勞氏公司 (LOW) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Lowe's Companies Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Rob, and I'll be your operator for today's call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

大家，早安。歡迎參加勞氏公司 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。我叫羅布，我將擔任您今天通話的接線生。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。

I'll now turn the call over to Kate Pearlman, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer.

我現在將把電話轉給投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管凱特·皮爾曼（Kate Pearlman）。

Thank you, and good morning. Here with me today are Marvin Ellison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Bill Boltz, our Executive Vice President, Merchandising; Joe McFarland, our Executive Vice President, Stores; and Brandon Sink, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，早安。今天與我在一起的有董事長兼執行長馬文‧艾里森 (Marvin Ellison)； Bill Boltz，我們的行銷執行副總裁； Joe McFarland，我們的商店執行副總裁；以及我們的執行副總裁兼財務長布蘭登·辛克（Brandon Sink）。

I would like to remind you that our notice regarding forward-looking statements is included in our press release this morning, which can be found on Lowe's Investor Relations website. During this call, we will be making comments that are forward-looking, including our expectations for fiscal 2024. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied as a result of various risks, uncertainties and important factors, including those discussed in the risk factors, MD&A and other sections of our annual report on Form 10-K and our other SEC filings. Additionally, we'll be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these items to U.S. GAAP can be found in the quarterly earnings section of our Investor Relations website.

我想提醒您，我們有關前瞻性陳述的通知包含在今天上午的新聞稿中，您可以在勞氏投資者關係網站上找到該新聞稿。在本次電話會議中，我們將發表前瞻性評論，包括我們對2024 財年的預期。由於各種風險、不確定性和重要因素（包括風險中討論的因素），實際結果可能與明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。我們的 10-K 表格年度報告和其他 SEC 備案文件中的因素、MD&A 以及其他部分。此外，我們也將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些項目與美國公認會計原則（U.S. GAAP）的調節可以在我們投資者關係網站的季度收益部分找到。

Now I'll turn the call over to Marvin.

現在我將把電話轉給馬文。

Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone. In the fourth quarter, comparable sales declined 6.2% as DIY customers continue to remain cautious with their home improvement spend and harsh weather impacted large parts of the U.S. in January. In spite of these challenges, I'm very pleased with the excellent customer service in our stores and strong operating profit performance for the quarter, driven by a disciplined focus on our perpetual productivity improvement initiatives or PPI.

謝謝你，凱特，大家早安。第四季度，可比銷售額下降 6.2%，原因是 DIY 客戶對其家居裝修支出繼續保持謹慎態度，而且 1 月份惡劣天氣影響了美國大部分地區。儘管面臨這些挑戰，我對我們商店出色的客戶服務和本季強勁的營業利潤表現感到非常滿意，這得益於我們對永久生產力改進計劃（PPI）的嚴格關注。

Looking at the full fiscal year 2023, we delivered sales of $86.4 billion, adjusted operating margin of 13.3% and adjusted earnings per share of $13.09.

綜觀 2023 年整個財年，我們的銷售額為 864 億美元，調整後營業利潤率為 13.3%，調整後每股盈餘為 13.09 美元。

Beginning with our DIY sales results. November and December trends improved from the third quarter, followed by a sharp drop in traffic during periods of extreme weather in January. Macroeconomic factors like persistent inflation and a stagnant housing market continue to make DIY customers and consumers hesitant to spend on big ticket purchases for their homes. And those who did engage in home improvement activities took on smaller, nondiscretionary projects with a heightened focus on value. This impacted demand for bigger ticket interior categories like kitchen and bath, flooring and appliances.

從我們的 DIY 銷售業績開始。 11 月和 12 月的趨勢較第三季有所改善，隨後 1 月極端天氣期間流量急劇下降。持續的通貨膨脹和停滯的房地產市場等宏觀經濟因素繼續讓 DIY 客戶和消費者在大筆購買房屋時猶豫不決。而那些確實從事家居裝修活動的人則從事較小的、非自由裁量的項目，並且更加重視價值。這影響了對廚房和浴室、地板和電器等高價內裝類別的需求。

In last quarter, we shifted our strategy to adapt to these changing consumer behaviors resulting in a record Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales and improved holiday sell-through and margins. While we're pleased to see these results, we're now focused on winning spring and we're excited to see how the customer responds to our more targeted traffic-driving marketing strategy and our lineup of great spring products at an outstanding value. Bill will provide more detail on our compelling product assortment for spring later in the call.

上個季度，我們改變了策略，以適應這些不斷變化的消費者行為，從而實現了黑色星期五和網路星期一線上銷售的創紀錄水平，並提高了假日銷售率和利潤率。雖然我們很高興看到這些結果，但我們現在專注於贏得春季，我們很高興看到客戶如何回應我們更有針對性的流量驅動行銷策略以及我們具有卓越價值的優質春季產品系列。比爾將在稍後的電話會議中提供有關我們引人注目的春季產品系列的更多詳細資訊。

Among the most exciting changes for this spring is our new DIY loyalty program that we announced in January. This first of its kind rewards program designed for DIY customers gives these value-focused homeowners more reasons to choose Lowe's. In a marketplace where nearly all DIY home improvement customers shop multiple retailers, MyLowe's Rewards loyalty program is designed to get these DIY customers to choose Lowe's over other retail competitors for the home improvement needs. We expect this to drive traffic and return visits while also enabling us to personalize offers and experiences for our loyalty members, creating a flywheel effect that increases DIY loyalty and demand over time, both in-store and online. MyLowe's Rewards will be available nationwide in March just in time for spring making Lowe's the only national home improvement retailer with a distinct loyalty offering for both Pro and DIY customers.

今年春天最令人興奮的變化之一是我們在一月份宣布的新 DIY 忠誠度計劃。這項專為 DIY 客戶設計的首創獎勵計劃為這些注重價值的房主提供了更多選擇 Lowe's 的理由。在幾乎所有 DIY 家居裝修客戶都會在多個零售商處購物的市場中，MyLowe 的獎勵忠誠度計劃旨在讓這些 DIY 客戶選擇 Lowe's，而不是其他零售競爭對手來滿足家居裝修需求。我們希望這能夠增加流量和回訪，同時也使我們能夠為忠誠會員提供個人化的優惠和體驗，創造飛輪效應，隨著時間的推移，提高 DIY 忠誠度和需求，無論是店內還是在線。 MyLowe's Rewards 將於 3 月春季在全國推出，這使得 Lowe's 成為唯一一家為專業客戶和 DIY 客戶提供獨特忠誠度服務的全國家居裝修零售商。

Now moving to Pro. Despite a challenging macro environment, and difficult weather in January, our comparable Pro sales were flat for the quarter. As a reminder, our core Pro customer is a small- to medium-sized business owner. And in our recent Pro survey, these customers told us their backlogs are in line with last year, and they are cautiously optimistic about their ability to generate and close leads in 2024. We remain focused on executing our holistic Pro strategy with more convenient fulfillment options and enhanced product assortment, creating a best-in-class digital experience and a rewards program that incentivizes long-term loyalty. As these investments scale and mature, they will increasingly save Pros time and money, enabling us to earn more of their business as we aim to grow Pro at 2x the market rate.

