我們在這方面稍微謹慎一點。

Brooke Roach, Goldman Sachs.

Brooke Roach，高盛集團。

Michael, I'd like to ask you about the trends that you're seeing with the lower-income customer. How did these customers perform in the third quarter? And are there any other call-outs in terms of customer demographics that are worth sharing?

邁克爾，我想問你，你觀察到的低收入客戶群的趨勢是什麼？這些客戶在第三季的表現如何？在客戶人口統計方面，還有其他值得分享的重點嗎？

Brooke, thank you for the question. The headline is that we feel very good about the lower-income customer, and the trends that we're seeing with that demographic. We've been watching this particular demographic segment very closely all year. This is a critical customer for us. Given the economic uncertainty and the cost-of-living issues, we've been concerned about lower-income customers.

布魯克，謝謝你的提問。總的來說，我們對低收入客戶群以及我們在該群體中看到的趨勢感到非常滿意。我們全年都在密切關注這一特定人群。這是一位對我們至關重要的客戶。鑑於經濟情勢不明朗和生活成本問題，我們一直很關注低收入客戶。

But the good news is that this customer has been very resilient. When we look at our stores in lower-income trade areas, they continue to outperform the chain. This has been true for several quarters now. I should say, as we listen to other retailers, it seems like this is a consistent pattern. Many retailers are reporting strength in, with lower-income consumers.

但好消息是，這位客戶非常有韌性。當我們觀察位於低收入地區的門市時，會發現它們的表現持續優於連鎖店。這種情況已經持續好幾個季度了。我應該說，從我們與其他零售商的交流來看，這似乎是一種普遍現象。許多零售商表示，低收入消費者的需求強勁。

In terms of other demographic call-outs, there's one other call out, specifically relating to Hispanic customers. Again, we've been watching this demographic very closely all year. It's an important customer for us. We have many stores across the country that are in trade areas with a high proportion of Hispanic households. You may recall that in previous quarters, we've said that our stores that are in trade areas with a high proportion of Hispanic households have been slightly outperforming the chain in terms of comp growth. Well, in Q3, the trend in those stores flipped. They've gone from slightly outperforming the chain to trailing the chain.

在其他人口統計方面，還有一項特別針對西班牙裔顧客的特別關注點。我們今年一直在密切關注這群人。對我們來說，他是一位重要的客戶。我們在全國各地有許多門市，這些門市都位於西班牙裔家庭比例較高的商業區。您可能還記得，在前幾個季度，我們曾表示，在西班牙裔家庭比例較高的商圈內，我們的門市在同店銷售成長方面略微優於連鎖店。到了第三季度，這些商店的趨勢發生了逆轉。他們的表現已經從略微優於聯盟平均轉變為落後於聯盟平均。

Now the change in trend for those stores varies a lot depending on the specific market and even the specific or particular location of the store. In other words, it's very localized to what's happening in those particular cities. And of course, it's difficult for us to say how long those localized slowdowns might last.

現在，這些商店的趨勢變化因具體市場甚至商店的具體位置而異。換句話說，它與這些特定城市發生的事情密切相關。當然，我們很難預測這些局部地區的經濟放緩會持續多久。

Great. And then my follow-up would be for Kristin. Kristin, can you give us more color about your guidance for the fourth quarter both in terms of comp sales and for earnings?

偉大的。接下來我要跟進的是克里斯汀。克莉絲汀，能否詳細介紹一下你對第四季的業績預期，包括同店銷售額和獲利情況？

Sure. Let me repeat a little bit. I think it's worth reiterating some of what we described earlier. On comp store sales and total store sales, we're maintaining our Q4 previously issued guidance. So comp of flat to 2%, and total sales growth 7% to 9%.

當然。我再重複一遍。我認為有必要重申我們之前描述過的一些內容。關於同店銷售額和總門市銷售額，我們維持先前發布的第四季業績預期。因此，同店銷售額持平至 2%，總銷售額成長 7% 至 9%。

We do, as we said, feel really good about our recent trend in Q4. But it's still early in the quarter. The critical weeks are ahead of us. And in those coming weeks, we'll be up against very strong comparisons from last year. So we'll continue to take a cautious approach on sales.

正如我們所說，我們對第四季度的近期發展趨勢感到非常滿意。但現在才季度初。關鍵的幾週還在後面。在接下來的幾周里，我們將面臨與去年同期非常強勁的對比。因此，我們將繼續採取謹慎的銷售策略。

On the margin side, we are increasing our margin and EPS guidance for Q4. We now expect our Q4 adjusted EBIT margin to increase by 30 to 50 basis points.

在利潤率方面，我們提高了第四季度的利潤率和每股收益預期。我們現在預計第四季調整後息稅前利潤率將提高 30 至 50 個基點。

We do anticipate some tariff-driven pressure on merch margin in Q4, but we expect to more than fully offset that pressure and drive overall operating margin expansion in Q4 versus last year. And the drivers of the margin leverage should largely be similar to what we saw in Q3.

