Five Below Inc (FIVE) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Five Below Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 2021 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Christiane Pelz, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係和財務副總裁克里斯蒂安·佩爾茨 (Christiane Pelz)。請繼續。

Thank you, Gary. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today for Five Below's Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. On today's call are Joel Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ken Bull, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. After management has made their formal remarks, we will open the call to questions.

謝謝你，加里。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們參加 Five Below 2021 年第三季財務業績電話會議。出席今天電話會議的有總裁兼執行長喬爾·安德森 (Joel Anderson)；以及財務長兼財務主管 Ken Bull。管理層發表正式講話後，我們將開始提問。

I need to remind you that certain comments made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Those risks and uncertainties are described in the release -- in the press release and our SEC filings. The forward-looking statements made today are as of the date of this call, and we do not undertake any obligation to update our forward-looking statements. If you do not have a copy of today's press release, you may obtain one by visiting the Investor Relations page of our website at fivebelow.com.

我需要提醒您的是，在本次電話會議中發表的某些評論可能構成前瞻性陳述，並且是根據經修訂的1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款並在其含義範圍內發表的。此類前瞻性陳述受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與此類陳述有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性在新聞稿和我們向 SEC 提交的文件中進行了描述。今天所做的前瞻性陳述截至本次電話會議之日，我們不承擔任何更新前瞻性陳述的義務。如果您沒有今天新聞稿的副本，您可以造訪我們網站 Fivebelow.com 的投資者關係頁面以取得一份。

I will now turn the call over to Joel.

我現在將把電話轉給喬爾。

Thank you, Christiane, and thanks, everyone, for joining us for our third quarter 2021 earnings call. Before I discuss the specifics of our third quarter, I want to share my appreciation for the many teams throughout our organization that produced such phenomenal results, which far surpassed our expectations and set records for Five Below. In a period where the global supply chain environment continues to be very difficult, our teams were proactive and nimble sourcing cool, trend-right products while working diligently to ensure merchandise get to our stores and onto shelves in a timely manner.

謝謝 Christiane，也謝謝大家參加我們的 2021 年第三季財報電話會議。在討論第三季的具體情況之前，我想對我們組織中的許多團隊表示感謝，他們取得瞭如此驚人的成果，遠遠超出了我們的預期，並創下了「五以下」的記錄。在全球供應鏈環境仍然非常困難的時期，我們的團隊積極主動、靈活地採購酷炫、潮流的產品，同時努力確保商品及時到達我們的商店並上架。

I'm proud of the team's execution, hard work and agility, which they have consistently demonstrated throughout this extremely challenging and complex year. I'm also grateful to the hundreds of vendors whose partnership and collaboration continues to help fuel our success. As you will hear, when I discuss the underlying drivers of our third quarter financial results, our performance also demonstrates the inherent flexibility of our model and the universal appeal of Five Below. We offer incredible WOW products at outstanding value with an amazing shopping experience that resonates positively with our customers.

我為團隊的執行力、辛勤工作和敏捷性感到自豪，他們在這個極具挑戰性和複雜的一年中始終如一地展示了這一點。我還感謝數百家供應商的合作夥伴關係和協作繼續幫助推動我們的成功。正如您將聽到的，當我討論第三季度財務業績的根本驅動因素時，我們的業績也證明了我們模型固有的靈活性以及「五以下」的普遍吸引力。我們以卓越的價值提供令人驚嘆的令人驚嘆的產品，並提供令人驚嘆的購物體驗，與我們的客戶產生積極的共鳴。

Now on to the results. Total sales in the third quarter grew 27% over last year to $608 million or $131 million higher than last year's third quarter. Comparable sales increased 14.8%, driven by transactions, and it was our highest comp of any quarter since going public. We also achieved the highest average store sales for our third quarter in our history. Operating profit grew 75%, leading to earnings per share of $0.43.

現在來看結果。第三季總銷售額比去年成長 27%，達到 6.08 億美元，比去年第三季高出 1.31 億美元。在交易的推動下，可比銷售額成長了 14.8%，這是我們上市以來任何季度的最高業績。第三季我們也實現了史上最高的平均商店銷售額。營業利潤成長 75%，每股收益為 0.43 美元。

New store growth and performance continued to be strong in the third quarter. We opened 52 new stores across 24 states, bringing our new store openings to 154 at the end of the third quarter. The new stores are located in diverse areas across the country, ranging from established markets such as the Philly metro market to new states like New Mexico, which we entered in September. Five of these new stores from Jersey City, New Jersey to Moreno Valley, California, made our top 25 summer or fall grand openings including the 17 stores we have opened in the fourth quarter, our new store program for 2021 is now complete, bringing us to 170 net new stores for a total chain store count of 1,190 stores in 40 states.

第三季新店成長和業績持續強勁。我們在 24 個州開設了 52 家新店，第三季末新店數量達到 154 家。新店分佈在全國各地，從費城都會市場等成熟市場到我們於 9 月進入的新墨西哥州等新州。從新澤西州澤西市到加州莫雷諾谷，其中5 家新店躋身我們夏季或秋季開業前25 名的新店，其中包括我們在第四季度開設的17 家新店，我們2021 年的新店計劃現已完成，為我們帶來了淨新店數量增至 170 家，連鎖店總數在 40 個州達到 1,190 家。

During the third quarter, we continued to make progress against our strategic initiatives of product, experience and supply chain. On product, as you know, it all starts with delivering our customers value and an assortment of those got to have trend-right products in a fun, safe, treasure-hunt shopping environment. That is who we are and what we do, and you saw that reflected in our Q3 results.

第三季度，我們在產品、體驗和供應鏈的策略性舉措上持續取得進展。在產品方面，如您所知，一切都始於為我們的客戶提供價值，並在有趣、安全、尋寶的購物環境中提供各種符合潮流的產品。這就是我們的身份和我們所做的事情，您已經在我們第三季的業績中看到了這一點。

The ability of our teams to recognize trends and capitalize on them quickly is a key distinguishing characteristic and strength of our model. This is the WOW that makes Five Below content so unique. We were very pleased with the broad-based performance across our world and especially the outperformance in the Sports Room, Candy and Create Worlds.

我們團隊識別趨勢並快速利用趨勢的能力是我們模型的關鍵區別特徵和優勢。這就是讓《五下》內容如此獨特的驚喜。我們對世界範圍內廣泛的表現感到非常滿意，尤其是在運動室、糖果和創造世界中的出色表現。

The merchants work closely with our vendors to source some incredible products, and I want to again thank them for being such great partners. To that end, sensory trend, which we mentioned on our last earnings call, continued throughout Q3. In addition, the poppers and fidget toys renewed interest in squishmallow emerge as teens and tweens collected them in all new shapes and sizes.

商家與我們的供應商密切合作，採購一些令人難以置信的產品，我想再次感謝他們成為如此出色的合作夥伴。為此，我們在上次財報電話會議上提到的感官趨勢在整個第三季度持續存在。此外，隨著青少年和青少年收集各種新形狀和尺寸的軟糖，人們對軟糖重新產生了興趣。

Our merchandise and supply chain teams quickly source fresh merchandise, which was particularly impressive given the global supply chain environment, and our store and marketing teams had some fun coming up with compelling social media and in-store campaigns to feature them.

我們的商品和供應鏈團隊快速採購新鮮商品，考慮到全球供應鏈環境，這一點尤其令人印象深刻，而且我們的商店和行銷團隊很高興透過引人注目的社交媒體和店內活動來展示這些商品。

During the quarter, as expected, back-to-school and Halloween returned to more normalized seasons with backpacks and stationary items, including art supplies, in demand, along with Candy for Halloween.

正如預期的那樣，本季返校和萬聖節回歸到更正常的季節，背包和文具（包括藝術用品）以及萬聖節糖果的需求也很大。

In addition, gaming kept growing as a trend, and we are really excited to continue to offer an exclusive line of gaming products under the Bugha brand. As a reminder, last year, we entered into a collaboration with Bugha the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Champion. To bring affordable gaming products to the masses the line continues to expand and represents great quality and incredible value while reinforcing Five Below's position as a destination for teens and tweens.

此外，遊戲作為一種趨勢不斷增長，我們非常高興能夠繼續在 Bugha 品牌下提供獨家遊戲產品系列。提醒一下，去年，我們與 2019 年《要塞英雄》世界盃冠軍 Bugha 達成了合作。為了為大眾帶來價格實惠的遊戲產品，該產品線不斷擴大，代表著卓越的品質和令人難以置信的價值，同時鞏固了 Five Below 作為青少年和青少年目的地的地位。

Turning to our second strategic initiative, experience. We continue to innovate both in-store and digitally to enhance the customer experience. In store, our go-forward prototype with Five Beyond sections in the back of the store is in about 30% of our stores. The seasonal Five Beyond WOW featured back-to-school items during the third quarter such as a study-from-home desk and a studio ring light, both for only $10, which are 2 great examples of the incredible WOW and value we are delivering.