現在轉向專業版。儘管宏觀環境充滿挑戰，而且 1 月天氣惡劣，但我們本季的可比 Pro 銷售額仍持平。提醒一下，我們的核心 Pro 客戶就是中小型企業主。在我們最近的Pro 調查中，這些客戶告訴我們，他們的積壓訂單與去年一致，他們對2024 年產生和關閉潛在客戶的能力持謹慎樂觀態度。我們仍然專注於透過更方便的履行選項執行我們的整體Pro 策略並增強產品種類，創造一流的數位體驗和激勵長期忠誠度的獎勵計劃。隨著這些投資的規模和成熟，它們將越來越多地節省專業人士的時間和金錢，使我們能夠從他們的業務中獲得更多收入，因為我們的目標是以市場速度兩倍的速度成長專業人士。

Now turning to online. Comparable sales were flat for the quarter, and we're pleased to see higher conversion rates and lower returns, a positive indicator that customers are responding to our faster fulfillment and improved digital experience. Our talented technology team remains focused on developing a best-in-class omnichannel experience to seamlessly serve our multigenerational customer base. Including co-creating innovative customer solutions with world-class technology companies like our immersive kitchen design app for Apple's new Vision Pro headset and using generative AI to improve how we sell, shop and work like our home improvement ChatGPT plug-in.

現在轉向線上。本季的可比銷售額持平，我們很高興看到更高的轉換率和更低的回報，這是一個積極的跡象，表明客戶對我們更快的履行和改進的數位體驗做出了反應。我們才華橫溢的技術團隊仍然專注於開發一流的全通路體驗，以無縫地服務我們的多代客戶群。包括與世界一流的科技公司共同創建創新的客戶解決方案，例如適用於Apple 新款Vision Pro 耳機的沉浸式廚房設計應用程序，以及使用生成式AI 來改善我們的銷售、購物和工作方式，例如我們的居家裝修ChatGPT 插件。

Now let's transition to our view to macro. As we look forward, many of you are asking when we expect home improvement demand to inflect? Although it's a very fair question, unfortunately, it's still very difficult to predict. And while there is increased confidence of a soft landing, there's still a lot of speculation on the timing of anticipated interest rate cuts in the pace of slowing inflation. It's also unclear how quickly the consumer will react to these changes and how quickly their spending habits will change. Overall, the consumer is financially healthy. But in this post-pandemic time frame, customers are still showing a preference of spending on services with elevated demand for travel, restaurants and other experiences. And while we anticipate these trends will normalize, the timing is uncertain.

現在讓我們把視角轉向宏觀。當我們展望未來時，許多人會問我們預期家居裝修需求何時會改變？儘管這是一個非常公平的問題，但不幸的是，它仍然很難預測。儘管人們對軟著陸的信心有所增強，但隨著通膨放緩，人們對預期降息的時機仍有許多猜測。目前還不清楚消費者對這些變化的反應速度以及他們的消費習慣改變的速度有多快。整體而言，消費者的財務狀況是健康的。但在疫情過後的時期，顧客仍表現出對服務的消費偏好，對旅遊、餐飲和其他體驗的需求增加。雖然我們預計這些趨勢將會正常化，但具體時間尚不確定。

Also, existing home sales are at levels we've not seen in almost 30 years. And even as mortgage rates decline, 2/3 of homeowners remain locked in at rates below 4%, which may keep many on the sidelines. Due to these factors, we expect DIY demand to remain under pressure, and Brandon will provide more detail on our 2024 expectations later in the call. However, we're very confident in our strategic plan and in our ability to execute at a high level in a multitude of economic environments.

此外，現房銷售達到近 30 年來未見的水平。即使抵押貸款利率下降，2/3 的房主仍將利率鎖定在 4% 以下，這可能會讓許多人保持觀望。由於這些因素，我們預計 DIY 需求仍將面臨壓力，布蘭登將在稍後的電話會議中提供有關我們 2024 年預期的更多詳細資訊。然而，我們對我們的戰略計劃以及在多種經濟環境中高水準執行的能力非常有信心。

Despite near-term uncertainty, let me remind you why we remain bullish on the medium- and long-term outlook for home improvement. The 3 core demand drivers of our business, disposable personal income, home price appreciation and the age of housing stock remain supportive. When you hear these factors with trends like chronic undersupply of homes, millennial household formation, baby boomers aging in place and a sustained number of people working from home, you can see why we are confident that home improvement demand will trend upwards over time across both homeowners and Pros. And in the meantime, we're focused on controlling what we control, and making the right investments in our Total Home strategy to modernize our supply chain and IT infrastructure, localize and improve our merchandising assortments, rolling out a Pro and DIY loyalty program, continuing to elevate our store environment and developing a best-in-class digital and omnichannel experience. All of these investments in our Total Home strategy will position Lowe's to win in the short run and set us up for strong sales and profit growth when the home improvement market recovers.

儘管近期存在不確定性，但讓我提醒您為什麼我們仍然看好家居改善的中長期前景。我們業務的三大核心需求驅動因素：個人可支配收入、房價升值和房屋存量的年齡仍具有支撐作用。當您聽到這些因素以及諸如房屋長期供應不足、千禧一代家庭組建、嬰兒潮一代就地老齡化以及持續大量在家工作等趨勢時，您就會明白為什麼我們有信心隨著時間的推移，家居裝修需求將在兩個地區呈現上升趨勢房主和優點。同時，我們專注於控制我們所控制的內容，並對我們的Total Home 策略進行正確的投資，以實現我們的供應鏈和IT 基礎設施的現代化，本地化和改進我們的商品分類，推出Pro和DIY 忠誠度計劃，繼續提升我們的商店環境並開發一流的數位和全通路體驗。我們對整體家居策略的所有這些投資將使勞氏在短期內獲勝，並為我們在家居裝修市場復甦時實現強勁的銷售和利潤增長奠定基礎。

Before I close, I'd like to extend my appreciation to our hard-working associates for their commitment to serving customers. In recognition of the dedication, we awarded our frontline associates with an end-of-year discretionary bonus of $140 million. This is our way of saying thank you to hourly associates and assistant managers who serve our customers and make our communities better. As I travel across the country visiting stores and conducting town halls to hear directly from our frontline associates, I'm consistently humbled by their passion, commitment and their expertise.

在結束之前，我要向辛勤工作的員工致以謝意，感謝他們致力於為客戶提供服務。為了表彰前線員工的奉獻精神，我們向前線員工頒發了 1.4 億元的酌情花紅。這是我們向小時工和助理經理表示感謝的方式，他們為我們的客戶提供服務並使我們的社區變得更好。當我走訪全國各地的商店並主持市政廳直接聽取第一線員工的意見時，他們的熱情、奉獻精神和專業知識一直讓我感到謙卑。

Now I'll turn the call over to Bill.

現在我將把電話轉給比爾。

Thanks, Marvin, and good morning, everyone. While softer DIY demand trends continued this quarter, we remain focused on highlighting value and convenience, both in our stores and online to a price-conscious consumer, all while maintaining a balanced focus on profitability. We are also staying committed to serving a resilient Pro, which resulted in flat Pro comps as we continue to enhance our Pro product and service offering.

