Hibbett Inc (HIBB) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to Hibbett Inc. First Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Gavin Bell, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

問候。歡迎參加 Hibbett Inc. 第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。我現在將會議交給投資者關係副總裁加文·貝爾 (Gavin Bell)。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you, and good morning. Please note that we have prepared a slide deck that we will refer to during our prepared remarks. The slide deck is available on hibbett.com via the Investor Relations link found at the bottom of the home page or investors.hibbett.com and under the News and Events section. These materials may help you follow along with our discussion this morning.

謝謝你，早上好。請注意，我們準備了幻燈片，我們將在準備好的發言中參考。該幻燈片可通過 hibbett.com 主頁底部或 Investors.hibbett.com 新聞和活動部分下的投資者關係鏈接獲取。這些材料可以幫助您理解我們今天早上的討論。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that some of management's comments during this conference call are forward-looking statements. These statements, which reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance, are made in reliance on the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to uncertainties and risks.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，管理層在本次電話會議上的一些評論屬於前瞻性陳述。這些陳述反映了公司當前對未來事件和財務業績的看法，是根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款制定的，存在不確定性和風險。

It should be noted that the company's future results may differ materially from those anticipated and discussed in the forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause or contribute to such differences have been described in the news release issued this morning, and are noted on Slide 2 of the earnings presentation and the company's annual report on Form 10-K and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We refer you to those sources for more information.

應該指出的是，該公司的未來業績可能與前瞻性陳述中預期和討論的結果存在重大差異。今天上午發布的新聞稿中描述了可能導致或促成此類差異的一些因素，並在收益演示文稿的幻燈片 2 和公司 10-K 表格年度報告以及向證券公司提交的其他文件中進行了說明和交易委員會。我們建議您參考這些來源以獲取更多信息。

Also to the extent non-GAAP financial measures are discussed on this call, you may find a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures on our website.

此外，就本次電話會議討論的非 GAAP 財務指標而言，您可能會在我們的網站上找到與最直接可比的 GAAP 指標的對賬。

Lastly, I'd like to point out that management's remarks during the conference call are based on information and understandings believed accurate as of today's date, May 26, 2023. Because of the time-sensitive nature of this information, it is the policy of Hibbett to limit the archived replay of this conference call webcast to a period of 30 days.

最後，我想指出，管理層在電話會議期間的言論基於截至今天（2023 年 5 月 26 日）準確的信息和理解。由於該信息的時間敏感性，這是Hibbett 將本次電話會議網絡廣播的存檔重播期限限制為 30 天。

The participants on this call are Mike Longo, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jared Briskin, Executive Vice President, Merchandising; Bob Volke, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Bill Quinn, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Digital; and Ben Knighten, Senior Vice President of Operations.

此次電話會議的參與者包括總裁兼首席執行官 Mike Longo； Jared Briskin，營銷執行副總裁；鮑勃·沃爾克，高級副總裁兼首席財務官； Bill Quinn，營銷和數字高級副總裁；以及運營高級副總裁 Ben Knighten。

I'll now turn the call over to Mike Longo.

我現在將把電話轉給邁克·隆戈。

Thank you, Gavin. Good morning, and welcome to the Hibbett Q1 earnings call. For those of you following along, I'm on Slide 3.

謝謝你，加文。早上好，歡迎參加 Hibbett 第一季度財報電話會議。對於那些正在關注的人，我在幻燈片 3 上。

Our financial and operating results for the first quarter reflect the challenging retail environment. Our consumers face difficulties ranging from inflation to fears over job loss. This and other factors have combined to lower consumer sentiment, and we think this adversely affect sales. Also, the important tax season in the first quarter was negatively affected by lower tax returns versus last year and caused sales to come in lower than our expectations. Having said that, we still achieved a 7.4% year-over-year sales growth and a 4.1% comp sales increase. We believe these sales result in increased share for Hibbett and our reason for confidence in our business model.

我們第一季度的財務和運營業績反映了充滿挑戰的零售環境。我們的消費者面臨著從通貨膨脹到失業擔憂等各種困難。這一因素和其他因素結合在一起降低了消費者信心，我們認為這對銷售產生了不利影響。此外，第一季度重要的納稅季節受到納稅申報表低於去年的負面影響，導致銷售額低於我們的預期。話雖如此，我們仍然實現了 7.4% 的同比銷售額增長和 4.1% 的同比銷售額增長。我們相信這些銷售會增加 Hibbett 的份額，也是我們對我們的商業模式充滿信心的原因。

Also our strong relationships with our brand partners give us the ability and confidence to continue to execute our store opening plan. We continue to invest in our already best-in-class consumer experience and business model while still taking costs out of the business. In the first quarter, we managed to produce leverage on SG&A of 140 basis points versus last year. And all the while, we believe we increased our market share. We believe we have a proven operating model that will support our business regardless of market conditions, and we remain committed to executing our strategy of focusing on our distinct competitive advantages, namely our customer service, a compelling product selection, best-in-class omnichannel experience and our positioning in underserved markets.

此外，我們與品牌合作夥伴的牢固關係使我們有能力和信心繼續執行我們的開店計劃。我們繼續投資於我們已經一流的消費者體驗和商業模式，同時仍然降低業務成本。第一季度，我們的 SG&A 槓桿率比去年提高了 140 個基點。一直以來，我們相信我們的市場份額有所增加。我們相信，我們擁有經過驗證的運營模式，無論市場狀況如何，都可以支持我們的業務，並且我們仍然致力於執行我們的戰略，專注於我們獨特的競爭優勢，即我們的客戶服務、引人注目的產品選擇、一流的全渠道經驗以及我們在服務不足的市場中的定位。

In summary, we believe Hibbett is well positioned for the short and long term to continue to grow and increase market share. Before turning the call over to Jared, I'd like to thank our approximately 11,000 team members across the organization, whether they're working in our stores or on our omnichannel platform, our logistics facilities or our Store Support Center. They're the face of Hibbett providing consistent superior service that's synonymous with our brand.

總而言之，我們相信 Hibbett 在短期和長期內都處於有利地位，可以繼續增長並增加市場份額。在將電話轉給 Jared 之前，我要感謝整個組織內大約 11,000 名團隊成員，無論他們是在我們的商店、我們的全渠道平台、我們的物流設施還是我們的商店支持中心工作。他們是 Hibbett 的代言人，提供始終如一的優質服務，這也是我們品牌的代名詞。

I'll now turn it over to Jared.

我現在將把它交給賈里德。

Thank you, Mike. Good morning. The first quarter started strong with double-digit gains in the first half of the quarter. As March progressed, we began to see some deceleration in our comp performance and this deceleration continued to pressure the business into April, leading to our total comp of just over 4%. Footwear was the strongest category during the quarter, growing high teens versus the prior year. Our strong footwear results continue to be driven by several solid launches as well as strength across basketball, lifestyle and casual categories.

謝謝你，邁克。早上好。第一季度開局強勁，上半年實現兩位數增長。隨著 3 月份的進展，我們開始看到我們的比較業績有所減速，這種減速繼續給業務帶來壓力，直到 4 月份，導致我們的總比較略高於 4%。鞋類是本季度最強勁的類別，與上一年相比增長了十幾歲。我們強勁的鞋類業績繼續受到多項可靠產品的推出以及籃球、生活方式和休閒品類的實力推動。

In addition, we saw an improving trend in our running business. Apparel and team sports were both negative for the quarter with apparel down in the low 20s. Approximately half of the decline in Apparel came from winter carryover in the prior year that we did not anniversary. This was planned in order to ensure that our inventory was seasonably appropriate now that the supply chain is more predictable.