談到我們的第二個策略舉措，即經驗。我們繼續在店內和數位方面進行創新，以增強客戶體驗。在商店中，我們約 30% 的商店都配備了我們的先進原型，在商店後面設有五個超越區域。季節性的Five Beyond WOW 在第三季度推出了返校用品，例如在家學習的書桌和工作室環形燈，兩者均僅需10 美元，這是我們所提供的令人難以置信的WOW 和價值的兩個很好的例子。

We also mentioned how assisted checkout or ACO, as we call it, has really helped with the customers' experience as throughput is much higher than our traditional checkout. We added over 100 ACOs this quarter, bringing our store count with ACO to approximately 60% of the chain. Also new to the checkout experience is the addition of Venmo and PayPal as payment options, which are now available in all our stores.

我們也提到了輔助結帳（我們稱之為 ACO）如何真正幫助改善客戶體驗，因為吞吐量比我們的傳統結帳高得多。本季我們增加了 100 多家 ACO，使我們擁有 ACO 的商店數量達到連鎖店的約 60%。結帳體驗的另一個新功能是新增了 Venmo 和 PayPal 作為付款選項，現在我們所有的商店都提供這些選項。

Another enhancement to the experience for our customers is the Instacart partnership that we rolled out over the summer. We are attracting new customers and getting positive feedback on the experience of shopping Five Below in this manner. We believe that this is a service, is a value add to our customers, especially during the busy holiday season and is even more beneficial after the e-commerce shipping cutoff.

客戶體驗的另一項增強功能是我們在夏季推出的 Instacart 合作夥伴關係。我們透過這種方式吸引了新顧客，並獲得了對「五以下」購物體驗的正面回饋。我們相信，這是一種服務，是對我們客戶的增值，尤其是在繁忙的假期期間，在電子商務運輸中斷後更有利。

On the digital experience, we continue to grow our e-commerce operations. We are excited to have opened our third fulfillment center, which is located within our Arizona ship center, and we shipped our first e-commerce order from there in September. Having this additional fulfillment capability will greatly enhance our efficiency, speed and ability to meet the high demand during the fourth quarter, especially for our customers in the Western states. We are attracting new customers to fivebelow.com, through both our digital marketing and Five Below in-store experience while also growing repeat customer visits. Our digital marketing brings to life the fun and value that Five Below is all about.

在數位體驗方面，我們繼續發展電子商務業務。我們很高興開設了第三個履行中心，該中心位於亞利桑那州船舶中心內，我們於 9 月從那裡發貨了我們的第一個電子商務訂單。擁有這種額外的履行能力將大大提高我們的效率、速度和能力，以滿足第四季度的高需求，特別是對於我們西部各州的客戶。我們透過數位行銷和 Five Below 店內體驗吸引新客戶造訪 FiveBelow.com，同時增加重複顧客流量。我們的數位行銷將《五下》的樂趣和價值帶入生活。

For our third strategic priority, supply chain, we continue to proactively manage the ever-changing environment while growing our distribution network. This has been a challenging year for supply chain, as you certainly know, but I am extremely proud of how well the teams have managed through it. From securing additional container capacity to adding our own truck fleet at our ship centers and implementing transloading, the team has done an outstanding job thinking out of the box and being proactive and nimble. As of today, we have received the vast majority of our holiday inventory and believe we're in a strong position to deliver our customers a great assortment of gifts, stocking stuffers and more.

對於我們的第三個策略重點—供應鏈，我們繼續主動管理不斷變化的環境，同時發展我們的分銷網絡。如你所知，今年對於供應鏈來說是充滿挑戰的一年，但我對團隊在這一年中的出色管理感到非常自豪。從確保額外的貨櫃容量到在我們的船舶中心增加我們自己的卡車車隊以及實施轉運，該團隊的工作表現出色，打破常規，積極主動、靈活。截至今天，我們已經收到了大部分節日庫存，並相信我們有能力為客戶提供各種各樣的禮物、聖誕禮物等。

This year, having the Arizona ship center open, we will drive additional efficiencies in getting products to our stores, and we expect the opening of the Indiana ship center next year to further enhance supply chain capabilities.

今年，隨著亞利桑那州船舶中心的開業，我們將提高產品運送到商店的效率，我們預計印第安納州船舶中心明年的開業將進一步增強供應鏈能力。

Now I'd like to turn to the all-important holiday season. We are pleased with the strong start to Q4, including the Black Friday weekend. This is our 20th holiday season since Five Below was founded in 2002. And while today, we now offer more than stocking stuffer for the holidays, what has not changed is a customer promise of WOW and value, which I hope, you will experience firsthand when you shop our stores and online, our teams have worked hard throughout the year and combined with the investments we have made in key strategic areas, we believe we are well positioned to meet demand while providing customers a safe and exciting shopping experience.

現在我想談談最重要的假期。我們對第四季度的強勁開局感到高興，包括黑色星期五週末。自 2002 年 Five Below 成立以來，這是我們的第 20 個假期。雖然今天，我們為假期提供的不僅僅是聖誕禮物，但沒有改變的是對客戶的驚嘆和價值承諾，我希望您能親身體驗當您在我們的商店和網上購物時，我們的團隊全年都在努力工作，再加上我們在關鍵戰略領域所做的投資，我們相信我們有能力滿足需求，同時為客戶提供安全和令人興奮的購物體驗。

You may have seen our press release highlighting seasonal and holiday gift ideas, ranging from tech items for gamers to Disney character, toys and pet products. We also have WOW holiday products like a 4-foot Christmas Tree and decor, matching pajamas, bottoms and slippers, including for the family pet and tech items such as selfie kit to help customers for their social media presence, all for $5 or less.

您可能已經看到我們的新聞稿，重點介紹了季節性和節日禮物創意，從遊戲玩家的科技產品到迪士尼人物、玩具和寵物產品。我們還提供令人驚嘆的節日產品，如4 英尺高的聖誕樹和裝飾品、配套的睡衣、褲子和拖鞋，包括家庭寵物用的以及自拍套件等科技產品，以幫助客戶在社交媒體上展示自己，所有產品價格均在5 美元或以下。

We have been communicating our holiday campaign largely through digital content, which reaches nearly every market. In addition, we were thrilled to recently be featured on 2 nationally syndicated TV shows, The Balancing Act with Montel Williams and The Ellen Show. For The Ellen Show we formed a partnership to provide to support for several kids and their families. Tomorrow, we'll begin the 12 days of Christmas with Ellen, so be sure to watch.

我們主要透過數位內容來宣傳我們的節日活動，這些內容幾乎涵蓋了每個市場。此外，我們很高興最近出現在兩部全國聯合電視節目中：《蒙特爾·威廉姆斯的平衡法案》和《艾倫秀》。為了《艾倫秀》，我們建立了合作夥伴關係，為幾個孩子及其家人提供支持。明天，我們將與艾倫一起開始為期 12 天的聖誕節，所以一定要觀看。

In addition, our Five Beyond WOW Wall for the holiday, our merchandise in all stores with extreme value gifts like a $12 telescope and a 6-foot basketball hoop for $25. This is the third holiday with the WOW wall, and we are very pleased with the results thus far.

此外，我們還為節日推出“Five Beyond WOW Wall”，我們在所有商店的商品中均附有超值禮品，例如價值 12 美元的望遠鏡和價值 25 美元的 6 英尺籃球框。這是 WOW 牆的第三個假期，我們對迄今為止的結果感到非常滿意。

We believe that having these higher-value items helps our customers with their holiday shopping as we become more of a one-stop shop for holiday gifting. With the combination of front gifts, stocking stuffers and the new Five Beyond products, along with more stores featuring assisted checkout registers as well as our enhanced distribution capabilities, e-commerce and Instacart, we are prepared to give our customers an amazing shopping experience this holiday.

我們相信，擁有這些高價值的商品有助於我們的客戶進行節日購物，因為我們越來越成為節日禮品的一站式商店。結合前台禮品、聖誕禮物和新的 Five Beyond 產品，以及更多配備輔助收銀機的商店，以及我們增強的分銷能力、電子商務和 Instacart，我們準備在今年為客戶提供令人驚嘆的購物體驗。假期。

So in summary, it was an outstanding third quarter. as we continue to grow the Five Below brand, expand our footprint and delight our customers, while also navigating the challenges of the current supply chain environment and preparing for the all-important holiday season. We believe a key driver of our success is our customer mindset. We think back from the customer and everything we do, which drives our associates to operate and plan with the customer at the top of the list. Flexibility, innovation and operating discipline are also hallmarks of Five Below, which have served us well, especially in the last several quarters.

總而言之，這是一個出色的第三季。隨著我們繼續發展「五以下」品牌，擴大我們的足跡並取悅我們的客戶，同時應對當前供應鏈環境的挑戰並為最重要的假期做好準備。我們相信我們成功的關鍵驅動力是我們的客戶心態。我們從客戶和我們所做的一切中進行反思，這促使我們的員工將客戶放在首位進行操作和規劃。靈活性、創新和營運紀律也是「五以下」的標誌，這對我們很有幫助，尤其是在過去幾個季度。

We remain laser-focused on providing extreme value for our customers and consistently executing our growth strategies while we build for the future with 2,500-plus stores.

我們始終專注於為客戶提供極致價值，並始終如一地執行我們的成長策略，同時透過 2,500 多家門市打造未來。

With that, I will turn it to Ken to provide more details on the financials. Ken?