謝謝馬文，大家早安。儘管本季 DIY 需求趨勢持續疲軟，但我們仍然專注於在我們的商店和網路上向對價格敏感的消費者強調價值和便利性，同時保持對獲利能力的平衡關注。我們也始終致力於為有彈性的專業人士提供服務，隨著我們繼續增強我們的專業產品和服務，這導致專業人士的業績表現持平。

Beginning with building products. This was our best performing area with positive comps in Building Materials. This strength was fueled by an increased demand for roofing and drywall, combined with improved fulfillment capabilities and in-stock positions to better serve our Pro customers. Throughout the quarter, we continued to launch additional client products across our stores, bringing the #1 tool brand for electrical and HVAC professionals back to Lowe's. We now have the largest assortment of client tools in the home improvement retail channel with initial sales exceeding our expectations across electrical, hand tools and stackable tool storage. Throughout the store, we continue to introduce new and innovative products to Lowe's, like Pella's hidden screen windows. This new window includes a built-in screen that appears when the window is open, but hides away when it's closed.

從建立產品開始。這是我們表現最好的領域，在建築材料方面具有積極的競爭力。這種優勢是由於對屋頂和乾牆的需求增加，加上履行能力和庫存狀況的提高，以更好地服務我們的專業客戶。整個季度，我們繼續在商店中推出更多客戶產品，將電氣和暖通空調專業人士的第一個工具品牌帶回 Lowe's。我們現在擁有家居裝修零售通路中種類最齊全的客戶工具，電動工具、手動工具和可堆疊工具存放的初始銷量超出了我們的預期。在整個商店中，我們不斷向 Lowe's 推出新的創新產品，例如 Pella 的隱藏式紗窗。這個新視窗包括一個內建螢幕，該螢幕在視窗打開時顯示，但在視窗關閉時隱藏。

Turning to home decor. This division was significantly impacted by softer DIY demand in bigger ticket interior categories like kitchens and bath, flooring and appliances. This past quarter, we pivoted our go-to-market strategy to be more responsive to a shift in shopping trends, like the appliance consumers' increasing preference for a single unit purchase and their search for the best deal. While these actions pressured our average selling price as expected, this approach was a major contributor to our successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday events.

轉向家居裝飾。該部門受到廚房和浴室、地板和電器等高價內裝類別的 DIY 需求疲軟的顯著影響。上個季度，我們調整了進入市場策略，以更好地響應購物趨勢的轉變，例如家電消費者對單件購買的偏好日益增加以及他們對最優惠價格的追求。雖然這些行動對我們的平均售價造成了預期的壓力，但這種方法是我們成功的黑色星期五和網路星期一活動的主要貢獻者。

And while some consumers remain budget conscious, we are seeing others trade up for innovation, which we continue to offer across all major appliance categories. A great example is our exclusive LG smart refrigerator, which has a double freezer and also makes the popular slow melting craft ice. This product is consistently a top seller despite retailing for over $2,500. This type of innovation adds to our already industry-leading assortment in appliances, including high-quality brands like Bosch, Miele, LG, Samsung and KitchenAid, and we are continuing to help our customers see the value and attainability of trading up for affordable premium features.

雖然有些消費者仍然注重預算，但我們看到其他消費者為了創新而進行交易，我們將繼續在所有主要家電類別中提供創新服務。一個很好的例子是我們獨家的 LG 智慧冰箱，它有一個雙冷凍室，還可以製作流行的緩慢融化的工藝冰。儘管零售價超過 2,500 美元，但該產品始終是最暢銷產品。這種類型的創新增加了我們已經處於行業領先地位的電器品種，包括博世、美諾、LG、三星和KitchenAid 等高品質品牌，我們將繼續幫助我們的客戶了解以實惠的溢價進行交易的價值和可實現性特徵。

Paint is another category where we've seen product innovation resonate like our exclusive line of spec right paint designed for Pros who paint. Beyond gaining traction with Pros, we saw strong exterior paint demand before the weather turned colder in January. which gives us confidence we have the right offering in place as spring arrives. We also recently completed the rollout of our upgraded paint department, which converted our color wall to trusted Sherwood William Colors and improve the shopping experience to make it easier for our customers to grab the higher-margin attachment items they need to complete their paint projects.

油漆是我們看到產品創新產生共鳴的另一個類別，就像我們專為油漆專業人士設計的專用規格正確油漆系列一樣。除了獲得專業人士的青睞外，我們還看到在一月份天氣轉冷之前對外部塗料的強勁需求。這讓我們有信心在春天到來時我們能提供合適的產品。我們最近也完成了升級後的油漆部門的推出，將我們的彩色牆轉換為值得信賴的Sherwood William Colors，並改善了購物體驗，使我們的客戶更容易獲得完成油漆項目所需的更高利潤的附件項目。

Turning to our results and hard lines. This is another area where we quickly adjusted to the changing consumer buying patterns, which was reflected in our improved holiday sell-through and profitability. We are also encouraged that our new rural assortments continue to resonate across the country with strength in apparel, pet and automotive as consumers respond to the products and brands. We also recently launched a new partnership with Sunrun, the market leader in home solar and battery installation. This partnership now enhances our services offering for consumers looking to power their homes with renewable energy.

轉向我們的結果和強硬路線。這是我們快速適應不斷變化的消費者購買模式的另一個領域，這反映在我們假期銷售和獲利能力的提高上。我們也感到鼓舞的是，隨著消費者對產品和品牌的反應，我們的新農村品種憑藉其在服裝、寵物和汽車領域的優勢，繼續在全國範圍內引起共鳴。我們最近也與家庭太陽能和電池安裝領域的市場領導者 Sunrun 建立了新的合作夥伴關係。這種合作關係現在增強了我們為希望使用再生能源為家庭供電的消費者提供的服務。

Lowe's is the go-to destination for homeowners in spring. And as we enter our biggest season of the year, we are positioning ourselves to capitalize on this demand. As Marvin mentioned, we are excited about our product lineup. The launch of Toro builds on our industry-leading outdoor power equipment lineup alongside John Deere, Aaron's, EGO, CRAFTSMAN, Husqvarna, Kobalt and SKIL, our outdoor power equipment assortment is unmatched in home improvement, which is reflected in our continued market leadership in this space. I'm also excited about our new patio sets from our private brands, Allen and Roth and Origin 21, which enables homeowners to update their outdoor spaces for spring with trending styles across multiple price points. And if consumers don't see the color they're looking for on our sales floor, they can easily shop the extended aisle with associates now able to tender the purchase directly on their mobile smart devices. The merchants in our seasonal businesses are also bringing customers innovation and functionality at more competitive prices like our new exclusive Char-Broil grill lineup, which lets grillers switch from a traditional grill to a griddle in seconds or the fast-growing Blackstone brand of grills that continues to bring new features and value to the market.

Lowe's 是房主春季的首選目的地。隨著我們進入一年中最重要的季節，我們正在定位自己以利用這一需求。正如馬文所提到的，我們對我們的產品陣容感到興奮。 Toro 的推出建立在我們領先業界的戶外動力設備陣容之上，與John Deere、Aaron's、EGO、CRAFTSMAN、Husqvarna、Kobalt 和SKIL 一起，我們的戶外動力設備種類在家居裝修方面是無與倫比的，這反映在我們在這個空間。我也對我們的自有品牌 Allen and Roth 和 Origin 21 的新露台套裝感到興奮，它使房主能夠在春季更新他們的戶外空間，採用跨多個價位的流行款式。如果消費者在我們的銷售樓層沒有看到他們想要的顏色，他們可以輕鬆地在延長的過道上與現在能夠直接在行動智慧型裝置上進行購買的員工一起購物。我們季節性業務的商家還以更具競爭力的價格為客戶帶來創新和功能，例如我們全新的獨家Char-Broil 烤架系列，它可以讓烤架在幾秒鐘內從傳統烤架切換到煎鍋，或快速成長的Blackstone 品牌烤架不斷為市場帶來新的功能和價值。

Beyond our compelling seasonal assortment and strong in-stock position, I'm also looking forward to launching our enhanced marketing strategy for spring. This season, we are taking a more sophisticated tech-enabled advertising approach and we will be featuring traffic-driving events that will motivate homeowners to get started on their spring projects at Lowe's.