此外，我們的跑步業務也出現了改善的趨勢。本季度服裝和團隊運動均表現不佳，其中服裝銷量下降了 20 左右。服裝下降的大約一半來自我們沒有周年慶的前一年的冬季結轉。計劃這樣做是為了確保我們的庫存及時適當，因為供應鏈更加可預測。

Sales of spring and summer apparel started the season slowly and remain under pressure due to the consumer environment. Specific to footwear and apparel, men's, women's and kids all comped positively driven by our footwear results. Men's and women's both were up in the low single digits. Kids was up in the high teens.

春夏服裝銷售開季緩慢，並因消費環境的影響仍面臨壓力。具體到鞋類和服裝，男裝、女裝和童裝均受到我們鞋類業績的積極推動。男子和女子的漲幅均呈低個位數。孩子們已經十幾歲了。

Slowdown in sales in the back half of the quarter, the continued promotional environment and a much more selective consumer, prompted additional markdowns and promotional activity during the back half of the quarter. We expect this to continue at least through the third quarter as we work to reduce our inventory. These promotional efforts as well as support from our key brand partners will help us to achieve our goals for inventory reduction. While year-over-year inventory compares will still be volatile due to the challenges in the supply chain during fiscal '23, our expectations remain the same for our inventory levels. We will have growth in the first half of the year and year-over-year declines in the second half of the year.

本季度後半段銷售放緩、持續的促銷環境以及更具選擇性的消費者，促使本季度後半段出現額外的降價和促銷活動。我們預計這種情況至少會持續到第三季度，因為我們正在努力減少庫存。這些促銷工作以及我們主要品牌合作夥伴的支持將幫助我們實現減少庫存的目標。儘管由於 23 財年供應鏈面臨的挑戰，同比庫存比較仍將波動，但我們對庫存水平的預期保持不變。我們上半年會出現增長，下半年會同比下降。

I'll now hand it over to Bob to cover our financial results.

現在我將把它交給鮑勃來報導我們的財務業績。

Thank you, Jared, and good morning. Please refer to Slide 5. As a reminder, our first quarter results are reported on a consolidated basis that includes both the Hibbett and City Gear brands.

謝謝你，賈里德，早上好。請參閱幻燈片 5。提醒一下，我們第一季度的業績是在合併的基礎上報告的，其中包括 Hibbett 和 City Gear 品牌。

Total net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 increased 7.4% to $455.5 million from $424.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. Overall comp sales increased 4.1% versus the prior year first quarter. Brick-and-mortar comp sales were up 4.7% compared to the prior year's first quarter, while e-commerce sales increased 0.6% compared to the prior year. E-commerce sales accounted for 13.7% of net sales during the current quarter compared to 14.6% in the first quarter last year.

2024 財年第一季度的淨銷售額總額從 23 財年第一季度的 4.241 億美元增長 7.4% 至 4.555 億美元。第一季度整體銷售額比去年同期增長 4.1%。實體店銷售額比去年同期增長 4.7%，電子商務銷售額比去年同期增長 0.6%。電子商務銷售額佔本季度淨銷售額的 13.7%，而去年第一季度為 14.6%。

Gross margin was 33.7% of net sales for the first quarter of fiscal '24, compared with 37% in the first quarter of the prior year. This approximate 330 basis point decline was driven primarily by lower average product margin. Average product margin in the first quarter of fiscal '24 was approximately 375 basis points lower than the prior year first quarter due to higher promotional activity across both footwear and apparel. Store occupancy was relatively flat as a percent of sales year-over-year, while both freight and logistics operations were favorable as a percent of net sales.

2024 財年第一季度毛利率占淨銷售額的 33.7%，而去年第一季度為 37%。下降約 330 個基點的主要原因是平均產品利潤率下降。由於鞋類和服裝的促銷活動增多，24 財年第一季度的平均產品利潤率比去年第一季度低約 375 個基點。商店入住率佔銷售額的百分比與去年同期相比相對持平，而貨運和物流業務占淨銷售額的百分比也不錯。

Our operating, selling and administrative expenses were 21.1% of net sales for the first quarter compared with 22.5% of net sales for the first quarter last year. This approximate 140 basis point improvement is primarily the result of expense reduction initiatives, lower discretionary advertising spend and reduced incentive compensation expense, partially offset by wage inflation. Depreciation and amortization in the first quarter of fiscal '24 increased approximately $1.2 million in comparison to the same period last year, reflecting increased capital investment on store development and infrastructure projects.

我們的運營、銷售和管理費用佔第一季度淨銷售額的 21.1%，而去年第一季度占淨銷售額的 22.5%。這一大約 140 個基點的改善主要是由於費用削減舉措、可自由支配廣告支出的減少和激勵補償費用的減少，部分被工資上漲所抵消。 24財年第一季度的折舊和攤銷與去年同期相比增加了約120萬美元，反映出商店開發和基礎設施項目的資本投資增加。

We generated $45.9 million of operating income or 10.1% of net sales in the first quarter compared to $50.7 million or 12% of net sales in the prior year's first quarter.

第一季度我們實現了 4590 萬美元的營業收入，占淨銷售額的 10.1%，而去年第一季度的營業收入為 5070 萬美元，占淨銷售額的 12%。

Diluted earnings per share were $2.74 for this year compared to $2.89 per share in the prior year first quarter. We ended the first quarter of fiscal '24 with $26.9 million of available cash and cash equivalents on our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet and $103.6 million of debt outstanding on our $160 million line of credit.

今年稀釋後每股收益為 2.74 美元，而去年第一季度每股收益為 2.89 美元。截至 24 財年第一季度，未經審計的簡明合併資產負債表上有 2690 萬美元的可用現金和現金等價物，1.6 億美元的信貸額度上有 1.036 億美元的未償債務。

Net inventory at the end of the first quarter was $438 million, a 39.1% increase from the first quarter of fiscal '23 and up 4.1% from the beginning of the year. Please note that the majority of this increase year-over-year is due to inflation and product mix. Inventory units are up approximately 8%, and we have a heavier mix of footwear, which carries a higher average unit cost.

第一季度末的淨庫存為4.38億美元，比2023財年第一季度增長39.1%，比年初增長4.1%。請注意，同比增長的大部分是由於通貨膨脹和產品組合造成的。庫存單位增加了約 8%，而且我們的鞋類種類較多，因此平均單位成本較高。

Capital expenditures during the first quarter were $14.2 million, with over 60% of that focused on store development projects, including new stores, remodels and relocations. We opened 10 net new stores in the first quarter, bringing the store base to 1,143 in 36 states. We also completed 16 store remodels and 3 relocations. The remainder of our capital expenditures for the quarter were related to technology and infrastructure projects.

第一季度的資本支出為 1,420 萬美元，其中超過 60% 集中在商店開發項目，包括新店、改造和搬遷。第一季度，我們淨開設了 10 家新店，使遍布 36 個州的門店數量達到 1,143 家。我們還完成了 16 次門店改造和 3 次搬遷。本季度的其餘資本支出與技術和基礎設施項目有關。

We bought back nearly 160,000 shares under our share repurchase plan in the first quarter at a total cost of $10.2 million. We also paid a recurring quarterly dividend in the amount of $0.25 per eligible share for a total outflow of $3.2 million.