我們預計第四季度商品利潤率將受到關稅的影響，但我們預計第四季度整體營業利潤率將比去年同期增長，並且我們將完全抵消這種壓力。而利潤率槓桿作用的驅動因素應該與我們在第三季看到的情況大致相似。

We expect continued cost savings in freight and supply chain and in store-related initiatives. And finally, we should also see additional leverage in SG&A given the higher incentive comp accrual in the fourth quarter of last year.

我們預計在貨運和供應鏈以及門市相關措施方面將持續降低成本。最後，鑑於去年第四季較高的激勵性薪酬計提，我們也應該看到銷售、一般及行政費用方面有更大的槓桿作用。

Alex Straton, Morgan Stanley.

亞歷克斯‧斯特拉頓，摩根士丹利。

Great. Michael, can you talk about the availability of off-price merchandise as you're heading into the fourth quarter? And then I have a quick follow-up.

偉大的。邁克爾，在即將進入第四季之際，你能談談折扣商品的供應情況嗎？然後我還有一個簡短的後續問題。

Yeah. Alex, thank you for the question. I would characterize the buying environment for off-price as very strong. Earlier in the year when tariffs were first introduced, there were some concerns, a lot of concerns about whether vendors would be reluctant to bring potentially excess merchandise into the country.

是的。Alex，謝謝你的提問。我認為折扣商品的購買環境非常強勁。今年早些時候，當關稅首次推出時，人們非常擔心，供應商是否會不願意將可能過剩的商品帶入該國。

But frankly, those concerns have just not materialized. Even some of the categories where supply was tighter in the summer, categories like housewares and home, also housewares and toys have come back. I think that's probably pretty consistent with what you've heard from our off-price peers. There's a lot of great merchandise at great values, and we're taking advantage of it, both to flow to stores and to build up reserve.

但坦白說，這些擔憂根本沒有成為現實。即使是夏季供應較為緊張的一些類別，例如家居用品和玩具，也已經恢復供應。我認為這和你從我們的折扣零售商那裡聽到的說法基本一致。有許多物美價廉的商品，我們正在利用這些商品，既向商店供貨，也建立庫存。

Perfect. And then just on the cold weather merchandise in the quarter, is there any just additional detail you can provide on that dynamic, the impact on the overall comp for the chain? I know you've given a lot of details, but anything else worth highlighting there?

完美的。那麼，關於本季的冬季商品銷售情況，您能否提供更多關於這方面動態以及對連鎖店整體業績的影響的細節？我知道你已經提供了很多細節，但還有其他值得強調的地方嗎？

Sure. Yeah. So after back-to-school, the cold weather merchandise becomes very important to our mix. As I said earlier, it expands to more than 20% of our total assortment during the quarter. Now cold weather merchandise, just to define it, includes categories like coats, jackets, boots, and accessories like gloves and scarves.

當然。是的。所以開學後，禦寒商品在我們產品組合中就變得非常重要。正如我之前所說，它在本季占我們總產品組合的 20% 以上。簡單來說，禦寒商品包括外套、夾克、靴子以及手套、圍巾等配件。

So it's only stuff you need if it's cold outside. And our customer is very need-driven. For September through mid-October, our comp sales in those businesses were down in the negative mid-teens. Then in the last two weeks of October, once the weather turned cold, they grew up double-digit comp.

所以，只有在外面寒冷的時候才需要這些東西。我們的客戶非常注重需求。從 9 月到 10 月中旬，這些業務的同店銷售額下降了 15% 左右。然後在十月的最後兩週，天氣轉冷後，他們的年齡就達到了兩位數。

Maybe if I step back for a moment, there are two ways in which milder weather in September and October affects our business. There is the direct drag on our overall comp growth from lower sales in the cold weather categories that I just mentioned.

或許如果我退後一步，9 月和 10 月溫和的天氣會以兩種方式影響我們的業務。正如我剛才提到的，寒冷天氣類別的銷售額下降直接拖累了我們整體的同店銷售成長。

That's one impact. But there is also an impact on our non-cold weather businesses. Because if you think about it, if the customer comes in to buy a coat, she's probably going to put some other things in the basket too. So if because the weather is mild, she doesn't come into the store to buy that coat, then this doesn't just hurt our coat sales, it impacts other businesses as well.

這是其中一個影響。但這也對我們的非寒冷天氣產業造成了影響。仔細想想，如果顧客進來買一件外套，她很可能還會順便把其他東西也放進購物籃裡。所以，如果因為天氣溫和，她沒有進店買那件外套，那麼這不僅會影響我們的外套銷售，還會影響其他商家的生意。

Now mathematically, the drag on our overall comp from cold weather categories alone was worth about 200 basis points in Q3. If you then add the impact that lower traffic had on other non-cold weather categories, you can easily get up to a few points of comp. And I think that's somewhat consistent with the fact that we saw a bounce back to mid-single-digit comp growth in the second half of October once the weather had turned cold.