除了我們引人注目的季節性品種和強大的庫存地位之外，我還期待推出我們的春季強化行銷策略。本季，我們將採取更先進的技術廣告方式，並將推出吸引流量的活動，以激勵房主開始在 Lowe's 開展春季計畫。

We are also leaning into live sports with an expanded NFL relationship and leveraging our popular commercials featuring Lowe's Home team players trying their hands at DIY projects. We are extremely pleased with the success of this season's home team players with 2 members of the Lowe's team, Travis Kelce and Christian McCaffrey, both participating in Super Bowl 58 while being featured in our commercials.

我們還透過擴大與 NFL 的關係，向體育賽事直播傾斜，並利用以 Lowe's Home 球隊球員嘗試 DIY 項目為特色的熱門廣告。我們對本賽季主隊球員取得的成功感到非常高興，Lowe's 隊的兩名成員特拉維斯·凱爾斯(Travis Kelce) 和克里斯蒂安·麥卡弗里(Christian McCaffrey) 都參加了第58 屆超級碗比賽，並出現在我們的廣告中。

Shifting gears to merchandising productivity. Our team is making tremendous progress on our perpetual productivity improvement or PPI initiatives, which, as we planned, are offsetting the cost of our supply chain and Pro investments. As a reminder, the PPI initiatives that I outlined at our analyst and investor conference include expanding our private brand penetration, improving inventory productivity, maintaining a disciplined approach to pricing and promotions, scaling our retail media network and closely managing product costs.

提高商品銷售效率。我們的團隊在永久性生產力提高或 PPI 計劃方面取得了巨大進展，正如我們計劃的那樣，這些計劃正在抵消我們供應鏈和專業投資的成本。提醒一下，我在分析師和投資者會議上概述的 PPI 舉措包括擴大我們的自有品牌滲透率、提高庫存生產力、保持嚴格的定價和促銷方法、擴大我們的零售媒體網絡以及密切管理產品成本。

Over the past year, we have been working closely with our vendor partners to claw back some of the cost increases we absorbed during periods of exceptionally high inflation. And now that raw material and transportation costs are normalizing. Our best-in-class cost optimization tool gives us robust data down to the item level that allows us to take a calculated surgical approach, helping guide us to reducing costs across our portfolio. As we work to recoup these costs with our suppliers, we are reinvesting those savings into our marketing and merchandising strategies to drive traffic and sales.

在過去的一年裡，我們一直與供應商合作夥伴密切合作，以彌補我們在通貨膨脹異常高的時期吸收的部分成本增加。現在原材料和運輸成本正在正常化。我們一流的成本優化工具為我們提供了深入專案層級的可靠數據，使我們能夠採取經過計算的手術方法，幫助指導我們降低整個產品組合的成本。當我們努力與供應商收回這些成本時，我們將這些節省下來的資金重新投資到我們的行銷和銷售策略中，以推動流量和銷售。

As I close, I'd like to thank our vendors and merchants for their unwavering focus on delivering value to our shared customers and for putting us in a strong position to win spring.

在結束演講時，我要感謝我們的供應商和商家堅定不移地致力於為我們共同的客戶提供價值，並使我們處於贏得春天的有利地位。

I'll now turn the call over to Joe.

我現在會把電話轉給喬。

Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. I would like to start by thanking our frontline team for their relentless focus and execution this quarter. Their efforts to serve our customers while tightly managing controllable expenses once again resulted in improved customer service scores and strong operating profit performance despite slower sales. Customer satisfaction scores were up 200 basis points this quarter versus last year with improvements in both Pro and DIY, reflecting the hard work of our frontline associates combined with improved omnichannel fulfillment capabilities. In fact, this year, omni score has improved almost 25% since 2020. Customers have new functionality like 2-way texting, where they can be notified in advance to confirm their delivery date as well as same-day delivery options through our gig network. They can also use our new self-service functionality to track their order status and resolve issues directly, all without needing to call a store.

謝謝你，比爾，大家早安。首先，我要感謝我們的第一線團隊在本季不懈的關注和執行力。儘管銷售放緩，他們在嚴格管理可控費用的同時努力服務客戶，再次提高了客戶服務分數並實現了強勁的營業利潤表現。本季的客戶滿意度得分比去年提高了 200 個基點，Pro 和 DIY 均有所改善，反映了我們第一線員工的辛勤工作以及全通路履行能力的提高。事實上，今年，全向得分自 2020 年以來提高了近 25%。客戶擁有雙向簡訊等新功能，可以提前通知他們確認交貨日期以及透過我們的零工網路提供當日交貨選項。他們還可以使用我們新的自助服務功能來追蹤訂單狀態並直接解決問題，而無需致電商店。

In addition to expanding our fulfillment options and improving how we communicate with our customers, we're also enhancing the BOPIS or buy online, pickup in store experience through our new front-end configuration. We completed over 450 front-end rollouts this year with over 500 planned for 2024. Customers are embracing the new front-end experience, telling us they appreciate the faster and easier checkout process. This new front-end configuration also keeps sales associates in the aisles helping customers instead of needing to assist with checkout process when lines get long.

除了擴展我們的履行選項和改善我們與客戶的溝通方式之外，我們還透過新的前端配置增強 BOPIS 或線上購買、店內取貨體驗。我們今年完成了 450 多項前端部署，計劃在 2024 年完成 500 多項。客戶正在接受新的前端體驗，告訴我們他們喜歡更快、更輕鬆的結帳流程。這種新的前端配置還可以讓銷售人員在過道中為客戶提供幫助，而無需在排隊時間較長時協助結帳流程。

While we are improving the front end of our stores, we are also making strides on the back end with our ongoing freight flow transformation. We are further improving our freight flow process with distribution centers now adding new labels that are linked to each store's layout. These labels provide our store teams a direction of exactly where to place the product on the sales floor once the freight is removed from receiving. These enhancements will make it quicker and easier for associates to get products onto the floor and cross merchandise attachments and will drive better in-stocks for our customers and improve payroll productivity for our stores. These new capabilities and improved processes are all part of our ongoing perpetual productivity improvement or PPI initiatives, which both improve the customer experience and drive profitability.