接下來，我將向 Ken 提供有關財務狀況的更多詳細資訊。肯？

Thanks, Joel, and good afternoon, everyone. I will begin my remarks with a review of our third quarter results and then provide guidance for the fourth quarter and the full year. As Joel mentioned, we were very pleased with our third quarter results. Our sales for the third quarter of 2021 increased 27.5% to $607.6 million from $476.6 million reported in the third quarter of 2020. These results exceeded our expectations, driven by multiple strong product trends, which we believe drove traffic and new customers to our stores.

謝謝喬爾，大家下午好。我將首先回顧我們第三季度的業績，然後為第四季度和全年提供指導。正如喬爾所提到的，我們對第三季的業績非常滿意。我們2021 年第三季的銷售額從2020 年第三季的4.766 億美元成長了27.5%，達到6.076 億美元。在多種強勁的產品趨勢的推動下，這些結果超出了我們的預期，我們相信這些趨勢為我們的商店帶來了客流量和新客戶。

We opened 52 new stores across 24 states in the third quarter compared to 36 new stores opened in the third quarter last year. We ended the quarter with 1,173 stores, an increase of approximately 15% versus 1,018 stores at the end of the third quarter of 2020. As Joel mentioned, we were very pleased with the performance of our new stores with 5 stores making the top 25 grand openings for summer and fall.

第三季度，我們在 24 個州開設了 52 家新店，而去年第三季則開設了 36 家新店。截至本季末，我們擁有1,173 家門市，與2020 年第三季末的1,018 家門市相比，成長了約15%。正如Joel 所提到的，我們對新門市的表現非常滿意，其中5 家門市躋身前25 名。夏季和秋季開放。

Comparable sales increased by 14.8%, driven by an increase in comp transactions of 14.3% and a comp ticket increase of 0.5%. Versus the pre-pandemic third quarter of 2019, average ticket was up 25% and average transactions were down 4%, which is consistent with the results since we reopened the chain last year.

可比銷售額成長 14.8%，主要得益於贈券交易成長 14.3% 和贈券門票成長 0.5%。與疫情爆發前的 2019 年第三季相比，平均票價上漲了 25%，平均交易量下降了 4%，這與我們去年重新開業以來的結果一致。

Gross profit for the third quarter of 2021 was $202.4 million versus $151.1 million in the third quarter of 2020. We -- Gross margin increased by approximately 160 basis points to 33.3%, driven primarily by occupancy leverage on the strong sales results, which more than offset higher inbound freight costs. Also contributing to the increase in gross margin was lower distribution labor and store freight expense, primarily due to the shift of our receipts and flow of inventory to stores from Q3 into Q4. This distribution benefit is expected to reverse in the fourth quarter.

2021 年第三季的毛利為2.024 億美元，而2020 年第三季為1.511 億美元。我們－毛利率成長了約160 個基點，達到33.3%，這主要是由於強勁的銷售業績帶來的入住率槓桿，超過了抵銷較高的入境貨運成本。毛利率增加的另一個原因是分銷勞動力和商店運費的降低，這主要是由於我們的收入和庫存流向商店的情況從第三季度轉移到了第四季度。這種分配效益預計將在第四季扭轉。

As a percentage of sales, SG&A for the third quarter of 2021 decreased approximately 30 basis points to 26.3%. SG&A expenses as a percent of sales were lower than last year, driven primarily by fixed cost leverage, offset in part by higher incentive compensation. With the sales beat, we were able to generate leverage of 30 basis points versus our expectation when we provided guidance for SG&A to delever by approximately 100 basis points on the lower expected sales.

2021 年第三季的銷售、管理及行政費用 (SG&A) 佔銷售額的百分比下降約 30 個基點，至 26.3%。 SG&A 費用佔銷售額的百分比低於去年，這主要是由固定成本槓桿推動的，但部分被較高的激勵薪酬所抵消。隨著銷售成長，我們能夠產生比預期高出 30 個基點的槓桿率，當時我們為 SG&A 提供了針對較低的預期銷售降低約 100 個基點的槓桿率指導。

As a result, operating income increased 75.1% to $42.4 million versus $24.2 million in the third quarter of 2020 with operating margins expanding 190 basis points over last year's third quarter. Below the operating income line, we recorded a charge of approximately $9.7 million related to the write-down of an equity investment.

結果，營業收入成長了 75.1%，達到 4,240 萬美元，而 2020 年第三季為 2,420 萬美元，營業利潤率比去年第三季擴大了 190 個基點。在營業收入線以下，我們記錄了與股權投資減記相關的約 970 萬美元費用。

Our effective tax rate for the third quarter of 2021 was 24% and compared to 13.4% in the third quarter of 2020. Our tax rate last year was favorably impacted by the benefits of discrete items related to the impact of the CARES Act and share-based accounting. Net income for the third quarter of 2021 was $24.2 million versus net income of $20.4 million last year. Earnings per diluted share for the third quarter was $0.43 compared to last year's earnings per diluted share of $0.36. We ended the third quarter with $311 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments and no debt, including nothing outstanding on our $225 million line of credit.

我們 2021 年第三季的有效稅率為 24%，而 2020 年第三季為 13.4%。我們去年的稅率受到與 CARES 法案和份額影響相關的離散項目的好處的有利影響。基礎會計。 2021 年第三季淨利為 2,420 萬美元，而去年淨利為 2,040 萬美元。第三季稀釋後每股收益為 0.43 美元，而去年同期稀釋後每股收益為 0.36 美元。截至第三季末，我們的現金、現金等價物和投資為 3.11 億美元，沒有債務，其中 2.25 億美元的信貸額度沒有任何未償債務。

Inventory at the end of the third quarter was $521 million as compared to $405 million at the end of the third quarter last year. Average inventory on a per store basis increased approximately 5% versus the third quarter last year as certain receipts shifted into the fourth quarter. While a level of uncertainty related to the ongoing supply chain disruption from COVID remains, we believe we are in a good position to meet the holiday demand from an inventory perspective. As of today, most of our holiday product has been received at our ship centers, with the remainder arriving in time to stock our store shelves for the last minute holiday rush.

第三季末的庫存為 5.21 億美元，而去年第三季末的庫存為 4.05 億美元。由於某些收入轉移到第四季度，每家商店的平均庫存比去年第三季度增加了約 5%。儘管新冠疫情造成的供應鏈持續中斷仍存在一定程度的不確定性，但我們相信，從庫存角度來看，我們有能力滿足假期需求。截至今天，我們的大部分節日產品已在我們的船舶中心收到，其餘的則及時抵達，為我們的商店貨架備貨，以應對最後一刻的節日高峰。

Now on to guidance for the fourth quarter. We will compare our guidance to last year as our stores were fully reopened for the entire fourth quarter of 2020. For any full year commentary, we will continue to compare to fiscal 2019 due to the disruption in store closures in the first half of 2020 caused by COVID.

現在談談第四季的指引。我們將把我們的指引與去年進行比較，因為我們的商店在2020 年第四季度完全重新開業。對於任何全年評論，我們將繼續與2019 財年進行比較，因為2020 年上半年商店關閉造成的幹擾透過新冠病毒。

We are very pleased with the start to the fourth quarter. Based on our current trajectory, we expect fourth quarter sales to be in a range of $985 million to $1.005 billion with a comparable sales increase in a range of 2% to 4% and versus the record fourth quarter comparable sales increase of 13.8% last year.

我們對第四季的開始感到非常滿意。根據我們目前的軌跡，我們預計第四季度銷售額將在9.85 億美元至10.05 億美元之間，可比銷售額增長在2% 至4% 範圍內，而去年第四季度可比銷售額增長創紀錄的13.8% 。

Comparable sales for the 9-week holiday period are expected to be stronger than the total fourth quarter comp, given we are anniversarying extraordinary January sales last year, which were driven by stimulus checks. The record sales results last year generated significant leverage on fixed costs.

鑑於我們正值去年 1 月由刺激支票推動的非凡銷售週年紀念日，預計 9 週假期期間的可比銷售額將強於第四季度的總銷售額。去年創紀錄的銷售業績對固定成本產生了巨大的影響。

Additionally, last year, we reduced marketing expenses and store hours which drove further operating margin improvement. Given these dynamics last year, we expect operating margin to delever by approximately 125 basis points in the fourth quarter this year with the majority to occur within SG&A as store expenses and marketing are expected to be higher.

此外，去年我們減少了行銷費用和商店營業時間，這進一步推動了營業利潤率的提高。鑑於去年的這些動態，我們預計今年第四季的營業利潤率將下降約 125 個基點，其中大部分發生在銷售、一般管理費用內，因為預計商店費用和行銷費用將更高。

We expect gross margin in the fourth quarter to delever slightly versus last year, as some of the costs associated with the handling of delayed inventory receipts shifted from the third quarter into the fourth quarter. While we are experiencing higher freight costs resulting from supply chain disruption, in the fourth quarter, we expect to partially offset these through efficiencies and leveraging our scale.