第一季度，我們根據股票回購計劃回購了近 16 萬股股票，總成本為 1,020 萬美元。我們還支付了每股合格股票 0.25 美元的經常性季度股息，總流出額為 320 萬美元。

I'll now turn the call over to Bill to discuss the latest consumer insights.

我現在將把電話轉給比爾，討論最新的消費者見解。

Thank you, Bob. Despite a challenging retail environment and pervasive inflationary impacts, our customers continue to increase their shopping with us during the first quarter. In Q1, our loyalty sales were up low double digits. This growth was driven by increased sales from our existing customers. Our total customer base grew, increased their average purchase, and made more visits. However, we have started to see a slowdown in new customer shopping and our consumer research indicates that there will be ongoing challenges to discretionary spend this year.

謝謝你，鮑勃。儘管零售環境充滿挑戰且通脹影響普遍，但我們的客戶在第一季度繼續增加在我們這裡的購物量。第一季度，我們的忠誠度銷售額增長了兩位數。這一增長是由我們現有客戶的銷售額增加推動的。我們的總客戶群不斷增長，平均購買量增加，訪問量也增加。然而，我們已經開始看到新客戶購物放緩，而且我們的消費者研究表明，今年可自由支配支出將面臨持續的挑戰。

In particular, customers have grown more cautious as concerns over inflation continue and also fears over job loss are rising.

特別是，隨著對通脹的擔憂持續以及對失業的擔憂加劇，客戶變得更加謹慎。

Turning to our e-commerce business. In Q1, e-commerce sales were essentially flat versus the prior year. The primary headwinds included in macroeconomic environment, a highly promotional online environment and greater inventory availability in stores, which drove more in-store shopping. These factors led to decreases in traffic and conversion, which were offset by higher average purchases. As always, we remain focused on the long term and providing the best possible customer experience for online and omnichannel shopping.

轉向我們的電子商務業務。第一季度，電子商務銷售額與上年基本持平。主要阻力包括宏觀經濟環境、高度促銷的在線環境以及商店庫存增加，這推動了更多的店內購物。這些因素導致流量和轉化率下降，但被平均購買量上升所抵消。一如既往，我們仍然專注於長期發展，為在線和全渠道購物提供最佳的客戶體驗。

To that end, we have many planned investments in improving our loyalty program, our core customer e-commerce experience, and further evolving our omnichannel offerings. We believe these efforts will continue to attract and retain customers.

為此，我們計劃進行許多投資，以改善我們的忠誠度計劃、核心客戶電子商務體驗，並進一步發展我們的全渠道產品。我們相信這些努力將繼續吸引並留住客戶。

I will now turn the call back to Bob to discuss our guidance.

我現在將把電話轉回給鮑勃，討論我們的指導。

The business outlook for the remainder of fiscal '24 continues to be complex and difficult to forecast. There are several significant headwinds to consider as we proceed through the year. Inflation has a broad impact not only on consumer sentiment and spending patterns, but also contributes to operating cost increases in the form of wages and prices paid for goods and services. Higher interest rates have driven up the cost of borrowing for us that may also be affecting discretionary purchase decisions for those consumers with variable rate loans and credit card debt. We also expect the heavier promotional environment we have seen over the last 2 quarters to continue for the near term.

24 財年剩餘時間的業務前景仍然複雜且難以預測。在我們度過這一年的過程中，有幾個重大的阻力需要考慮。通貨膨脹不僅對消費者情緒和支出模式產生廣泛影響，而且還會以工資以及商品和服務支付價格的形式導致運營成本增加。較高的利率推高了我們的借貸成本，這也可能影響那些擁有浮動利率貸款和信用卡債務的消費者的酌情購買決策。我們還預計過去兩個季度的促銷環境將在短期內持續下去。

In summary, economic uncertainty, coupled with a more cautious and increasingly stressed consumer, has resulted in lower expectations for the remainder of this fiscal year. As noted previously, we still have confidence in our business model and our ability to track new customers while providing exceptional customer service and product assortment to our existing customers. We continue to make investments in the most critical elements of our business, new store development, the consumer experience and operational efficiencies.

總之，經濟的不確定性，加上消費者更加謹慎和壓力越來越大，導致對本財年剩餘時間的預期降低。如前所述，我們仍然對我們的業務模式和跟踪新客戶的能力充滿信心，同時為現有客戶提供卓越的客戶服務和產品種類。我們繼續對業務中最關鍵的要素、新店開發、消費者體驗和運營效率進行投資。

Our inventory mix and assortments have become healthier over the last several months, and we have made progress on reducing the ongoing operational costs of the organization.

在過去的幾個月裡，我們的庫存組合和分類變得更加健康，並且我們在降低組織的持續運營成本方面取得了進展。

I'll now turn to Slide 7 that summarizes our guidance. Net sales for the full year, including the impact of the 53rd week are anticipated to be flat to up approximately 2% compared to our fiscal 2023 results. The 53rd week is still expected to be approximately 1% of full year sales. The breakdown of sales by quarter remains unchanged from the previous guidance provided. We believe that the first quarter represented approximately 26% of full year sales with approximately 22% in the second quarter, approximately 24% in the third quarter and approximately 28% in the fourth quarter, including the 53rd week.

我現在將轉向幻燈片 7，其中總結了我們的指導。與我們 2023 財年的業績相比，全年淨銷售額（包括第 53 週的影響）預計將持平，增幅約為 2%。第53週仍預計佔全年銷售額的1%左右。按季度劃分的銷售額細目與之前提供的指導保持不變。我們認為，第一季度約佔全年銷售額的 26%，其中第二季度約佔 22%，第三季度約佔 24%，第四季度（包括第 53 週）約佔 28%。

Comparable sales are now expected to decline in the low single-digit range for the full year. Full year brick-and-mortar comparable sales and full year e-commerce revenue are also anticipated to both be in the negative low single-digit range. Net new store growth remains unchanged with an expectation to open between 40 and 50 units. We anticipate the aggressive promotional environment to continue in the near term with a heavier impact on the second quarter. The lower forecasted annual sales volume will also create additional deleverage of store occupancy costs. As a result, we revised -- the revised projected full year gross margin rate is approximately 33.9% to 34.0% of net sales.

目前預計全年可比銷售額將下降至個位數的低位。預計全年實體可比銷售額和全年電子商務收入也將處於負低個位數範圍內。新店淨增長保持不變，預計新開店數在 40 至 50 家之間。我們預計短期內積極的促銷環境將持續，並對第二季度產生更嚴重的影響。較低的預測年銷量也將進一步降低門店佔用成本。因此，我們進行了修正——修正後的預計全年毛利率約為淨銷售額的 33.9% 至 34.0%。

We expect the second quarter will yield the lowest gross margin results of the year with improvement anticipated in the back half of the year. Although we were able to generate SG&A leverage in the first quarter this year compared to last year and are making good progress on cost savings initiatives, we anticipate the quarterly comparisons to the prior year to be more difficult due to fixed cost deleverage resulting from lower sales expectations as well as ongoing inflationary pressure in wages and other goods and services.