在我們改進商店前端的同時，我們也透過持續的貨運流程轉型在後端取得長足進步。我們正在進一步改進我們的貨運流程，配送中心現在添加了與每個商店的佈局相關聯的新標籤。這些標籤為我們的商店團隊提供了在貨物從接收處取出後將產品放置在銷售樓層的確切位置的指示。這些增強功能將使員工能夠更快、更輕鬆地將產品放到地板上並交叉商品附件，並將為我們的客戶帶來更好的庫存，並提高我們商店的工資生產力。這些新功能和改進的流程都是我們持續不斷的生產力改進或 PPI 計劃的一部分，這些計劃既改善了客戶體驗，又提高了盈利能力。

Turning to our efforts to become the employer of choice in retail. I am really pleased with the progress we've made. Last quarter, we saw a record response rate to our annual associate engagement survey with 90%-plus participation. And even more importantly, scores improved significantly across 3 areas that we measure; engagement, leadership effectiveness and inclusion. It's clear that better associate engagement leads to lower turnover and directly translates into better business results. with a workforce more focused on serving our customers and driving productivity in our operations.

談談我們為成為零售業首選雇主所做的努力。我對我們所取得的進展感到非常滿意。上季度，我們對年度員工敬業度調查的回應率創歷史新高，參與率超過 90%。更重要的是，我們衡量的 3 個領域的分數顯著提高；參與度、領導效率和包容性。顯然，更好的員工敬業度可以降低營業額，並直接轉化為更好的業務成果。我們的員工更專注於服務客戶並提高營運生產力。

As Marvin mentioned, we announced $140 million in discretionary bonuses this quarter. This includes an incremental $5,000 for our assistant store managers and other frontline supervisors as well as our special discretionary bonus of $400 for full-time hourly associates and $200 for part-time hourly associates. Additionally, since 2018, we have invested over $3.5 billion in incremental wage and share-based compensation for our frontline associates. In fact, we are one of the few retailers to award stock grants to our store managers and assistant store managers so they share in our long-term success. These programs for our store leaders are not new. In fact, store managers have been receiving share-based compensation for decades and assistant store managers since 2019. We are also creating opportunities for advancement for our associates to encourage them to build their careers with Lowe's.

正如 Marvin 所提到的，我們本季宣布發放 1.4 億美元的酌情獎金。這包括為我們的助理店經理和其他一線主管增加 5,000 美元，以及為全職每小時員工提供 400 美元的特別酌情獎金，為兼職每小時員工提供 200 美元的特別酌情獎金。此外，自 2018 年以來，我們已為第一線員工投資了超過 35 億美元的增量薪資和股權薪酬。事實上，我們是為數不多的向我們的商店經理和助理商店經理提供股票獎勵的零售商之一，以便他們分享我們的長期成功。這些針對我們商店領導的計劃並不新鮮。事實上，商店經理幾十年來一直在領取股份薪酬，自 2019 年以來，助理商店經理一直在領取股份薪酬。我們也為員工創造晉昇機會，鼓勵他們在 Lowe's 發展自己的職業生涯。

Since 2018, we have added over 10,000 new department supervisors and over 2,500 new assistant store managers. And through Lowe's University, we are training and developing our associates for their next role. This year, we're extending our advanced leadership training to our assistant store managers to equip them with the tools they need to succeed as they move up in their career. With these enhancements, we've worked to increase the number of store managers promoted from ASM to over 80% over the past 3 years. In fact, more than 80% of our leadership roles are now built from within.

自2018年以來，我們新增了10,000多位新部門主管和2,500多位新助理店長。透過勞氏大學，我們正在培訓和培養我們的員工，以適應他們的下一個角色。今年，我們將高階領導力培訓擴展到助理店經理，為他們提供職業晉升所需的工具。透過這些增強功能，我們在過去 3 年裡努力將從 ASM 晉升的商店經理數量增加到 80% 以上。事實上，我們 80% 以上的領導角色現在都是由內部建立的。

All of these investments have led to one of the best spring staffing levels in many years, and the stores are ready to serve our customers this spring. We are very excited about the new MyLowe's Rewards DIY loyalty program and the great spring merchandise lineup Bill outlined. As I close, I would like to once again thank all of our store associates for their hard work and dedication.

所有這些投資帶來了多年來最好的春季員工配備水平之一，商店已準備好在今年春季為我們的顧客提供服務。我們對新的 MyLowe's Rewards DIY 忠誠度計劃和 Bill 概述的春季商品陣容感到非常興奮。在結束之際，我要再次感謝我們所有店員的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。

Now I'll turn it over to Brandon.

現在我將把它交給布蘭登。

Thank you, Joe. Let me begin with our Q4 results. We generated diluted earnings per share of $1.77. As a reminder, in the prior year, we recognized $441 million of pretax transaction costs associated with the sale of the Canadian retail business. My comments from this point forward will include comparisons to certain non-GAAP measures from last year where applicable. Q4 sales were $18.6 billion.

謝謝你，喬。讓我從第四季的業績開始。我們的攤薄每股收益為 1.77 美元。提醒一下，在去年，我們確認了與出售加拿大零售業務相關的 4.41 億美元稅前交易成本。我今後的評論將包括與去年適用的某些非公認會計準則衡量標準進行比較。第四季銷售額為 186 億美元。

Of note, prior year sales included $958 million generated in our Canadian retail business and approximately $1.4 billion related to the additional 53rd week. Also, Q4 results reflect approximately $200 million in sales headwind due to the related shift in our fiscal calendar. Comp sales were down 6.2%, driven by continued pressure in DIY bigger ticket spending and unfavorable January winter weather. Lumber deflation did not have a material impact on comp sales. Although the calendar shift pressured total sales growth in Q4, it had no impact on comparable sales as comps are calculated based on weeks 41 to 53 in fiscal 2022.

值得注意的是，上一年的銷售額包括我們加拿大零售業務產生的 9.58 億美元以及與額外第 53 週相關的約 14 億美元。此外，第四季度的業績反映了由於我們的財政日曆的相關變化而導致的約 2 億美元的銷售逆風。由於 DIY 門票支出增加和一月冬季不利天氣的持續壓力，公司銷售額下降了 6.2%。木材通貨緊縮並未對公司銷售產生重大影響。儘管日曆變化對第四季度的總銷售額成長造成壓力，但對可比銷售額沒有影響，因為比較是根據 2022 財年第 41 至 53 週計算的。

Comparable average ticket was down 0.1% to prior year. Continued ticket growth in many Pro-heavy categories offset appliance pricing pressure and lower DIY bigger ticket sales. Comp transactions declined 6.1%, driven by the DIY slowdown in unfavorable January winter weather impacting traffic. Our monthly comps were down 4.8% in November and 6.6% in December. January comps declined 7.4% as we experienced significant pressure during weeks of unfavorable winter weather.

可比平均票價比去年下降 0.1%。許多 Pro-heavy 類別的門票持續增長抵消了家電定價壓力並降低了 DIY 大門票銷售。由於 1 月不利的冬季天氣影響了交通，DIY 業務放緩，導致比較交易量下降 6.1%。我們的月度比較在 11 月下降了 4.8%，在 12 月下降了 6.6%。由於我們在數週不利的冬季天氣中經歷了巨大的壓力，1 月的比較下降了 7.4%。

Gross margin was 32.4% of sales in the fourth quarter, up 7 basis points from last year. Gross margin benefited from multiple PPI initiatives as well as favorable product mix and lower transportation costs. These benefits were somewhat offset by supply chain expansion costs. SG&A of 20.9% of sales delevered 5 basis points versus prior year adjusted SG&A as the momentum we continue to build with our PPI initiatives across all functional areas of the company largely offset sales volume deleverage.