我們預計第四季度的毛利率將比去年略有下降，因為與處理延遲庫存收貨相關的一些成本從第三季度轉移到了第四季度。雖然我們正經歷供應鏈中斷導致的貨運成本上升，但我們預計在第四季度將透過提高效率和利用我們的規模來部分抵消這些成本。

Our effective tax rate for the fourth quarter is planned at approximately 25%, which excludes the impact of share-based accounting or any share repurchases. As you know, our practice is to update the tax rate outlook quarterly with actual results when we report earnings.

我們第四季的有效稅率計劃約為 25%，其中不包括股權會計或任何股票回購的影響。如您所知，我們的做法是在報告收益時根據實際結果每季更新稅率前景。

Net income is expected to be in the range of $133 million to $140 million with diluted earnings per share expected to be in the range of $2.36 to $2.48. For the full fiscal year of 2021, we expect sales in the range of $2.84 billion to $2.86 billion, which is an approximate 54% increase over fiscal 2019 and which represents an approximate 24% 2-year compound annual growth rate. We now expect operating margin for fiscal 2021 to reach a record 13% or leverage of over 120 basis points versus fiscal 2019.

淨利潤預計在 1.33 億美元至 1.4 億美元之間，稀釋後每股收益預計在 2.36 美元至 2.48 美元之間。對於 2021 財年，我們預計銷售額將在 28.4 億美元至 28.6 億美元之間，比 2019 財年增長約 54%，兩年複合年增長率約為 24%。我們現在預計 2021 財年的營業利潤率將達到創紀錄的 13%，或與 2019 財年相比槓桿率將超過 120 個基點。

Net income is expected to be in the range of $272 million to $279 million with diluted earnings per share of $4.82 to $4.94, which, at the midpoint, is a 56% increase over fiscal 2019 and a 25% 2-year compound annual growth rate. We are planning to spend approximately $310 million in gross capital expenditures, excluding the impact of tenant allowances. This reflects the our new ship center in Arizona and construction of a new ship center in Indiana, opening new stores and executing remodels and investing in systems and infrastructure.

淨利潤預計在 2.72 億美元至 2.79 億美元之間，稀釋後每股收益為 4.82 美元至 4.94 美元，中位數較 2019 財年增長 56%，兩年複合年增長率為 25% 。我們計劃花費約 3.1 億美元的總資本支出，不包括租戶津貼的影響。這反映了我們在亞利桑那州的新船舶中心和在印第安納州建設的新船舶中心，開設新商店並進行改造以及投資系統和基礎設施。

In conclusion, we had an exceptional third quarter and are off to a very good start for the fourth quarter. Our merchants and overall operations continue to proactively pivot and respond as customers adjust their preferences and behaviors and as macro events unfold. We are confident that we are prepared to provide our customers amazing shopping experience for the holidays.

總之，我們第三季表現出色，第四季也有一個好的開始。隨著客戶調整其偏好和行為以及宏觀事件的展開，我們的商家和整體營運繼續主動調整和回應。我們相信，我們已準備好為客戶提供令人驚嘆的假期購物體驗。

And with that, I will turn it over to the operator to begin the Q&A portion of the call.

然後，我會將其轉交給接線員以開始通話的問答部分。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

Congrats on another great quarter, guys. So Joel, on the first quarter 2020 call, I remember you cited moving your model to offense. So 6 quarters later, you've clearly done that successfully. I guess 2 questions. When you look across the world, where do you see from here opportunity to further accelerate market share? And then second, on the new customer acquisition, do you believe you've sustainably broadened your customer base as we exit the crisis?

夥計們，恭喜又一個偉大的季度。所以喬爾，在 2020 年第一季的電話會議上，我記得你提到了將你的模型轉向進攻。六個季度後，您顯然已經成功做到了這一點。我猜有2個問題。當您放眼全球時，您在哪裡看到了進一步擴大市場份額的機會？其次，在獲取新客戶方面，您是否認為隨著我們擺脫危機，您已經持續擴大了客戶群？

Thanks, Matt. Really great question. In fact, I love the word offense, and we -- it's not only a word that we talked about on this call, it's something we talk about internally every week.

謝謝，馬特。真是個好問題。事實上，我喜歡「進攻」這個詞，我們——這不僅是我們在這次電話會議上討論的一個詞，也是我們每週在內部討論的內容。

As it relates to your question, I call out 2 worlds specifically, that I think we continue to see opportunity to grow. One is in tech. And specifically, gaming is an area that is in my prepared remarks and it's an area we continue to expand in. And then the second area really isn't a world, but it's -- it really speaks to the concept of trends.

由於這與你的問題有關，我特別指出兩個世界，我認為我們繼續看到成長的機會。一是科技領域。具體來說，遊戲是我準備好的發言中的一個領域，也是我們繼續擴展的一個領域。第二個領域確實不是一個世界，但它確實談到了趨勢的概念。

And I would tell you, Matt, we've gotten much better identifying trends and then racing to get them speed to market, much better than we were even when spinners happened in '17, which we were one of the first one, too. But the examples of poppers and squish and sensory are all great ones where we are one of the leading retailers to get those into our stores firsthand for our customers. So those are just a couple of areas on the product side.

我想告訴你，馬特，我們已經更好地識別趨勢，然後競相將它們推向市場，甚至比 17 年旋轉器出現時要好得多，我們也是最早的旋轉器之一。但爆米花、擠壓和感官的例子都是很棒的例子，我們是領先的零售商之一，可以為我們的顧客直接將這些產品帶入我們的商店。這些只是產品方面的幾個領域。

The other one we talked about was a new customer acquisition, and that's an area that we are really pouring some resources into. We now have tokenization throughout our entire fleet. And the best part about that feature, Matt, is that we'll be able to now really track and understand at the individual rather than specifically how many transactions we have of whether we're attracting new customers or not attracting new customers. So more to come on that, but I think that's a really good opportunity.

我們討論的另一個問題是新客戶的獲取，這是我們真正投入一些資源的領域。現在，我們的整個機隊都實現了代幣化。馬特，關於該功能的最好的部分是，我們現在能夠真正追蹤和了解個人，而不是具體了解我們是否吸引新客戶或不吸引新客戶有多少交易。所以還有更多的事情要做，但我認為這是一個非常好的機會。

And then your big picture was, how do we accelerate market share? And what I would tell you, for Five Below, it's all about driving growth. We have multiple levers to pull, and we -- each one of those levers kind of fuels the momentum. And the couple of key ones I would call out for you, Matt, new stores, it remains a growth engine. You can tell we've completed 170 for this year. We'll get together with all of you in January at ICR, I talk about our plans for next year, but you shouldn't expect our growth engine around new stores to slow down. We continue to innovate -- just in the last 4 years, we've had 2 new prototypes. One we launched in 2017 and then in 2020, we started with the Five Beyond prototype. Our brand awareness continues to grow.

然後你的大局是，我們要如何加速市場佔有率？我要告訴你的是，對於「五以下」來說，一切都是為了推動成長。我們有多個槓桿可以拉動，而我們——每一個槓桿都可以推動這一勢頭。馬特，我要為你指出的幾個關鍵點，新店，它仍然是一個成長引擎。你可以看出我們今年已經完成了 170 個。我們將在一月份在ICR與大家相聚，我談論我們明年的計劃，但你不應該指望我們圍繞新店的增長引擎會放緩。我們不斷創新——光是在過去 4 年裡，我們就推出了 2 個新原型。我們在 2017 年推出了一款產品，然後在 2020 年，我們從 Five Beyond 原型開始。我們的品牌知名度不斷提高。

And then finally, I think as we've said many times on this call, we continue to reinvest in the product and that's all about keeping the quality and freshness front and center to our customer. And really, we now are in a position now that we have scale, and that scale helps us introduce new licenses, new exclusives, new collaborations and new ventures. So a big mouthful there, Matt, but it's really all about playing offense and driving market share. And hopefully, they'll give you some -- a good overview of it.

最後，我認為正如我們在這次電話會議上多次說過的那樣，我們將繼續對產品進行再投資，這一切都是為了將品質和新鮮度保持在客戶的首要位置。事實上，我們現在已經有了規模，而這種規模有助於我們引入新的許可、新的獨家經營、新的合作和新的企業。馬特，說了一大口，但這實際上都是為了進攻和提高市場佔有率。希望他們能給你一些——一個很好的概述。

The next question is from Paul Lejuez with Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Paul Lejuez。

Curious if you can talk about the performance of the stores have the Five Beyond assortment in it just relative to the rest of the chain? And then just a follow-up on Matt's question. I am kind of curious if anecdotally you think that if your existing customer buying some of the higher-priced product or if you are attracting a new customer because of the deals that you're able to offer at those higher price points?

好奇您能否談談擁有五種以上商品的商店相對於連鎖店其他商店的表現？然後是對馬特問題的跟進。我有點好奇，您是否認為您的現有客戶是否購買了一些價格較高的產品，或者您是否因為您能夠以更高的價格點提供的交易而吸引了新客戶？

Yes. Thanks, Paul. Look, on the first one about the performance of Five Beyond, it's a question you should ask me again after we get through the holidays. Five Beyond has largely been in our new stores. And now it is -- a few of those starts are starting to turn new, and I'm talking about the Five Beyond prototype. We do have Five Beyond at holiday in the entire chain. And from last year holiday, Ken help me on the exact figures, and we'll certainly have them all for you for this holiday. But any transaction that had Five Beyond it was about double, right?