我們預計第二季度的毛利率將是今年最低的，預計下半年會有所改善。儘管與去年相比，我們能夠在今年第一季度產生銷售、管理和行政費用槓桿，並且在成本節約計劃方面取得了良好進展，但由於銷售額下降導致固定成本去槓桿化，我們預計與上一年進行季度比較將更加困難預期以及工資和其他商品和服務持續的通脹壓力。

SG&A as a percent of net sales is now expected to be in the range of approximately 23.3% to 23.5% of net sales. Once again, the second quarter will be more heavily impacted and is expected to be the lowest sales quarter of the year.

SG&A 占淨銷售額的百分比目前預計約為淨銷售額的 23.3% 至 23.5%。第二季度將再次受到更嚴重的影響，預計將成為今年銷售最低的季度。

Due to the factors mentioned previously, operating margin for the year is now expected to be in the range of 7.4% to 7.8% of net sales. Operating profit as a percent of net sales in the first quarter and fourth quarter benefit from higher sales volume, although the 53rd week is considered near breakeven due to the low sales volume in that extra week. We expect that operating profit as a percent of sales will be modestly higher in the second half of the year compared to the first half of the year.

由於前面提到的因素，目前預計今年的營業利潤率將在淨銷售額的 7.4% 至 7.8% 之間。第一季度和第四季度營業利潤占淨銷售額的百分比受益於較高的銷量，儘管由於額外一周的銷量較低，第 53 週被認為接近盈虧平衡。我們預計下半年營業利潤佔銷售額的百分比將略高於上半年。

We still expect to carry debt for the majority of the year. We project borrowings will be higher in the first half of the year as current inventory levels are not expected to decline significantly until after the back-to-school season. The lower full year sales guidance is anticipated to result in a higher interest expense than communicated in our previous guidance. Interest expense for the full year is now projected to be approximately 40 to 45 basis points of net sales, peaking in the second quarter and declining as the year progresses.

我們仍然預計今年大部分時間都會背負債務。我們預計今年上半年的借款將會增加，因為目前的庫存水平預計在返校季結束之前不會大幅下降。較低的全年銷售指導預計將導致利息支出高於我們之前指導中傳達的水平。目前預計全年利息支出約為淨銷售額的 40 至 45 個基點，在第二季度達到峰值，並隨著年份的推移而下降。

Diluted earnings per share are anticipated to be in the range of $7 to $7.75 using an estimated full year tax rate of approximately 23.5% to 23.7% and an estimated year-end weighted average diluted share count of approximately 12.8 million.

使用約 23.5% 至 23.7% 的估計全年稅率和約 1280 萬股的估計年末加權平均稀釋股份數，預計稀釋每股收益將在 7 美元至 7.75 美元之間。

We still project capital expenditures in the range of $60 million to $70 million, with the largest allocation focused on new store growth, remodels, relocations, new store signage and improving the consumer experience. Our capital allocation strategy continues to include share repurchases and recurring quarterly dividends in addition to the capital expenditures noted above.

我們仍預計資本支出在 6000 萬至 7000 萬美元之間，其中最大的撥款重點用於新店增長、改造、搬遷、新店標牌和改善消費者體驗。除了上述資本支出外，我們的資本配置策略繼續包括股票回購和經常性季度股息。

That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions.

我們準備好的發言到此結束。接線員，請開通提問線路。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Mitch Kummetz with Seaport Research.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Seaport Research 的 Mitch Kummetz。

I guess, Mike, just to start on the quarter. Can you kind of walk us through metrics like traffic ticket conversion? I'm curious, it sounds like the back half of the quarter was tougher than the first half. I'm curious how some of those metrics might have evolved as the quarter transpired.

我想，邁克，只是從本季度開始。您能否向我們介紹一下交通罰單轉化率等指標？我很好奇，聽起來本季度後半段比上半段更艱難。我很好奇隨著本季度的發展，其中一些指標可能會發生怎樣的變化。

Sure. Thanks for the question. Thanks for being on today. In the beginning of the quarter, we were seeing really good results, and we were seeing an increase in both transactions as well as AUR, and therefore, average ticket. As the quarter continued, however, it did get significantly negative with regards to transactions. We tie that back directly to the overhang of course, of consumer sentiment, but more directly, the tax returns being down. And as you know, tax returns are disproportionately going to affect our customer and our business in Q1, which we, as you know, typically refer to as tax season.

當然。謝謝你的提問。感謝您今天的參與。在本季度初，我們看到了非常好的結果，我們看到交易量和 AUR 均有所增加，因此平均票價也有所增加。然而，隨著本季度的繼續，交易量確實出現了明顯的負面影響。當然，我們將其直接與消費者信心的懸而未決聯繫起來，但更直接的是，納稅申報表下降。如您所知，納稅申報表將對我們的客戶和我們第一季度的業務產生不成比例的影響，如您所知，我們通常將其稱為報稅季。

And then, Bob, on the guide for 2Q, it sounds like you expect some pretty heavy margin pressure there on the product margin side. I know that in the first quarter, it was down 370 bps. Are you looking for something similar there in 2Q?

然後，鮑勃，在第二季度的指南中，聽起來您預計產品利潤方面會出現相當大的利潤壓力。我知道第一季度下降了 370 個基點。您在第二季度尋找類似的東西嗎？

I'll start, and then Jared can add some color. The expectation is that the trends we've seen here in the second half of the first quarter kind of continue into Q2. Q2 is notoriously kind of a quiet quarter for us. There's not a lot of big events or holidays that kind of drive the business. So the expectation is that we'll still be working through some of our higher inventory levels, and that will require us to continue to be in somewhat promotional mode at this point. Jared?

我先開始，然後賈里德可以添加一些顏色。預計我們在第一季度下半年看到的趨勢會延續到第二季​​度。眾所周知，第二季度對我們來說是一個安靜的季度。沒有太多大型活動或假期來推動業務發展。因此，預計我們仍將努力解決一些較高的庫存水平，這將要求我們此時繼續處於某種促銷模式。賈里德？

Yes, Mitch. It's Jared. I think Bob's got it exactly right. I mean we still expect some pressure very similarly to what we saw in the first quarter, but we have recently seen some pretty significant incremental promotions over and above what we saw first quarter from the marketplace as a whole. So it will likely continue to put some pressure. We've been pretty clear around our inventory aspirations with -- from our first half and second half perspective.

是的，米奇。是賈里德。我認為鮑勃說得完全正確。我的意思是，我們仍然預計會遇到一些與第一季度非常相似的壓力，但我們最近看到了一些相當顯著的增量促銷活動，超出了整個市場第一季度的水平。因此，它可能會繼續施加一些壓力。從上半年和下半年的角度來看，我們非常清楚我們的庫存願望。

So obviously, we want to ensure that we can maintain that projection with regard to inventory. So what's happening externally from a marketplace perspective could put some additional pressure on Q2.

顯然，我們希望確保我們能夠維持有關庫存的預測。因此，從市場角度來看，外部發生的事情可能會給第二季度帶來一些額外的壓力。

Okay. And then lastly, I just want to get your thoughts on back-to-school. I mean, it seems like you expect the consumer to remain fairly pressured. But how are you feeling about kind of your inventory and your access to products for back-to-school? And I also heard somewhere that maybe the tax-free day outlook could be better this year than a year ago, and I don't know if you're the least bit optimistic that, that could maybe drive some traffic and conversion?