第四季毛利率佔銷售額的32.4%，比去年上升7個基點。毛利率受益於多項生產者物價指數 (PPI) 措施以及有利的產品組合和較低的運輸成本。這些好處在一定程度上被供應鏈擴張成本所抵銷。 SG&A 佔銷售額的20.9%，與上一年調整後的SG&A 相比，去槓桿化了5 個基點，因為我們在公司所有職能領域透過PPI 計畫繼續建立的勢頭在很大程度上抵消了銷量去槓桿化的影響。

Operating margin rate of 9.1% declined 48 basis points versus prior year adjusted operating margin. The effective tax rate was 23.8%, in line with prior year adjusted effective tax rate. Inventory ended the quarter at $16.9 billion, $1.6 billion lower than the prior year quarter as we invest in high-velocity Pro SKUs while managing replenishment in line with sales trends and improving the flow of spring product builds through our supply chain. As a reminder, prior year inventory excluded Canadian operations as the sale was complete before year-end.

營業利益率為 9.1%，較前一年調整後營業利益率下降 48 個基點。實際稅率為23.8%，與上年度調整後的實際稅率一致。本季末庫存為 169 億美元，比去年同期減少 16 億美元，因為我們投資於高速 Pro SKU，同時根據銷售趨勢管理補貨，並改善了我們供應鏈中的春季產品生產流程。提醒一下，去年的庫存不包括加拿大業務，因為銷售在年底前完成。

Now turning to capital allocation. In 2023, we generated $6.2 billion in free cash flow and returned $8.9 billion to our shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends. During the fourth quarter, we paid $632 million in dividends at $1.10 per share and repurchased 1.9 million shares for $404 million returning over $1 billion to our shareholders. Capital expenditures totaled $620 million in Q4 as we continue to invest in strategic initiatives to drive growth and profitability. Adjusted debt-to-EBITDAR finished the year at 2.81x. And lastly, we delivered a return on invested capital above 36% for the year.

現在轉向資本配置。 2023 年，我們產生了 62 億美元的自由現金流，並透過股票回購和股利的組合向股東返還 89 億美元。第四季度，我們以每股 1.10 美元的價格支付了 6.32 億美元的股息，並以 4.04 億美元的價格回購了 190 萬股股票，向股東返還了超過 10 億美元。我們繼續投資戰略舉措以推動成長和獲利，第四季度的資本支出總計 6.2 億美元。全年調整後債務與 EBITDAR 比率為 2.81 倍。最後，我們今年的投資資本報酬率超過 36%。

Now I would like to discuss our 2024 outlook. As Marvin mentioned, we are bullish on the medium- to long-term outlook for the home improvement industry, but the near-term macro backdrop remains uncertain. There is optimism around potential interest rate cuts and improved consumer sentiment. However, the timing of Fed actions remains unclear, and there can be a lag before monetary policy impacts the consumer. Also housing turnover remains depressed and the consumer is still showing a greater preference for spending on services rather than goods.

現在我想談談我們對 2024 年的展望。正如馬文所說，我們看好家裝產業的中長期前景，但近期宏觀背景仍存在不確定性。人們對潛在的降息和消費者信心的改善持樂觀態度。然而，聯準會採取行動的時機仍不清楚，貨幣政策對消費者的影響可能存在一定的滯後性。此外，住房成交量仍然低迷，消費者仍然更傾向於服務而非商品支出。

We are expecting these factors to continue to pressure home improvement spending in 2024, especially for the DIY. And with that in mind, we are expecting sales ranging from $84 billion to $85 billion and comparable sales declines in a range of 2% to 3%. Pro sales should continue to outpace DIY as we leverage our multiyear strategy to improve product offerings, fulfillment options in the in-store and digital shopping experience to drive Pro growth at 2x the market rate. We expect operating margin in the range of 12.6% to 12.7%.

我們預計這些因素將繼續對 2024 年的家居裝修支出帶來壓力，尤其是 DIY 支出。考慮到這一點，我們預計銷售額將在 840 億美元至 850 億美元之間，可比銷售額下降 2% 至 3%。隨著我們利用我們的多年策略來改善產品供應、店內履行選項和數位購物體驗，以推動專業人士以市場增長率兩倍的速度增長，專業人士的銷售應該會繼續超過 DIY。我們預計營業利潤率在 12.6% 至 12.7% 之間。

When we bridge our 2023 operating margin to our 2024 expectations, there are a couple of points to keep in mind. First, the impact of sales volume deleverage and second, the cycling of a favorable legal settlement in each of the first 2 quarters. These pressures are partly offset by the expected positive impact of our ongoing enterprise-wide PPI initiatives. We have made significant progress in realizing our productivity goals over the past few years, and we remain laser-focused on driving these PPI efforts and closely managing expenses through this tough sales environment. These expectations result in full year earnings per share of approximately $12 to $12.30.

當我們將 2023 年的營業利潤率與 2024 年的預期聯繫起來時，有幾點需要牢記。首先是銷售去槓桿化的影響，其次是前兩季有利的法律​​和解的循環。這些壓力被我們正在進行的全企業 PPI 計劃的預期正面影響所部分抵消。過去幾年，我們在實現生產力目標方面取得了重大進展，我們仍然專注於推動這些 PPI 工作，並在艱難的銷售環境中密切管理費用。這些預期導致全年每股收益約為 12 至 12.30 美元。

Now to assist you with your modeling I'd like to take a moment and provide some color on the cadence of our expected results for the year. As a reminder, the steep pullback in DIY demand, which intensified in the third quarter of 2023 sets us up for different compares in the first and second half of this year. Given this, we expect first half comp sales to remain under pressure as the current DIY demand trends continue. But as we move into the second half, we expect comp sales to improve as we begin to cycle over the pullback in the third quarter.

現在，為了幫助您進行建模，我想花一點時間對我們今年預期結果的節奏提供一些說明。提醒一下，DIY 需求急劇下降（在 2023 年第三季加劇）為我們在今年上半年和下半年進行了不同的比較做好了準備。有鑑於此，隨著當前 DIY 需求趨勢的持續，我們預計上半年的銷售仍將面臨壓力。但隨著我們進入下半年，我們預計隨著我們開始經歷第三季的回調，公司銷售將會改善。

To be clear, we are not forecasting an improvement in demand trends this year. Rather, the compares are easier in the second half. And while we are planning for a normal spring season, the timing of spring is unpredictable and always brings some variability to our first half performance. Given our customer mix, these DIY drivers disproportionately impact our business. Now more specific to our first quarter, we expect comp sales to be consistent with our fourth quarter results approximately 300 basis points below the bottom of our full year guide. The combination of lower sales volumes as well as cycling a sizable legal settlement is expected to result in a Q1 operating margin rate approximately 200 basis points below the prior year adjusted rate.

需要明確的是，我們預期今年的需求趨勢不會改善。相反，下半場的比較更容易。雖然我們正在計劃一個正常的春季，但春季的時間是不可預測的，並且總是會為我們上半年的表現帶來一些變化。鑑於我們的客戶結構，這些 DIY 驅動程式對我們的業務產生了不成比例的影響。現在更具體地講到我們的第一季度，我們預計公司銷售額將與我們第四季度的業績保持一致，比全年指南的底部低約 300 個基點。銷量下降以及大規模法律和解的結合預計將導致第一季營業利潤率比上一年調整後的水平低約 200 個基點。

Before I close, let me remind you of our capital allocation strategy, which remains unchanged. Our first priority is to reinvest in the business with capital expenditures of approximately $2 billion. Next, we continue to target a 35% dividend payout ratio. We also plan to use our free cash flow to repay a $450 million bond maturity and then return excess cash to shareholders through share repurchases.