是的。謝謝，保羅。你看，第一個關於《五之外》表演的問題，這個問題你應該在假期結束後再問我。 Five Beyond 大部分都在我們的新店裡。現在，其中一些開始變得新，我說的是「五之外」原型。我們在整個連鎖店的假期中確實有五個超越。從去年的假期開始，肯就幫我提供了確切的數字，我們一定會在這個假期為您提供所有這些數據。但任何超過五倍的交易都大約是兩倍，對嗎？

Double, non-WOW Wall transaction.

雙倍，非WOW牆交易。

Right. So you're clearly seeing customers that come in our stores spend more money if they have a Five Beyond item in their transaction. And then as I just talked to -- or answering Matt's question about tokenization, that's really going to help us start to understand, is Joel new to Five Below, is Paul new to Five Below or was that an existing customer? So -- That all went in and start in the fourth quarter here, and we'll start to track that every quarter, and it will really help us track specific customers and whether they're new.

正確的。因此，您可以清楚地看到，如果來到我們商店的顧客在交易中購買了 Five Beyond 商品，他們會花更多的錢。然後，正如我剛才所說，或者回答馬特關於代幣化的問題，這確實會幫助我們開始理解，喬爾是《五下》的新手，保羅是《五下》的新手還是現有客戶？所以——這一切都從第四季度開始，我們將開始每個季度進行跟踪，這將真正幫助我們跟踪特定客戶以及他們是否是新客戶。

We do know -- we do marketing surveys every quarter, and we do know we're attracting new customers. But that's -- remember, that's self-reported by the customer. This will actually give us actual customer data. Hope that answers your question, Paul.

我們確實知道——我們每個季度都會進行行銷調查，而且我們確實知道我們正在吸引新客戶。但請記住，這是客戶自行報告的。這實際上將為我們提供實際的客戶數據。希望這能回答你的問題，保羅。

The next question is from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Partners.

下一個問題來自古根漢合夥人公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

So 2 quick things. Number one, demand is obviously good. So the step up in marketing and store hours, is that -- when you think about that driving incremental demand, do you think it will do that? Does that encompass in the 2% to 4%, right? Because I guess, you don't have to do that. And then secondly, when you think about share of wallet, where are you guys now on embracing the loyalty program and being able to do more personalized offers right to your customers?

所以兩件事很快。第一，需求顯然良好。因此，行銷和商店營業時間的增加是——當你考慮推動增量需求時，你認為它會做到這一點嗎？這是否包含在 2% 到 4% 之內，對吧？因為我想，你不必這樣做。其次，當您考慮錢包份額時，您現在在接受忠誠度計劃並能夠為客戶提供更個性化的優惠方面處於什麼水平？

Yes. Look, I -- on demand, I mean, clearly, third quarter, John, was huge demand. And then here as we go into fourth quarter, a 2 to 4 comp is on top of last year's almost 15 comp. And just a reminder, as Ken said, we expect the holiday comp to be higher than that as we're up against that January stimulus. So we feel really good about that piece of it.

是的。看，我 - 按需，我的意思是，顯然，第三季度，約翰，需求巨大。然後，當我們進入第四季度時，2 到 4 的比賽是在去年幾乎 15 場比賽的基礎上進行的。只是提醒一下，正如肯所說，我們預計假期補償會高於這個數字，因為我們正在應對一月份的刺激措施。所以我們對這一部分感覺非常好。

So -- and then finally, on share of wallet, -- And I just mentioned, John, in terms of hours, they're exact almost dynamical Q4 year-over-year. So really no change there. On share of wallet, tokenization was the next key step we really needed before we could consider a loyalty program. And I think we got rightfully distracted with COVID and supply chain and that kind of work had to take a back seat to making sure we kept the business stabilized.

因此，最後，關於錢包份額，約翰，我剛才提到，就工作時間而言，第四季度的工作時間與去年同期相比幾乎是動態的。所以確實沒有任何改變。在錢包份額方面，在我們考慮忠誠度計劃之前，代幣化是我們真正需要的下一個關鍵步驟。我認為我們理所當然地因新冠肺炎和供應鏈而分心，為了確保我們保持業務穩定，此類工作必須退居二線。

I think as we've gotten over some of these macro issues, we can now kind of turn our attention back to that program. But listen, we're in a fortunate spot that what really drives our business, John, is that differentiated shopping experience with exceptional value. And so that will be our first path will go down. But look, I think loyalty won't happen next year, but it is something we will start to bring back towards the beginning -- front of the burner to start working on again.

我認為，隨著我們已經解決了其中一些宏觀問題，我們現在可以將注意力轉回該計劃。但聽著，我們處於一個幸運的境地，約翰，真正推動我們業務發展的是具有非凡價值的差異化購物體驗。這將是我們的第一條路。但你看，我認為忠誠度不會在明年發生，但我們將開始把它帶回起點——在火爐前重新開始工作。

The next question is from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

My questions, I think, are more for Ken. I wanted to ask how much was the GM impact from the movement of some of the receipts from Q3 to Q4? I guess, how much of that was expected? Or was that because of supply chain issues? And then can you also speak to freight in and of itself, how that impact played out versus how you expected? And then tying this all together, and I can -- I hope you see this is all really 1 question, is that if sales do surprise positive in the fourth quarter relative to what you've just said up, we should then see torque both in the gross margin given these higher costs and in the SG&A line? Just want to confirm that.

我想我的問題比較是針對肯的。我想問的是，部分收據從第三季轉移到第四季對通用汽車的影響有多大？我想，其中有多少是預期的？還是因為供應鏈問題？然後您能否談談貨運本身，這種影響與您的預期相比如何？然後將所有這些結合在一起，我希望您看到這實際上是一個問題，即如果第四季度的銷售相對於您剛才所說的確實出現意外的積極增長，那麼我們應該會看到扭矩考慮到這些較高的成本，毛利率和SG&A 線的影響如何？只是想確認一下。

Okay. Thanks, Simeon. I think there are about 15 questions in there, but I'll -- I think the first one you threw out was around supply chain and the changes there and kind of the movement of the inventory from Q3 into Q4. And obviously, that was not expected as we provided the guidance at the beginning of the third quarter. But as events unfolded throughout the quarter, there was a shift towards from the -- from kind of the end of Q3 into Q4. But I also mentioned we feel really good about the position of the inventory going into the holiday season that it just came in earlier in Q4, and we've got the majority in with us now to be able to fuel those sales for Q4.

好的。謝謝，西蒙。我認為其中大約有 15 個問題，但我認為您提出的第一個問題是關於供應鏈及其變化以及庫存從第三季度到第四季度的變動。顯然，這是沒有預料到的，因為我們在第三季初提供了指導。但隨著整個季度事件的展開，情況發生了從第三季末到第四季的轉變。但我還提到，我們對進入假期季節的庫存狀況感到非常滿意，因為它剛剛在第四季度早些時候出現，並且我們現在已經獲得了大部分庫存，能夠推動第四季度的銷售。

In terms of the magnitude of that, you can look at it really at what took place in Q3 because it's pretty similar as it moves from Q3 into Q4. If you looked at the -- we had about 160 basis points of leverage in gross margin in Q3, about 1/3 of that was related to the benefit from distribution -- reduction in distribution expenses that would be shifting into Q4.

就其規模而言，您可以真正看到第三季發生的情況，因為從第三季到第四季的情況非常相似。如果你看一下——我們在第三季的毛利率有大約 160 個基點的槓桿，其中大約 1/3 與分銷收益有關——分銷費用的減少將轉移到第四季度。

And then your question on outperformance versus the guide, I don't see anything out in front of us here that wouldn't prevent us from having some flow-through, obviously, if we outperform from a sales perspective. In other words, I don't see any other impact with outperformance in sales that would drive higher expenses. So we should achieve a flow-through.

然後你關於表現優於指南的問題，我認為我們面前沒有任何東西不會阻止我們進行一些流程，顯然，如果我們從銷售的角度表現出色的話。換句話說，我認為銷售業績出色不會產生任何其他影響，導致費用增加。所以我們應該實現流通。

The next question is from Michael Lasser with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的 Michael Lasser。

Joel, you're going to be on pace to have average store volume in the $2.4 million range this year. If you had to guess, how much of that volume do you think came from stimulus? How much came from trends? And is this a reasonable base from which you can grow over the next 12 to 24 months on a same-store basis?

Joel，今年您的平均商店銷售額將達到 240 萬美元。如果你必須猜測，你認為這個數量中有多少來自刺激措施？有多少來自趨勢？這是一個合理的基礎嗎？您可以在此基礎上在未來 12 到 24 個月內實現同店成長嗎？

Yes. Look, Matt, I would tie it back to the question -- I mean, Michael, I'll tie it back to the question Matt asked me about playing offense. And I think it just goes back to what we were talking about driving growth. And so if you believe that 4 or 5 things I outlined, and I'll repeat myself real quick here, new stores, Five Beyond, continuing to innovate, brand awareness going up and then reinvesting in the product, we obviously believe in our end that all 5 of those are still in their infancy. And so as we mature those 5 levers that drive growth, there's no reason that our average store number shouldn't continue to go up. And it wasn't too long ago that, that average store number was 1 6, 1 8, I think when I got here. And if you just looked at comp stores, it's over 2 5.