好的。最後，我只想了解您對重返校園的想法。我的意思是，您似乎預計消費者將繼續承受相當大的壓力。但是，您對返校商品的庫存和獲取方式有何看法？我還聽說，今年的免稅日前景可能會比一年前更好，我不知道您是否對此持樂觀態度，這可能會帶來一些流量和轉化？

Yes, Mitch, I think we're confident in our -- first of all, the inventory that we have heading into back-to-school, while the inventory is elevated over where we'd like it to be. The team has been extremely careful with regard to receipts that are coming in for back to school, ensuring that we're only looking at what we like to call A players. So we feel very good about those investments and that we'll have what the consumer is looking for. Typically, from a back-to-school season, Q2 and Q3 kind of have a blend between our back-to-school. Historically, it starts at the end of July and runs through the middle of August.

是的，米奇，我認為我們對我們的——首先，我們重返校園的庫存充滿信心，而庫存已經高於我們希望的水平。團隊對於返回學校的收據非常謹慎，確保我們只關注我們所謂的 A 級球員。因此，我們對這些投資感覺非常好，我們將擁有消費者正在尋找的東西。通常情況下，從返校季開始，第二季度和第三季度的返校季會有所融合。歷史上，它從七月底開始，一直持續到八月中旬。

We believe historically, what we've seen pressured consumer that tends to drive the business more and more last minute. So our expectations are that some of that back-to-school flow will likely fall more into Q3 than Q2. But we do feel from a product perspective, we'll have enough products and energy to drive the business that is outlined in our guidance.

我們相信，從歷史上看，我們所看到的給消費者帶來的壓力往往會在最後一刻越來越推動業務發展。因此，我們的預期是，部分返校流量可能會更多地落在第三季度，而不是第二季度。但我們確實從產品的角度來看，我們將有足夠的產品和精力來推動我們指南中概述的業務。

Our next question is from Alex Perry with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Alex Perry。

I guess just first, can you maybe talk about the more recent run rate of the business as you move further away from some of the tax refund headwinds?

我想首先，隨著您遠離一些退稅逆風，您能否談談最近的業務運行率？

Yes, Alex, it's Jared. As we said, we got off to a really hot start in the first quarter, strong, strong, double-digit increases, and that really started to falter as we got towards the end of the quarter. We really haven't seen anything change at this point. A level product launches still performing extremely well. But nothing from a step change perspective based on what we saw towards the back end of the quarter.

是的，亞歷克斯，我是賈里德。正如我們所說，我們在第一季度有了一個非常火爆的開局，強勁、強勁、兩位數的增長，但當我們接近季度末時，這種增長確實開始動搖。目前我們還沒有看到任何變化。 A級產品的推出仍然表現出色。但根據我們在本季度末看到的情況來看，沒有任何變化。

Great. That's really helpful. And then just on the top line, can you just talk about how you're thinking about the second quarter versus the rest of the year? I think the guide implies like a sort of negative mid-single digits to high single-digit comp in the second half. I guess first part of the question, is that right? And then in the press release, you said that these headwinds will be more impactful on their second fiscal quarter than in the back half of the year. Is that implying that you're sort of expecting the consumer to come back in the back half of the year?

偉大的。這真的很有幫助。然後，在最重要的方面，您能談談您對第二季度與今年剩餘時間的看法嗎？我認為該指南意味著下半年的負中個位數到高個位數的比較。我想問題的第一部分是這樣嗎？然後在新聞稿中，您說這些不利因素對他們第二財季的影響將比今年下半年更大。這是否意味著您預計消費者會在下半年回歸？

Alex, I think that's hard to say. I mean I think specific to the second quarter, obviously, the run rate at the end of the first quarter was not where we would like it to be. So that presents a concern. The conversation with regard to back-to-school and potentially some more back-to-school business moving into third quarter. Based on the pressure that the consumer is under and more last minute, along with the elevated promotional activity, that's going on in the marketplace. I mean, all of those things cause us to be really conservative with regard to second quarter specifically.

亞歷克斯，我認為這很難說。我的意思是，我認為具體到第二季度，顯然，第一季度末的運行率並不是我們希望的那樣。所以這引起了人們的擔憂。關於返校以及可能進入第三季度的更多返校業務的對話。基於消費者面臨的壓力，尤其是最後一刻的壓力，以及市場上正在進行的促銷活動的增加。我的意思是，所有這些因素都導致我們對第二季度非常保守。

As far as the outlook for the rest of the year, we're really trying to work towards what our new normal is, what these new quarterly and monthly splits look like. Obviously, we have information from a prepandemic perspective, but the new information from a post standpoint. So really understanding how that looks quarter-over-quarter, period-over-period, has become quite the forecasting challenge. Then you add in the volatility of the consumer and the volatility of our back-to-school business, which always crosses between the second and third quarter.

就今年剩餘時間的前景而言，我們確實正在努力實現我們的新常態，以及這些新的季度和月度分割的樣子。顯然，我們有從大流行前的角度來看的信息，但從後的角度來看新的信息。因此，真正了解季度與季度、不同時期的情況已成為預測的一大挑戰。然後，您還要考慮消費者的波動性和返校業務的波動性，這些波動性總是在第二季度和第三季度之間交叉。

So all of those things are causing us to be very conservative.

所以所有這些事情都導致我們非常保守。

Great. And then my last 1 was just -- I just want to clarify sort of the monthly cadence on the quarter. So it sounds like maybe comps were -- April was the worst month of comps. I think there's a better launch calendar. That's where the launch calendar improved the most in April. So is it that like your casual footwear business and apparel business really -- and you said the liquidation times in the launch is still good. So is it like the casual apparel and footwear business, just -- you just saw more precipitous declines in those businesses in April. Is that sort of a fair assessment?

偉大的。然後我的最後一個只是 - 我只是想澄清一下該季度的每月節奏。所以聽起來也許是——四月是比較最糟糕的一個月。我認為有更好的發布日曆。這是四月份發布日曆改進最多的地方。是不是就像你的休閒鞋業務和服裝業務一樣——你說發佈時的清算時間仍然很好。就像休閒服裝和鞋類業務一樣，您剛剛看到這些業務在 4 月份出現了更急劇的下滑。這樣的評價公平嗎？

Yes, that's how we define it. I'm not sure if I would use casual, but we saw no deceleration at all in the launch product from a liquidation perspective, what we call the day players again. But secondary franchises, secondary brands, as we've called out in previous quarters, have gotten really challenging and has slowed down. The consumer is being extremely selective what they're interested in and what they're willing to purchase. And that continues to put some pressure on some of our liquidation efforts in those products, where we're increasing promotions and markdowns to try and accelerate it.

是的，我們就是這麼定義的。我不確定我是否會使用休閒遊戲，但從清算的角度來看，我們在發布的產品中完全沒有看到任何減速，我們再次稱之為日間玩家。但正如我們在前幾個季度所指出的那樣，二級特許經營、二級品牌已經變得非常具有挑戰性並且已經放緩。消費者對他們感興趣和願意購買的東西非常挑剔。這繼續給我們在這些產品上的一些清算工作帶來一些壓力，我們正在增加促銷和降價以試圖加速它。

Our next question is from Sam Poser with Williams Trading.

我們的下一個問題來自 Williams Trading 的 Sam Poser。

Can you talk a little bit about how you are planning the business, any evolution in the process of planning? Because while same-store sales are going to decelerate for the rest of the year, which you talked about before, you're expecting some margin improvement in the back -- margins going to get less worse than the back half. So I'm wondering sort of from a planning process, taking the macro out of it, what can you guys do better to get there in the face of the environment?