從數學角度來看，僅寒冷天氣類別就對我們第三季的整體業績造成了約 200 個基點的拖累。如果再加上客流量減少對其他非寒冷天氣類別的影響，很容易就會出現幾個百分點的競爭差距。我認為這與我們10月下半月天氣轉冷後同店銷售額反彈至個位數中段成長的情況有些一致。

Mark Altschwager, Baird.

馬克·阿爾特施瓦格，貝爾德。

Kristin, could you give us some more detail on regional trends, category trends as well as any of the detailed comp metrics for Q3?

Kristin，能否詳細介紹第三季的區域趨勢、品類趨勢以及任何詳細的同店銷售指標？

Mark, yeah, absolutely. In terms of regional performance, the Southeast was our strongest region in the quarter. The West, Northeast and Midwest were in line with the chain, while the Southwest trailed the chain. On category performance, we saw the strongest performance in beauty, accessories and shoes. Apparel comp slightly above the chain, while home was softer, comping below the chain in Q3.

馬克，是的，絕對的。從區域業績來看，東南地區是我們本季表現最強勁的地區。西部、東北部和中西部與鏈條對齊，而西南部則落後於鏈條。從品類表現來看，美妝、配件和鞋履的表現最強勁。服飾類商品價格略高於連鎖店，而家居類商品價格較為疲軟，第三季價格低於連鎖店。

In terms of the comp metrics, our traffic was down in the third quarter. That was largely driven by September and early October when weather was unseasonably warm. And this lower traffic was offset by a higher average basket size. For the quarter, we were pleased to see that both conversion and basket size or average transaction size were higher than last year. So this tells us that once she's in the store, she likes what she saw.

從對比指標來看，我們第三季的流量有所下降。這主要是由於9月和10月初天氣異常溫暖所致。而客流量的下降被平均客單價的提高所抵消。本季度，我們很高興看到轉換率和客單價或平均交易額均高於去年同期。這說明她一旦進了商店，就喜歡上了她所看到的東西。

Excellent. And then, Michael, as we look at the Q4 comp guidance, do you view that as conservative just given typically less weather sensitivity in the fourth quarter?

出色的。那麼，Michael，當我們審視第四季度業績預期時，考慮到第四季度通常對天氣的敏感度較低，您是否認為該預期過於保守？

Mark, sometimes when we give comp guidance, we'll also sort of signal, if you like, if we think there may be upside. I don't think -- I don't see a lot of upside in our Q4 comp guidance. The reason I say that is that we're up against 6% comp growth from Q4 last year. So 6%.

馬克，有時候我們在給予業績指引時，也會暗示一下，如果我們認為還有上漲空間的話。我認為——我並不認為我們的第四季同店銷售預期會有太大的上漲空間。我這麼說的原因是，我們面臨的是比去年第四季高出 6% 的同店銷售額成長。所以是6%。

If you take our 0% to 2% guidance, that gets you to a two-year stack of 6% to 8%. Now we exceeded that in Q2 of this year, but we were well below it in Q3. I should also add that when I look at our off-price peers, the way I'm interpreting their guidance, it looks like they are slightly below us on a two-year stack basis.

如果按照我們 0% 到 2% 的指導，兩年後你的投資總額將達到 6% 到 8%。今年第二季我們超過了這個目標，但第三季我們遠低於這個目標。我還應該補充一點，當我審視我們的低價同行時，根據我對他們業績指引的解讀，從兩年的業績累積來看，他們似乎略遜於我們。

So even though we're happy with our recent trends and with how we started the quarter, and we're excited for our holiday assortments, we're not anticipating significant upside to our Q4 comp sales guidance at this point.

因此，儘管我們對近期的趨勢以及本季的開局感到滿意，並且對假日系列產品感到興奮，但目前我們預計第四季度同店銷售額不會有顯著增長。

I'd now like to hand the call back to Mr. Michael O'Sullivan for final remarks.

現在我把電話交還給麥可‧奧沙利文先生，請他作最後總結發言。

Let me close by thanking everyone on this call for your interest in Burlington Stores. We would like to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. We look forward to talking to you again in March to discuss our fourth quarter and full-year 2025 results. Thank you for your time today.

最後，我要感謝所有參加本次電話會議的各位對伯靈頓商店的關注。祝大家感恩節快樂！我們期待在三月再次與您交談，討論我們2025年第四季和全年的業績。感謝您今天抽出時間。

Thank you for attending today's call. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。您現在可以斷開連線了。再見。