是的。聽著，馬特，我會把它和這個問題聯繫起來——我的意思是，邁克爾，我會把它和馬特問我的關於進攻的問題聯繫起來。我認為這又回到了我們所說的推動成長。因此，如果您相信我概述的 4 或 5 件事，我會在這裡快速重複一遍，新店，五個超越，持續創新，品牌知名度上升，然後對產品進行再投資，我們顯然相信我們的最終目標所有這5 個都還處於起步階段。因此，當我們成熟推動成長的 5 個槓桿時，我們的平均商店數量沒有理由不繼續增加。不久前，我想當我到達這裡時，平均商店數量是 1 6 家、1 8 家。如果你只看比較商店，它就超過 2 5。

So look, those 5 levers, Michael, are really what we're going to use to continue to drive the average store volume up. So short answer is yes. We believe we can continue to grow that. Is it going to happen all quarters equally and smooth? Absolutely not, right. I mean there will be some times when you're up against the of a trend. But just like in spinners when we came around the corner on that because we attracted new customers, it helped us lap that positively. And I think this quarter is an outstanding example of we're up against double-digit comp quarter, and we actually produced double-digit comps 2 years in a row. So it won't be smooth, Michael, but we're just really at the beginning, honestly, in terms of driving average store sales performance.

所以，看看，邁克爾，這 5 個槓桿確實是我們要用來繼續提高平均商店銷售的東西。所以簡短的回答是肯定的。我們相信我們可以繼續發展這一點。所有季度都會平等順利地發生嗎？絕對不是，對吧。我的意思是，有時你會遇到趨勢的逆境。但就像在旋轉廠中一樣，當我們因為吸引了新客戶而轉入困境時，它幫助我們積極地完成了這項任務。我認為本季是一個突出的例子，我們的季度業績達到了兩位數，而且我們實際上已經連續兩年實現了兩位數的業績。所以這不會很順利，邁克爾，但老實說，在推動平均商店銷售業績方面，我們才剛開始。

The next question is from Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

下一個問題是查克·格羅姆和戈登·哈斯克特提出的。

My question is on self-checkout. I just wondering if you could speak to how it's helping from a labor perspective? How it's helping from a sales throughput perspective, particularly during the months of November and then also from a customer engagement perspective?

我的問題是關於自助結帳。我只是想知道您能否從勞工角度談談它有何幫助？從銷售吞吐量的角度來看，特別是在 11 月份，以及從客戶參與度的角度來看，它有何幫助？

Yes. It's a great question, Chuck. And obviously, the fact that we added 100 more in Q3 when we only opened 52 new stores. Look, I think that we always knew it would have a labor component to it, but it's really the efficiency for the customers in Q4 specifically where the benefit is. And look, many of you that have been following us for a long time, we've talked about the lines we have in our stores at Q4. And I think last year was a huge unlock for us that ACO really honestly eliminates those lines, and that's probably adds to the satisfaction level that the customers have and it certainly helps us on the labor side because we kind of always have open 9 registers.

是的。這是一個很好的問題，查克。顯然，我們在第三季只開設了 52 家新店，但又增加了 100 家。聽著，我認為我們一直都知道它會有勞動力成分，但這實際上是第四季度客戶的效率，特別是好處所在。看，你們中的許多人已經關注我們很長時間了，我們已經討論了第四季度我們商店裡的產品線。我認為去年對我們來說是一個巨大的解鎖，ACO 確實誠實地消除了這些排隊，這可能會增加客戶的滿意度，並且它肯定對我們在勞動力方面有幫助，因為我們總是有9 個開放的收銀機。

Now look, we call it ACO for a reason, assisted self-checkout because, look, there are some customers that just want help checking out, and we lean in hard to help them. It's really easy. We're not a grocery store where the items in a basket. And I think what we landed on is really the answer for Five Below, and you should expect to see us continue to grow the percentage of stores that have ACO.

現在看，我們稱之為 ACO 是有原因的，即輔助自助結帳，因為，看，有些顧客只是需要幫助結帳，而我們會努力幫助他們。這真的很容易。我們不是雜貨店，裡面的物品都放在籃子裡。我認為我們得出的結論實際上是「五以下」的答案，您應該期望看到我們繼續增加擁有 ACO 的商店的比例。

The next question is from Karen Short with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的凱倫·肖特（Karen Short）。

I just want to ask a little bit about freight. Can you just give me some -- give us some color in terms of where you're contracted even through 2023? And then maybe some color on what the '22 contracted rate is versus '21 and what the '23 rate is versus '22? And I guess the follow-on to that is, what would that mean generally for pricing architecture in terms of raising prices, obviously, in light of the recent announcement of another competitor raising prices across the board?

我只是想問一些關於運費的問題。您能否給我一些訊息，告訴我們您在 2023 年之前的合約地點？然後也許可以了解一下「22 年合約利率與 21 年相比」以及「23 年利率與 22 年相比」的情況？我想接下來的問題是，考慮到最近另一家競爭對手宣布全面漲價，這對於漲價方面的定價架構通常意味著什麼？

Look, hopefully, you can understand, Karen, for competitive reasons, I can't get into the specifics on the rate. But I can tell you, we continue to not play in the spot market. It's a very small percentage of our freight that goes through the spot market. The teams have always been proactive on locking in rates.

聽著，希望你能理解，凱倫，出於競爭原因，我無法詳細說明費率。但我可以告訴你，我們仍然不參與現貨市場。透過現貨市場的貨物只占我們貨運量的一小部分。團隊一直積極主動地鎖定利率。

I mean, we had this year's rates locked in even before 2021 started. And I think the biggest change we've made is we've locked in for a multiyear. And so while the rate is going up, I can tell you that certainly what we hear from the industry we're well below what the industry is paying for. And look, part of that -- I talked a little bit earlier about scale, and this is an advantage of us growing at such rapid rates. These carriers got to be careful of excluding us because at some point in time, it's going to level back off and they want us as a customer. And so they have been great partners, one of the best. They've hit their commitments to us. We're getting the freight. We expected hasn't been easy, but it's been a good year working through a really tight situation there. But that hopefully gives you some color commentary on freight. And you can tell by the results, Ken?

我的意思是，我們甚至在 2021 年開始之前就鎖定了今年的利率。我認為我們所做的最大改變是我們已經鎖定了多年。因此，雖然費率正在上升，但我可以告訴你，我們從行業中聽到的信息肯定遠低於行業所支付的費用。看，其中一部分——我之前談到了規模，這是我們以如此快的速度成長的優勢。這些業者必須小心地將我們排除在外，因為在某個時間點，情況會趨於平穩，他們希望我們成為客戶。因此，他們是偉大的合作夥伴，也是最好的合作夥伴之一。他們兌現了對我們的承諾。我們正在取貨。我們預計這並不容易，但這是在非常緊張的情況下度過的美好的一年。但這希望能為您提供一些關於貨運的彩色評論。你可以從結果看出，肯？

Yes. Karen, the other thing too, is -- and I think I mentioned it on the -- our second quarter call that we had expected the impact of these freight net to be just in the tens of basis points because there are some other things we're doing along with what Joel mentioned in terms of locking up rates, getting those come in is going out a little bit longer term and getting favorable rates given our scale. There's other things we're doing internally here, starting looking at a truck fleet, some pallet and truck efficiency. And let's not forget about the distribution centers. We mentioned that we opened another one in the quarter in Arizona, another one coming on in Indiana next year. That helps to reduce the stem miles to the stores. I know that's not inbound freight, but that's another freight cost nonetheless that comes into cost of goods sold that we're going to be able to manage even better now given our centers are closer to our stores.

是的。凱倫，另一件事是——我想我在第二季度的電話會議上提到過，我們預計這些貨運網的影響只會是幾十個基點，因為我們還有其他一些事情我們正在按照喬爾提到的鎖定利率的方式進行，讓這些進來是為了更長一點的時間，並根據我們的規模獲得優惠的利率。我們還在內部做其他事情，首先關注卡車車隊、一些托盤和卡車的效率。我們不要忘記配送中心。我們提到我們本季在亞利桑那州開設了另一家，明年又在印第安納州開設了另一家。這有助於減少前往商店的里程。我知道這不是入境運費，但這是另一項運費，它會計入銷售商品的成本，鑑於我們的中心離我們的商店更近，我們現在將能夠更好地管理。

The next question is from Brian Nagel with Oppenheimer.

下一個問題是布萊恩·內格爾和奧本海默提出的。

Congrats on the great quarter. A question just with respect to the start of the holiday decision, particularly Black Friday. So the comments you made, it sounded like you're very pleased with the performance in your stores on Black Friday. We're hearing from many other sources that Black Friday across retail was rather disappointing. So I guess maybe as we think about the Five Below business model, the one that used to feed off traffic of other retailers. It's just further indication that Five Below is generating its own traffic and likely better than that of other retailers.