在結束之前，讓我提醒大家我們的資本配置策略保持不變。我們的首要任務是對資本支出約 20 億美元的業務進行再投資。接下來，我們繼續以35%的股利支付率為目標。我們還計劃利用自由現金流償還 4.5 億美元的到期債券，然後透過股票回購將多餘現金回饋給股東。

In closing, we are confident in our ability to execute through the near-term market uncertainty and remain focused on realizing the benefits of our total home strategy while continuing to drive sustainable shareholder value. And with that, we'll open it up for questions.

最後，我們對應對近期市場不確定性的執行能力充滿信心，並繼續專注於實現整體家居策略的優勢，同時繼續推動可持續的股東價值。接下來，我們將開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today comes from the line of Peter Benedict with Baird.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題來自 Peter Benedict 和 Baird 的對話。

First one would be just around the sensitivity of your margin forecast, if comps end up trending below that 2% to 3% range for the year, and then alternatively, as you think perhaps longer term, as comps swing positive, just what types of incrementals do you think you could achieve on that, given that you've been pretty lean on the expense front here given the current environment. That's my first question.

第一個是關於你的利潤預測的敏感性，如果全年的比較最終趨勢低於2% 到3% 的範圍，然後，正如你認為的，也許從長遠來看，隨著比較的積極變化，什麼類型的鑑於目前的環境，您在費用方面非常精簡，您認為您可以實現這一目標嗎？這是我的第一個問題。

Peter, sure, this is Brandon. In terms of incremental decremental, we've established essentially a flow-through rule of thumb. If our sales do exceed the top end of our guide, we do expect about 10 basis points for every 1% of incremental comp sales on the high side. And then on the low side, sales fall below the bottom end. We're looking at about 15 basis points of margin contraction for every point of comp decline. So high level, that's more of a rule of thumb on an annual basis. It doesn't necessarily work in terms of quarterly performance.

彼得，當然，這是布蘭登。在增量減量方面，我們基本上建立了一個流通的經驗法則。如果我們的銷售額確實超過了指南的上限，我們確實預計每 1% 的增量銷售額會增加約 10 個基點。然後在低端，銷售額跌破底部。我們預期每下降一個點，利潤率就會縮小約 15 個基點。如此高的水平，這更像是每年的經驗法則。就季度業績而言，它不一定有效。

And the other thing I'll stress is the plus 10 and minus 15, not necessarily natural output. So I would tell you that the model and the algorithm very contingent on us continuing to drive PPI across all functions, and that's what's contemplated on both the upside and the downside.

我要強調的另一件事是正10和負15，不一定是自然輸出。所以我想告訴你，模型和演算法非常取決於我們繼續推動所有功能的 PPI，這就是我們所考慮的好處和壞處。

Okay. That's helpful. And then secondly, just around -- I mean, you've had success with your cost optimization efforts. Just kind of your view on where you stand with those, how much more is left to go? And how that kind of plays into maybe your view of average ticket versus traffic in '24. Do you think you can hold on to the ticket in '24, given all the dynamics out there and you're clawing back some costs? Do you think you'll reinvest and maybe tickets down. Just curious how you see that interplaying in '24?

好的。這很有幫助。其次，我的意思是，您的成本優化工作已經成功了。只是談談您對這些問題的看法，還有多少事情要做？以及這種情況如何影響你對 24 年平均門票與交通流量的看法。考慮到所有的動態並且你正在收回一些成本，你認為你可以保留 24 年的門票嗎？你認為你會再投資，也許還會降價嗎？只是好奇你如何看待 24 世紀的互動？

Yes. Peter, I think to your first question on just our ability to manage costs. We're really pleased with our ability to manage expenses here in the last couple of years through this downturn. We have a robust and evolving road map of PPI initiatives. We were down comps 4.7% this year, expecting down at the midpoint, 2.5%. So our ability to manage the sales deleverage there with that robust pipeline. Again, really pleased there. And as we look out, a number of initiatives you heard from Joe and Bill that we continue to be excited about. We believe in '24 in particular, that PPI is going to enable us to offset over $400 million of wage pressure, inflationary pressure and strategic investments.

是的。彼得，我認為你的第一個問題是關於我們管理成本的能力。我們對過去幾年在經濟低迷時期管理開支的能力感到非常滿意。我們有一個穩健且不斷發展的 PPI 計劃路線圖。今年我們預計將年減 4.7%，預計中位數會下降 2.5%。因此，我們有能力透過強大的管道來管理那裡的銷售去槓桿化。再說一遍，真的很高興。正如我們所看到的，您從喬和比爾那裡聽到的許多舉措我們仍然感到興奮。我們相信，特別是在 24 年，PPI 將使我們能夠抵銷超過 4 億美元的薪資壓力、通膨壓力和戰略投資。

I think the second part of your question, just as we think about ticket into 2024, we are expecting that to hold up, and that's largely what we saw in 2023. The pullback is expected again in transactions. And really, the drivers of that Pro growth positively impacting average ticket more from a mix standpoint.

我認為你問題的第二部分，就像我們考慮 2024 年的門票一樣，我們預計這種情況會持續下去，這很大程度上就是我們在 2023 年看到的情況。交易預計會再次出現回調。事實上，從混合的角度來看，專業版成長的驅動因素對平均票價產生了更大的正面影響。

And then on the pressure point side, we're continuing to see the DIY bigger ticket pressure, and that's going to continue to be a drag. We don't expect any significant improvement off of that second half 2023 run rate. And then on appliances, specifically, ASP pressure is expected to continue as we return to more of a pre-pandemic environment. But overall, as we cycle into the second half of the year, we are expecting a more normal historical relationship between average ticket and transactions.

然後在壓力點方面，我們繼續看到 DIY 更大的門票壓力，這將繼續成為一個拖累。我們預計 2023 年下半年的運行率不會有任何顯著改善。然後，特別是在電器方面，隨著我們回到大流行前的環境，預計平均售價壓力將持續下去。但總體而言，隨著進入下半年，我們預計平均門票和交易之間的歷史關係將更加正常。

Our next question is from the line of Zack Fadem with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Zack Fadem。

I know there's a lot of moving pieces on the SG&A line as you lap the legal settlement and some of the incentive comp dynamics. So is there any way you could bridge all the puts and takes in a little bit more detail from the 13.3% operating margin in '23 to your 12.6%, 12.7% in '24? And also, any color on gross margin versus SG&A?

我知道當你完成法律和解和一些激勵補償動態時，SG&A 線上有很多變動的部分。那麼，有什麼方法可以將所有看跌期權和買入期權從 23 年 13.3% 的營業利潤率過渡到 24 年 12.6%、12.7% 的細節嗎？另外，毛利率與 SG&A 相比有什麼不同嗎？

Zack, this is Brandon. I would say on SG&A, it's really 2 themes and it's the cycling of the settlements and its deleverage on lower sales. And when you look at the midpoint of the range, a step back about 65 basis points, it breaks down about half and half there. So those are really as we look at managing SG&A in '24. Those are the pressure points.