您能談談您是如何規劃業務的嗎？規劃過程中有何演變？因為雖然同店銷售在今年剩餘時間裡將會減速，正如你之前提到的，但你預計下半年的利潤率會有所改善——利潤率將不會比下半年差。所以我想知道，從規劃過程來看，從宏觀角度來看，面對環境，你們能做些什麼更好來實現這一目標？

Yes, Sam, it's Jared. I'll start. So obviously, first and foremost, we're obviously not happy with where we are. We're not happy with the composition of the inventory right now, but we are happy with our continued access to high liquidation, highly scarce product that we call A players. So we still see that providing a lot of momentum, and we're making a lot of consumers very happy when we provide that inventory.

是的，薩姆，我是賈里德。我開始吧。顯然，首先也是最重要的是，我們顯然對自己的現狀並不滿意。我們對目前的庫存構成並不滿意，但我們對繼續獲得高清算、高度稀缺的產品（我們稱之為 A 級玩家）感到滿意。因此，我們仍然看到這提供了很大的動力，當我們提供這些庫存時，我們讓很多消費者非常高興。

As we go through into the back half of the year, really starting in the second quarter, we were significantly more conservative with regard to our buys, not only with how much we were buying, but also what we were buying with just an intense focus on only those A players as we described. So we believe that's going to help us significantly. Our inventory liquidation efforts that we've had underway with regard to secondary brands and secondary franchises are going a little slower than we like, again, based off the consumer environment and based off the consumer being very selective.

當我們進入今年下半年時，實際上是從第二季度開始，我們在購買方面明顯更加保守，不僅包括我們購買的數量，還包括我們重點關注的購買內容只針對我們所描述的那些 A 級玩家。所以我們相信這將對我們有很大幫助。我們對二級品牌和二級特許經營權進行的庫存清理工作進展比我們希望的要慢一些，這同樣是基於消費者環境和消費者的選擇性。

But that's all we have coming in through the balance of the year is what we believe to be that high-grade product. And we do expect, as we get our inventory levels back below last year levels in the back half of the year, we'll see some improvements in our aged inventory. And that, we believe, puts a little less pressure from a markdown and promotional cadence that we've been under.

但這就是我們在今年餘下時間裡所擁有的一切，我們認為是高檔產品。我們確實預計，隨著今年下半年我們的庫存水平恢復到去年水平以下，我們將看到老化庫存有所改善。我們相信，這會減輕我們一直面臨的降價和促銷節奏帶來的壓力。

And when you say your inventory is going to be below last year, to what degree, I mean -- because I thought you ended Q4, probably about $50 million heavy. I think it may have gone up to about $90 million now. And I figure you still got to get it to about at least 10% below last year from a pure dollar perspective to sort of be optimum. Am I thinking about that right?

當你說你的庫存將低於去年時，我的意思是——因為我認為你在第四季度末的庫存量可能約為 5000 萬美元。我想現在可能已經漲到9000萬美元左右了。我認為，從純美元的角度來看，仍需使其比去年至少低 10% 左右，才能達到最佳水平。我這樣想對嗎？

I think you're on the right track. I don't know if we will land in the exact same place from an optimum perspective, but we are tracking to get below last year level, likely more in the single-digit range by the end of the third quarter and then a significant reduction by the end of the fourth quarter at a similar level to what you just described.

我認為你走在正確的道路上。我不知道從最佳角度來看，我們是否會落在完全相同的位置，但我們正在追踪低於去年的水平，到第三季度末可能會更多在個位數範圍內，然後大幅減少到第四季度末，與您剛才描述的水平類似。

Again, I think we want to be very careful with getting real specific here. We have our aspirations of where we want to be from an inventory perspective. We're confident in our plan, but there's a lot of unknowns at this point that we want to make sure that we take into account. But your thought process around optimal level of inventory is not that far off from where ours is.

再說一次，我認為我們要非常小心地在這裡提供真正的具體內容。從庫存角度來看，我們對自己想要達到的目標有自己的願望。我們對我們的計劃充滿信心，但目前存在很多未知因素，我們希望確保將其考慮在內。但您圍繞最佳庫存水平的思考過程與我們的相差並不遠。

Mike, can I ask 1 thing?

邁克，我可以問一件事嗎？

Of course.

當然。

Over the last, I think, 4 or 5 quarters, you've missed -- the numbers have moved around, you've missed the Street estimates and so on. So have you taken sort of a -- I mean, what makes you feel comfortable you've sort of taken the draconian enough view of this year in the -- in what you've now put out there?

我認為，在過去的四五個季度裡，你錯過了——數字發生了變化，你錯過了華爾街的估計等等。那麼，你是否對今年發布的內容採取了某種——我的意思是，是什麼讓你感到舒服，你對今年採取了足夠嚴厲的看法？

Thank you. I think you have to track back to the cause, right? What's the cause of change? The approximate cause of change in Q1, the biggest contributor was the fact that tax returns came in significantly unfavorable. And I haven't found anybody who had that in their guidance. I haven't found anybody who said, "Well, yes, you should have known that." So we didn't know that. We were surprised. We didn't stand around and wait for it to happen to us. We began to take action very rapidly.

謝謝。我想你必須追根溯源，對吧？變化的原因是什麼？第一季度變化的大概原因，最大的貢獻者是納稅申報表明顯不利。我還沒有發現任何人有這樣的指導。我還沒有發現有人說：“嗯，是的，你應該知道這一點。”所以我們不知道這一點。我們很驚訝。我們沒有袖手旁觀，等待它發生在我們身上。我們開始非常迅速地採取行動。

In anticipation of risk in the year, we also, as we communicated, took on a systematic review of our costs, which are in the early innings, but we're certainly doing that. So -- okay, so get back to the question. So what happened? In the backdrop of pretty serious macroeconomic challenges, we had a specific and pinpoint Q1 problem. And that being a significant part of our year was part of the downdraft.

考慮到今年的風險，正如我們所傳達的，我們還對我們的成本進行了系統審查，這些審查還處於初期階段，但我們確實正在這樣做。那麼——好吧，回到問題上來。所以發生了什麼事？在宏觀經濟挑戰相當嚴峻的背景下，我們遇到了一個具體而明確的第一季度問題。這是我們這一年的重要組成部分，也是衰退的一部分。

In addition to that then going forward, we still have the overhang of the consumer, the consumer sentiment, the macro pressures, et cetera, along with a somewhat higher inventory level entering into Q2 than we anticipated, which is directly related to the lower sales than our expectation. So that allows us -- doesn't allow us, forces us to change some of our thinking around gross margin, more inventory, lower gross margin. Now these are not huge changes, but they're material in the plan.

除此之外，展望未來，我們仍然面臨消費者、消費者情緒、宏觀壓力等方面的壓力，以及進入第二季度的庫存水平略高於我們的預期，這與銷量的下降有直接關係比我們的預期。因此，這允許我們——不允許我們，迫使我們改變一些關於毛利率的想法，更多的庫存，更低的毛利率。現在這些都不是巨大的變化，但它們是計劃中的實質性內容。

So now you've got fewer sales, a little bit less gross margin, and as a result, we have to be prudent. We believe we are being prudent on the SG&A line and the interest lines. So interest being 1 of those things that we've talked a little bit about. Interest is going to be slightly higher, somewhat higher than we anticipated because, again, sales, then leads to inventory, which then leads to debt, which then leads to interest, and debt and money has a cost now.