恭喜這個偉大的季度。一個關於假期決定開始的問題，特別是黑色星期五。從您的評論來看，您對黑色星期五商店的表現非常滿意。我們從許多其他消息來源得知，零售業的黑色星期五相當令人失望。所以我想也許當我們思考「五以下」商業模式時，這種模式曾經依賴其他零售商的流量。這進一步表明，Five Below 正在產生自己的流量，而且可能比其他零售商更好。

And then the second question was on pilot in is how do we put together the comments -- the very upbeat comments you made towards the start of the fourth quarter, the holiday season and then the guide for 2% to 4% comp, which would be assumed some type of step down from the performance you had in Q3.

然後，第二個問題是試點，我們如何將這些評論放在一起——您對第四季度初、假期季節發表的非常樂觀的評論，然後是 2% 到 4% 的補償指南，這將假設您在第三季的表現有所下降。

Yes. Thanks, Brian. Look, as it relates to Black Friday, we were very pleased. I can't comment on other retailers. But I think it continues to go back to honestly, the first question I outlined with Matt on the multiple levers we have to drive growth. And Black Friday, specifically, we had squishmallows out there early Friday morning, and that was a traffic driver for us. But that's all about one day. I think in general, the start to fourth quarter, we're pleased with, which leads to your second question.

是的。謝謝，布萊恩。看，因為它與黑色星期五有關，我們非常高興。我無法評論其他零售商。但我認為這仍然是誠實的，我與馬特概述的第一個問題，即我們必須推動成長的多種槓桿。特別是黑色星期五，週五早上我們就在外面買了南瓜糖，這對我們來說是一個交通司機。但這只是一天的事。我認為總的來說，我們對第四季的開始感到滿意，這引出了你的第二個問題。

And look, it's really hard to understand this quarter given what we're going to be up against in January. So just let me remind what Ken said in his prepared remarks, we do expect the all-important 9 weeks to be higher than that 2 to 4 guide we gave you. And then I think the -- you think about last year, I think we came in the 9 weeks at about 10%, and then we finished the quarter at almost 14%. So it just shows you what an impact that stimulus had, we will get through that over the few weeks of January. So if that's not a big -- as big a headwind as we expect and the number will be higher.

看，考慮到我們一月份將面臨的情況，這個季度真的很難理解。因此，請讓我提醒一下 Ken 在他準備好的演講中所說的話，我們確實希望最重要的 9 週時間比我們給您的 2 到 4 週時間要長。然後我想——你想想去年，我想我們在 9 週內的成長率約為 10%，然後我們在本季結束時的成長率接近 14%。所以它只是向你展示了刺激措施的影響有多大，我們將在一月份的幾週內完成它。因此，如果這不是一個很大的逆風，正如我們預期的那樣，這個數字將會更高。

And then the last one, Brian, is just trying to understand there's a lot of noise out there about pull forward, and it remains to be seen in the next 4 weeks, how much is pull forward. If it's not as much pull forward and we are driving our own traffic, I think we'll be pleasantly surprised on the quarter. But I think, look, having a 2-year stack that is averaging 9% annually, it's 18% 2-year stack is a pretty amazing fourth quarter for us.

最後一位，Brian，只是想了解外面有很多關於前移的噪音，並且在接下來的 4 週內，到底有多少前移還有待觀察。如果沒有那麼大的推動力並且我們正在推動自己的流量，我認為我們會在本季度感到驚訝。但我認為，看，擁有平均每年 9% 的 2 年堆棧，18% 的 2 年堆棧對我們來說是一個相當驚人的第四季度。

And then the last thing I'd remind you, Brian, if you look at it in dollars rather than percent, the Q4 growth year over -- you have to go back to 2019 because Q1 to do versus 2020. But our 2021 growth over '19 on an average store basis is going to be about 300,000 and the guide there represents about 75,000. So the quarters on a dollar basis are about the same, Brian. It's just not the same as percentages because you're talking about a much bigger number. So hopefully, that helps give you some color commentary on how we thought about the quarter.

然後，我要提醒您的最後一件事，布萊恩，如果您以美元而不是百分比來看待全年第四季度的增長- 您必須回到2019 年，因為第一季與2020 年相比。但我們2021 年的成長超過'19 平均商店人數約為 30 萬人，而那裡的導遊人數約為 75,000 人。因此，以美元計算的季度大致相同，布萊恩。它與百分比不同，因為你談論的是一個更大的數字。希望這可以幫助您對我們對本季的看法提供一些色彩評論。

The next question is from Edward Kelly with Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的愛德華‧凱利。

I wanted to just follow up on the Q4 gross margin. So it looks like based upon the guidance that the margin is probably going to be, I don't know, 100 to 150 basis points below what your sort of normal Q4 gross margin would be sort of thinking back historically. I think maybe about 1/3 of that is the shift. So the rest of that, is that just -- is that the freight -- is that the additional freight pressure? And then looking out into 2022, and I know it's still a little early here, but just curious as to how you are thinking about the sustainability of the margin from the current year level and the puts and takes on that?

我只想跟進第四季的毛利率。因此，根據指導，我不知道，利潤率可能會比歷史上正常的第四季毛利率低 100 到 150 個基點。我認為其中大約 1/3 可能是轉變。那麼剩下的就是──是運費──是額外的運費壓力嗎？然後展望 2022 年，我知道現在還為時過早，但只是好奇您如何考慮當前年度水準的利潤率以及看跌期權和承擔額的可持續性？

Thanks, Ed. On Q4, I guess one way to look at and to answer your question, I called out -- we expect about 125 basis points of deleverage in total operating margin in Q4. The overwhelming majority of that is going to come in SG&A. So a small percentage will be in gross margin for Q4. And really, the entire amount of that is that shift in inventory receipts and those additional distribution center handling costs that we're going to incur in Q4. So that's really what the driver is in Q4 and kind of the breakdown between gross margin and SG&A in terms of the deleverage.

謝謝，艾德。關於第四季度，我想用一種方式來看待和回答你的問題，我指出——我們預計第四季度總營業利潤率將去槓桿化約 125 個基點。其中絕大多數將用於銷售、一般管理費用（SG&A）。因此，第四季的毛利率將佔一小部分。實際上，全部金額是庫存收貨的變化以及我們將在第四季度產生的額外配送中心處理成本。這確實是第四季的驅動因素，也是去槓桿化方面毛利率和銷售管理費用之間的細分。

Going forward in terms of our operating margin percentages, I mean, that's something obviously we're going to get into as we get further on and we get to our fourth quarter call and we talk about the -- our guidance for '22. There's going to be some puts and takes in next year. Obviously, the freight cost piece that we've spoken about towards the end of this year, that could have an impact in the beginning quarters of next year. But again, we still have a ways to go. We'd like to get through the holiday season first, and we'll take a deep dive into next year and be able to lay that out on our fourth quarter call.

就我們的營業利潤率而言，我的意思是，隨著我們的進一步發展，我們顯然將討論這個問題，我們將在第四季度電話會議上討論我們對 22 年的指導。明年將會有一些投入和投入。顯然，我們在今年年底談到的貨運成本部分可能會對明年年初產生影響。但同樣，我們還有很長的路要走。我們希望先度過假期，然後我們將深入探討明年的情況，並能夠在第四季度的電話會議上闡述這一點。

Just give us a little more time on that, Ed.

艾德，請再給我們一點時間。

The next question is from Scott Mushkin with R5 Capital.

下一個問題來自 R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin。

So it's been be a little bit of a soft ball here. But looking like -- kind of stepping back at what you guys just put up was just tremendous numbers. If you look at other companies, they're struggling from labor issues, they're struggling from freight issues, there's massive in-stock problems. We got a competitor changing the multi-price points and other things. What makes Five Below so much different than a lot of the other companies that you are kind of similar to you guys, if you had to summarize it.

所以這裡有點軟弱。但看起來——有點退一步看你們剛剛提出的內容只是龐大的數字。如果你看看其他公司，他們正在為勞動力問題而苦苦掙扎，他們正在為貨運問題而苦苦掙扎，還有大量的庫存問題。我們的競爭對手改變了多價點和其他東西。是什麼讓 Five Below 與許多其他公司如此不同，如果你必須總結一下的話，你們與你們有些相似。

I always like softball questions, Scott. So look, Look, I might be a little broken record, I'm not so sure on this call yet, but I said to you guys before. I think what's winning in retail today the successful retailers today need to offer either a differentiated shopping experience or they got to be in the value space. I believe we offer both to drive traffic. There is no other national retail out there that is specifically targeting teens and tweens and kids and Toys "R" Us went out 3 years ago. And we do it with a great shopping experience, and it's all about value. So I think that's number one.

我總是喜歡壘球問題，史考特。所以看，看，我可能有點打破記錄，我對這次電話會議還不太確定，但我之前已經對你們說過了。我認為當今零售業的致勝之道是當今成功的零售商需要提供差異化的購物體驗，或者必須進入價值空間。我相信我們提供兩者都是為了增加流量。沒有其他全國性零售店專門針對青少年和兒童，玩具「反」斗城在 3 年前就已經上市了。我們以出色的購物體驗來做到這一點，而這一切都與價值有關。所以我認為這是第一名。

And the second one, as long as I'm here, we're going to keep investing for the future. And so we're keeping the stores remodeled. We're currently updating the prototype. We're continuing to innovate. We talked about ACO a few questions ago. And so you put all those together, Scott, in the cohesive offering and the customer is noticing it. And so it's amazing shop with great value, but that's what I would tell you has really kind of been difference. And then you layer in one last thing I'd tell you is what's different from -- it's hard to believe only 5 years ago, our total sales for the year was $1 billion. We just guided to you that we're going to do $1 billion in 1 quarter. So we're at that tipping point of having scale, and that scale benefit certainly has helped us in the headwinds against supply chain. It's helped us really continue to reinvest in product and every other tailwind is just get signified for the positive. So a little bit of a long-winded answer there, Scott, but I just summarize that, you put all this together, and that's the key differentiation for us.