所以現在銷售額減少了，毛利率也減少了一點，因此我們必須保持謹慎。我們認為，我們對銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）線和利息線持謹慎態度。因此，興趣是我們已經討論過的事情之一。利息會稍微高一點，比我們預期的高一些，因為銷售會導致庫存，庫存會導致債務，利息會導致利息，而債務和金錢現在都有成本。

So we're managing all those things. We put them together. I think this is a prudent way to approach the guidance.

所以我們正在管理所有這些事情。我們把它們放在一起。我認為這是處理指導意見的謹慎方式。

Our next question is from Cristina Fernandez with Telsey Advisory Group.

我們的下一個問題來自特爾西諮詢小組的克里斯蒂娜·費爾南德斯。

I wanted to ask about your view of the industry with a lot of the brands and retailers already having reported. What is your view as far as the inventory in the marketplace, how long would it take inventory to normalize and the level of promotions, where do you see them now versus pre-pandemic?

我想問一下您對這個行業的看法，很多品牌和零售商已經報導過這個行業。您對市場庫存有何看法？庫存恢復正常需要多長時間以及促銷水平？與大流行前相比，您認為現在的庫存情況如何？

Cristina, it's Jared. I think that from an expectation perspective, I think we felt fairly confident that by the second -- by the midway point of this year, a lot of the promotional environment from an industry perspective, would be a lot better. I think since that point, the consumer health has certainly changed and specifically for our industry. Their focus has narrowed significantly around what they're engaging with, what they're going to purchase. So that I think, as I called out in my commentary, I think that moves the line at least through the end of the third quarter, where I would expect that we'll see significant promotions, but it could be longer than that, depending on what happens with the consumer through the rest of the year.

克里斯蒂娜，我是賈里德。我認為，從預期的角度來看，我認為我們相當有信心，到今年中期，從行業角度來看，很多促銷環境都會好得多。我認為從那時起，消費者的健康狀況肯定發生了變化，特別是對於我們的行業而言。他們的注意力明顯集中在他們正在參與的事情以及他們將要購買的事情上。因此，我認為，正如我在評論中指出的那樣，我認為這至少會持續到第三季度末，我預計我們會看到重大晉升，但時間可能會更長，具體取決於關於今年剩餘時間裡消費者會發生什麼。

But recently, we've seen significantly more promotions in the marketplace, which certainly indicates to us that the cleanup of the industry as a whole could take a little bit longer than we were expecting.

但最近，我們看到市場上的促銷活動明顯增多，這無疑向我們表明，整個行業的清理可能需要比我們預期更長的時間。

And then my second question is around the cost-cutting initiatives across the organization. Last call, you talked about SG&A reigning that in. Can you give more color and update of where you are in your cost-cutting initiatives? And anything incremental you're doing now based on the lower sales outlook?

我的第二個問題是圍繞整個組織的成本削減計劃。上次通話中，您談到了 SG&A 控制這一問題。您能否提供更多信息並更新您在成本削減計劃中的進展情況？基於較低的銷售前景，您現在正在採取哪些增量措施？

Yes. Thank you. And we did talk about that last time. We brought it up this time. It is a systematic review. We're relatively early in it, but it has yielded some results, some of that contributed to the SG&A, but there are other reasons for the SG&A leverage in Q1 that are called out in the press release. But I think it is also worth noting that those investments that we've made over the past few years are bearing fruit and some of it in SG&A. So Ben, you want to speak to some of the things that you're doing?

是的。謝謝。上次我們確實討論過這一點。這次我們提出來了。這是一次系統的回顧。我們處於相對較早的階段，但已經取得了一些成果，其中一些對 SG&A 做出了貢獻，但新聞稿中指出了第一季度 SG&A 槓桿率的其他原因。但我認為還值得注意的是，我們過去幾年所做的投資正在取得成果，其中一些投資在銷售、管理和管理方面。 Ben，你想談談你正在做的一些事情嗎？

As Mike mentioned, we have invested in the business over the last few years and particularly in respect to the mobile environment, a mobile platform at a store level. That's helped us in a couple of things. Obviously, enhanced experience inside the store, very similar to our experience on the web and bringing the omnichannel experience in the store, but it's also allowed us to become more productive and more engaged with -- more engagement between our associates and our consumers. That's allowed us to take some of the cost out of the business, quite honestly, from a labor perspective at store level, and we become more productive.

正如邁克提到的，我們在過去幾年中對該業務進行了投資，特別是在移動環境、商店級別的移動平台方面。這對我們有一些幫助。顯然，店內的體驗得到了增強，與我們在網絡上的體驗非常相似，並在店內帶來了全渠道體驗，但它也使我們變得更加高效，更加參與——我們的員工和消費者之間有更多的參與。老實說，從商店層面的勞動力角度來看，這使我們能夠降低業務成本，並且我們的生產力變得更高。

And we've accelerated some of those efforts. We've got more on the table, but really through those investments over the last few years, allow us to kind of push that a little bit.

我們已經加快了其中一些努力。我們已經有了更多的想法，但實際上通過過去幾年的這些投資，讓我們能夠稍微推動這一點。

Cristina, this is Bob. Just to kind of finish that kind of thought off. One of the things we are still dealing with as much as we are working actively to reduce some kind of ongoing structural costs within the organization, also taking advantage periodically of some discretionary opportunities to reduce spend. But 1 thing we can't forget about is as we have obviously lowered our revenue guidance, there is still real inflation affecting wages and the goods and services that we need to support the organization.

克里斯蒂娜，這是鮑勃。只是為了結束這種想法。我們仍在處理的一件事是，我們正在積極努力減少組織內某種持續的結構性成本，同時定期利用一些可自由支配的機會來減少支出。但我們不能忘記的一件事是，由於我們明顯降低了收入指導，因此實際通脹仍然會影響工資以及我們支持組織所需的商品和服務。

So as much as we are doing right at the moment, I think this is going to pay bigger dividends into future years. But this year, still a little bit under pressure from a leverage standpoint, again, just because we've got that tough sales environment as well.

因此，儘管我們目前正在做的事情，我認為這將為未來幾年帶來更大的紅利。但今年，從槓桿的角度來看，仍然面臨著一些壓力，只是因為我們的銷售環境也很艱難。

Our next question is from Justin Kleber with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Justin Kleber 和 Baird。

It's Justin Kleber. Jared, I wanted to follow up on the promotional environment. Last year, we're talking about apparel and now it's Footwear. So just can you talk about where the Footwear promotions are concentrated? Is it just broad-based outside of the launch product? And then is this really are you guys driving promotions? Or are you simply responding to what some of your competitors are doing in the marketplace?

這是賈斯汀·克萊伯。 Jared，我想跟進促銷環境。去年，我們談論的是服裝，現在是鞋類。那麼您能談談鞋類促銷活動集中在哪裡嗎？它只是在發布產品之外具有廣泛的基礎嗎？那麼這真的是你們在推動促銷嗎？或者您只是對一些競爭對手在市場上所做的事情做出回應？

Yes. Thanks, Justin. It's actually both. As we talked a lot in the back half of last year, we moved and we were very focused on getting our apparel seasonally appropriate, getting apparel cleaned up, getting to the right inventory level and we accomplished all that. We feel good about where our Apparel inventory is today, although apparel continues to be under significant pressure from a sales standpoint, just due to the consumer environment and general trends.

是的。謝謝，賈斯汀。實際上兩者都是。正如我們在去年下半年談了很多，我們搬家了，我們非常專注於讓我們的服裝適合季節，清理服裝，達到正確的庫存水平，我們完成了所有這些。我們對目前的服裝庫存狀況感到滿意，儘管從銷售角度來看，由於消費環境和總體趨勢，服裝仍然面臨著巨大壓力。

So our focus now has shifted on the footwear side. It's not as simple as just launch and non-launch. There are many products that are not launched that we would consider to be highly scarce and high heat that are still performing extraordinarily well. But some of the secondary franchises, tertiary franchises, secondary brands has really been a significant slowdown.

所以我們現在的重點已經轉移到鞋類方面。這不僅僅是啟動和不啟動那麼簡單。有許多我們認為高度稀缺和熱度很高的尚未推出的產品仍然表現出色。但一些二級特許經營、三級特許經營、二級品牌確實出現了明顯的放緩。

So some of our promotional engagement has been a response from a marketplace perspective, but some of it's also been a deterioration in what we saw at the back end of the first quarter and our ability to really obviate some of that inventory. So it's a combination of both.

因此，我們的一些促銷活動是從市場角度來看的回應，但其中一些也是我們在第一季度末看到的情況惡化以及我們真正消除部分庫存的能力。所以它是兩者的結合。

Okay. Bob, can you help me a bit on the gross margin. If I look at your first quarter gross margin rate, it's always been above the full year rate by at least 100 basis points, if not more, outside of the calendar '20 with the pandemic and stores being closed. But your full year gross margin guide this year, it's above what you just delivered in the first quarter despite more promotions and you have occupancy that's going to flip to a headwind given the comp outlook. So why would that be the case?

好的。鮑勃，你能幫我了解一下毛利率嗎？如果我看一下你們第一季度的毛利率，在 20 世紀 20 世紀大流行和商店關閉的情況下，它總是比全年毛利率至少高出 100 個基點，甚至更多。但今年的全年毛利率指導，仍高於第一季度剛剛交付的水平，儘管有更多促銷活動，而且考慮到競爭前景，您的入住率將出現逆風。那麼為什麼會這樣呢？

Yes. I think, again, we kind of feel like with the heavy promotional environment in the first half of the year, we think that's going to drag down margins for that first 2 quarters, but then there's some lift coming in the back half of the year. Again, harder to predict exactly how quickly or how significant that lift will be, but the goal is that as inventory gets cleaned up, again, Jared touched on this earlier, less need to promote and reduce price in the back half of the year.

是的。我認為，我們感覺上半年的促銷環境很重，我們認為這將拖累前兩個季度的利潤率，但下半年會有一些提升。同樣，很難準確預測這種提升的速度或幅度，但目標是隨著庫存的清理，賈里德再次早些時候提到了這一點，在今年下半年不太需要促銷和降價。

The other thing is we are starting to get some other leverage in terms of our freight and logistics operations costs, so that's helping to offset some of the pure product margin headwinds that we're dealing with. So again, it's kind of like we feel like we're kind of dealing with a little bit heavier kind of challenge in the first part of the year and hopefully get some lift, like I said, as the year goes on. So that's the thinking as we look at the full year outlook.

另一件事是，我們開始在貨運和物流運營成本方面獲得一些其他槓桿，因此這有助於抵消我們正在應對的一些純粹產品利潤的不利因素。再說一遍，我們感覺今年上半年我們正在應對一些更重的挑戰，希望隨著這一年的繼續，我們會得到一些提升，就像我說的那樣。這就是我們在展望全年前景時的想法。

Okay. That's helpful. Last question, just on new stores. Can you guys just comment given the environment, I mean, how new stores are performing? Or are they hitting your internal hurdle rates? I mean does it make sense to slow the pace of store growth until the environment, I guess, returns to some form of normal, whatever that's going to look like into next year?

好的。這很有幫助。最後一個問題，關於新店。你們能否評論一下目前的環境，我的意思是，新店的表現如何？或者他們是否達到了你的內部最低門檻？我的意思是，在環境（我猜）恢復到某種形式的正常狀態之前，放慢商店增長的速度是否有意義，無論明年會是什麼樣子？

Justin, it's Jared. Obviously, we continue to look at this in great detail. And our new stores are performing exceptionally well. So we still see it as a real strong use of capital. New store performance along with remodels, along with new storefront signs are having a really significant payout on our investments. So we do not plan at this point to slow the growth down that we've already committed to.

賈斯汀，我是賈里德。顯然，我們將繼續詳細研究這個問題。我們的新店表現異常出色。所以我們仍然認為這是對資本的真正強力利用。新店的表現、改造以及新的店面標誌為我們的投資帶來了非常可觀的回報。因此，我們目前不打算放慢我們已經承諾的增長速度。

Our last question is from John Lawrence with The Benchmark Company.

我們的最後一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的約翰·勞倫斯 (John Lawrence)。

Jared, would you talk a little bit about that basket, I mean, in normal times without this pressure, somebody picks up a pair of shoes and maybe the attach rate for apparel. Can you just talk about how that's changed from a basket perspective? Or is somebody just waiting for a promotion on the apparel side? Or just dive into that a little bit, please.

賈里德，你能談談那個籃子嗎？我的意思是，在正常情況下，沒有這種壓力，有人會拿起一雙鞋子，也許還有服裝的附加費。您能從籃子的角度談談這是如何變化的嗎？或者有人只是在等待服裝方面的促銷活動？或者請稍微深入探討一下。

Yes, John. We're seeing it go down some. I mean, obviously, our teams continue to focus on products that connects and continue to deploy our toe-to-head strategy, which we still believe is the right strategy. Some of those opportunities around those connected outfits are now happening over multiple transactions. But at the same time, the primary driver of the business is footwear, the average retail price of footwear has skyrocketed over the last few years, and that's putting a lot of pressure on apparel.

是的，約翰。我們看到它有所下降。我的意思是，顯然，我們的團隊繼續專注於連接的產品，並繼續部署我們的面對面戰略，我們仍然認為這是正確的戰略。圍繞這些互聯機構的一些機會現在正在通過多次交易發生。但與此同時，該業務的主要驅動力是鞋類，過去幾年鞋類的平均零售價格飆升，這給服裝帶來了很大的壓力。

So we are absolutely seeing less apparel being sold in conjunction with footwear in the current environment.

因此，在當前環境下，我們絕對會看到與鞋類一起銷售的服裝越來越少。

We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for closing comments.

我們的問答環節已經結束。我想將會議轉回管理層以徵求結束意見。

Well, again, thank you for being here today. We appreciate it. None of these results were according to our expectations. You've heard everything we had to say about our business model, and we believe in it. So we -- again, we appreciate it, and we hope everyone has a safe, long weekend and celebrates Memorial Day. Thank you.

好吧，再次感謝您今天來到這裡。我們很感激。這些結果都不符合我們的預期。您已經聽過我們對我們的商業模式所說的一切，並且我們相信它。因此，我們再次表示感謝，希望每個人都能度過一個安全、長周末並慶祝陣亡將士紀念日。謝謝。

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，感謝您的參與。