第二，只要我還在這裡，我們就會繼續為未來投資。因此，我們不斷對商店進行改造。我們目前正在更新原型。我們正在繼續創新。我們之前討論過 ACO 幾個問題。因此，斯科特，你將所有這些放在一起，形成一個有凝聚力的產品，客戶就會注意到這一點。這是一家很棒的商店，物超所值，但這就是我要告訴你的，它確實有所不同。然後我要告訴你的最後一件事是不同的——很難相信僅 5 年前，我們當年的總銷售額為 10 億美元。我們剛剛告訴您，我們將在 1 季內實現 10 億美元的收入。因此，我們正處於規模化的轉折點，而規模效益無疑地幫助我們應對了供應鏈的逆風。它確實幫助我們繼續對產品進行再投資，而其他所有順風都只是體現出積極的一面。史考特，這個答案有點冗長，但我只是總結一下，你把所有這些放在一起，這就是我們的關鍵區別。

I mean from my perspective, a lot of bigger companies are having much more challenges -- many more challenges than you guys have. So you're obviously executing at a higher level. So that's -- congratulations to the team there. Everyone down below, too.

我的意思是，從我的角度來看，許多大公司面臨更多的挑戰——比你們面臨的挑戰多得多。所以你顯然是在更高的水平上執行。所以，恭喜那裡的團隊。下面大家也一樣。

I appreciate that. Thank you for all those listening in, I'm sure they appreciate your comments on that. And we pride ourselves on people. We spend a lot of time talking about culture. And I think it really has made a difference. We've seen very low turnover in the last 2 years. So that continuity also helps as we continue to execute at a very high level, but appreciate the kind words, Scott, and hopefully, that gives you some insight into how we see the business.

我很感激。感謝所有收聽的人，我相信他們會感謝您對此的評論。我們為員工感到自豪。我們花了很多時間談論文化。我認為這確實產生了影響。過去兩年我們的人員流動率非常低。因此，當我們繼續以非常高的水平執行時，這種連續性也會有所幫助，但感謝斯科特的善意之言，並希望這能讓您深入了解我們如何看待業務。

The next question is from Jeremy Hamblin with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum Capital Group 的 Jeremy Hamblin。

I'll add my congratulations. I wanted to ask a couple of questions here on Five Beyond. I think you mentioned you're at 30% of your stores today with the dedicated section. I wanted to get a sense for your time frame that you would expect to complete that in all stores? And then secondly is, can you give us a sense at this point in time on the AUV lift that you get on the stores that have 5 Beyond versus the rest of the chain?

我會補充我的祝賀。我想在這裡問幾個關於「五之外」的問題。我想您提到您今天 30% 的商店設有專門區域。我想了解一下您期望在所有商店完成該任務的時間範圍？其次，您能否讓我們了解 5 Beyond 商店與連鎖店其他商店的 AUV 提升情況？

Yes. Thanks, Jeremy. And certainly, I appreciate answering any questions on Five Beyond. And I think it's an area that we owe all of you some deeper dive on next year to give you some bigger color commentary on where we're going with it and how fast we will convert the chain. I will tell you that we're extremely bullish about Five Beyond. It's in about 30% of the chain today. It will be in roughly about half the chain at the end of next year.

是的。謝謝，傑里米。當然，我很高興回答有關“超越五”的任何問題。我認為，明年我們應該在這個領域進行更深入的研究，以便為大家提供一些關於我們的發展方向以及我們將以多快的速度轉變鏈條的更深入的評論。我會告訴你，我們非常看好「五之外」。如今，它約佔整個鏈條的 30%。到明年年底，這一數字將大約佔鏈條的一半左右。

Now the one thing I will tell you is, look, we've got a lot of feedback from the customers as we pivoted from playing defense to playing offense. If you remember, a few years ago, we called it Ten Below. And to me, that's an example of playing defense. It was just about raising prices. This is about driving and delivering value. And so what we're not going to do is rapidly expand Five Beyond in our non-Five Beyond prototype. It was very important to our customers that we keep it separate and segregated from the main business. So for all of you that walked in a Five Beyond store and a non-Five Beyond, there are certain times of the year namely holiday, where we've made an exception and deliver Five Beyond upfront. But other times, it's -- we're only going to have Five Beyond if we can develop it in a prototype or remodel a store and put it in the back. So hopefully, that gives you some of that. And Jeremy, we will certainly give you some more outlook on the long term as we get to our fourth quarter call.

現在我要告訴你的一件事是，當我們從防守轉向進攻時，我們從客戶那裡得到了很多回饋。如果您還記得，幾年前，我們將其稱為“十以下”。對我來說，這是防守的一個例子。這只是為了提高價格。這是關於驅動和交付價值。因此，我們不會在我們的非“超越五”原型中快速擴展“超越五”。對於我們的客戶來說，將其與主要業務分開並隔離是非常重要的。因此，對於所有走進 Five Beyond 商店和非 Five Beyond 商店的人來說，一年中的某些時候，即假期，我們破例並預先提供 Five Beyond。但其他時候，只有當我們能夠在原型中開發它或改造商店並將其放在後面時，我們才會擁有「超越五」。希望這能給你一些幫助。傑里米（Jeremy），在我們召開第四季度電話會議時，我們肯定會給您更多的長期展望。

The next question is from Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 Loop Capital Markets 的 Anthony Chukumba。

Congrats as well. Just wanted to get a little bit more color on the write-down of the equity investments. I don't mean to nitpick. I mean it was obviously a great quarter. But just wanted to get more color on that, including what that would have been on an after-tax basis because -- you can make the argument that you should have excluded that and then you would have beat consensus by even more?

也恭喜你。只是想對股權投資的減記有更多的了解。我並不是故意要吹毛求疵。我的意思是，這顯然是一個很棒的季度。但只是想對此有更多的了解，包括稅後基礎上的情況，因為——你可以說你應該排除這一點，然後你會比共識更多？

Yes. No, look, it's a good question. And as we look at all our investments and with the pandemic and some that just weren't performing at that rate, that's what drove the noncash write-down. And it largely is behind us, and we will look forward going forward, but it's all noncash below the line there. I don't know, Ken, anything to add on that?

是的。不，聽著，這是個好問題。當我們審視我們的所有投資時，由於疫情的影響，以及一些投資的表現並未達到預期水平，這就是推動非現金減記的原因。它在很大程度上已經過去了，我們將期待未來，但那裡的一切都是非現金的。我不知道，肯，還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes, I think, Anthony, you asked about the tax side of it. I mean based on the nature of the write-down, it did not have a -- your typical tax benefit from a deductibility standpoint. So the amount that was written down, that's in -- above taxes. Basically, that full amount flow through down to EPS.

是的，我想，安東尼，你問的是稅收方面的問題。我的意思是，根據減記的性質，從扣除額的角度來看，它沒有典型的稅收優惠。因此，減記的金額是稅額之上的金額。基本上，全部金額都會流向每股收益。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Joel Anderson for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回喬爾安德森 (Joel Anderson) 致閉幕詞。

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I'll just stand by telling and reinforcing a lot that was said on the call, this was truly an exceptional quarter for Five Below from both a results perspective as well as, honestly, making progress against our strategic priorities. We will continue to listen to our customers as we kind of source fresh, unbelievable and new products at extreme value. And we believe that will deliver an incredible holiday for us.

謝謝運營商，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我將繼續講述和強調電話會議上所說的很多內容，無論是從結果角度來看，還是老實說，從我們的戰略優先事項方面取得進展來看，這對於“五以下”來說確實是一個特殊的季度。我們將繼續傾聽客戶的意見，以極高的價值採購新鮮、令人難以置信的新產品。我們相信這將為我們帶來一個難以置信的假期。

I want to finish by also saying we have really pride ourselves in what we're doing to get back to the communities through our annual toys for Tots Fundraiser, as an example, we're expecting to raise over $2 million this year. So an important part of who we are and what we stand for. And so on that note, look, I wish you all a safe, happy and healthy holiday season and encourage you to shop Five Below. We'll look forward to speaking with you all again in 2022 at the ICR Conference. Thank you, and have a great night.

最後我想說的是，我們為透過年度兒童募款活動回饋社區所做的努力感到非常自豪，例如，我們預計今年將籌集超過 200 萬美元。這是我們是誰以及我們所代表的重要組成部分。所以，請注意，我祝大家度過一個安全、快樂和健康的假期，並鼓勵您購買「五以下」商品。我們期待 2022 年在 ICR 會議上再次與大家交談。謝謝您，祝您有個美好的夜晚。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。