札克，​​這是布蘭登。我想說的是，關於SG&A，這實際上是兩個主題，即和解的循環及其對銷售額下降的去槓桿化。當你觀察該區間的中點時，後退約 65 個基點，它就在那裡下跌了一半。因此，這些確實是我們在 24 年管理 SG&A 時的情況。這些都是壓力點。

You mentioned incentive compensation. We paid a discretionary bonus in Q4 of $140 million, which offset any previously expected Q4 benefit that we had from lower management incentive comp, and we're pleased that we were able to reward our frontline associates. But what that resulted in for the full year '23, we had the benefit from lower management incentive comp based on performance. That was offset by the discretionary frontline bonuses that we paid in Q2 and Q4. So that really does not create a headwind for us as we bridge '23 to '24. So back to the 2 themes, it's mainly the cycling of the legal settlements and the deleverage on lower sales.

您提到了激勵性薪酬。我們在第四季度支付了 1.4 億美元的酌情獎金，這抵消了我們先前預期的第四季度因較低的管理激勵薪酬而獲得的收益，我們很高興能夠獎勵我們的第一線員工。但這導致 23 年全年，我們從基於績效的較低管理激勵補償中受益。這被我們在第二季和第四季支付的酌情前線獎金所抵消。因此，當我們在 23 世紀和 24 世紀之間架起橋樑時，這確實不會為我們帶來阻力。回到兩個主題，主要是法律和解的循環和銷售額下降的去槓桿化。

Got you. And then 2 more quick ones. Just any color on gross margin. And then second, your Pro comps were slightly positive in '23 by my math and outcomping DIY for a few years now. So curious if you could just talk about DIY versus Pro mix today and if it's still in that 75%, 25% range?

明白你了。然後還有 2 個更快的。任何顏色的毛利率都可以。其次，根據我的數學計算，你們在 23 年的 Pro 比賽表現略顯積極，並且在過去幾年中超過了 DIY。很好奇您今天是否可以談論 DIY 與 Pro mix，以及它是否仍然在 75%、25% 的範圍內？

Yes, Zack. Sorry, I forgot your gross margin question. So I'll take that one. I'll toss it to Marvin for Pro. So we're expecting gross margins for '24 to be roughly flat. And the gross margin themes are really similar to what we saw here in 2023. Ongoing supply chain investment pressure as we wrap the rollout of market delivery. We're continuing to make investments in pro fulfillment, but those pressures are being offset by ongoing PPI initiatives that Bill discussed as we manage product costs, lower transportation, continue to expect private brands. So those are the puts and takes from a gross margin standpoint. And on Pro, I'll toss it to you, Marvin.

是的，札克。抱歉，我忘了你的毛利率問題。所以我會接受那個。我會把它丟給 Marvin for Pro。因此，我們預計 24 年的毛利率將大致持平。毛利率主題與我們在 2023 年看到的情況非常相似。當我們完成市場交付時，持續的供應鏈投資壓力。我們將繼續在專業履行方面進行投資，但這些壓力正在被 Bill 在我們管理產品成本、降低運輸、繼續期待自有品牌時討論的持續 PPI 舉措所抵消。這些是從毛利率角度來看的看跌期權和賣出期權。在 Pro 上，我會把它扔給你，馬文。

Yes. So on the mix, that's directionally correct on the percentages. And look, we feel good about the resilience of our Pro customer. And as a reminder, our customers are small to medium sized business owner, and we're actually pleased with the survey results where they feel confident that they can build, the backlog is consistent with what they saw last year and that they can continue to drive their business.

是的。因此，在混合方面，百分比的方向是正確的。看，我們對專業客戶的恢復能力感到滿意。提醒一下，我們的客戶都是中小型企業主，我們實際上對調查結果感到滿意，他們對自己的建設充滿信心，積壓的訂單與他們去年看到的一致，並且他們可以繼續推動他們的業務。

And again, they're cautiously optimistic based on what they know, but that gives us confidence that the things we're doing around loyalty, around product assortment expansion, around service levels, our digital platform and how we've dramatically improved that. And we think we have a best-in-class experience is resonating. And relative to the DIY, I mean we equally feel good about the level of execution in that business. I mean we view it as probably as a macro issue versus a strategic issue or any type of an execution issue.

再說一次，他們根據他們所知道的情況持謹慎樂觀的態度，但這讓我們對我們圍繞忠誠度、產品種類擴展、服務水平、我們的數位平台以及我們如何顯著改進所做的事情充滿信心。我們認為我們擁有一流的體驗，能夠引起共鳴。相對於 DIY，我的意思是我們同樣對該業務的執行水準感到滿意。我的意思是，我們將其視為宏觀問題，而不是戰略問題或任何類型的執行問題。

As Brandon I both said in our prepared comments, when we think about the medium to long term, we're very bullish because we've made tremendous investments in this business across supply chain, IT infrastructure, omnichannel, localization, assortment planning, space productivity, store environment and service levels that we know are going to pay dividends, not only in the short run while we deal with this macroeconomic headwind, but when the market recovers, we think we're perfectly positioned to grow and take market share.

正如Brandon 我在我們準備好的評論中所說，當我們考慮中長期時，我們非常樂觀，因為我們在供應鏈、IT 基礎設施、全渠道、本地化、分類規劃、空間等方面對該業務進行了大量投資。我們知道，生產力、商店環境和服務水平將帶來紅利，不僅在我們應對宏觀經濟逆風時的短期內，而且當市場復甦時，我們認為我們完全有能力實現增長並佔據市場份額。

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

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

Marvin, your answer just now touched on this a bit. I wanted to put it out here. there's this perception or even misperception that the way that Lowe's expenses have been so well managed could either impact how much sales can grow and the cycle resumes or how much EPS grows if you have to put more SG&A back into the business? So I'm curious if you can comment on that.

馬文，你剛才的回答稍微牽涉到了這一點。我想把它放在這裡。有一種看法甚至誤解認為，Lowe's 的費用管理得如此之好，可能會影響銷售額的成長和週期的恢復，或者如果您必須將更多的 SG&A 重新投入到業務中，那麼會影響 EPS 的成長？所以我很好奇你是否可以對此發表評論。

No, look, it's a fair question. I think the best way for me to answer would be our customer service results. And when you look at the fact that we have improvements in both Pro and DIY 200 basis points for both. That gives you an indication that our service levels remain extremely high and also gives you an understanding of the power of our PPI initiatives because a lot of our expense takeout is not the traditional cut payroll, it is more about the investments of technology that drives productivity that allows us to add more hours to driving service and selling and taking hours out of tasking.

不，聽著，這是一個公平的問題。我認為對我來說最好的答案是我們的客戶服務結果。當你看到這樣一個事實時，我們在 Pro 和 DIY 方面都進行了 200 個基點的改進。這表明我們的服務水平仍然非常高，也讓您了解我們 PPI 計劃的力量，因為我們的許多支出不是傳統的削減工資，而是更多地涉及提高生產力的技術投資這使我們能夠增加更多的時間來提供服務和銷售，並減少執行任務的時間。

And Joe has talked about this for 5 years. We're trying to build a model where we invest technology and we drive productivity that allows us to have more customer-facing associates and less tasking. So we believe that our activity-based staffing model puts us in a great position that when sales go up, we invest a payroll based on the activity driven to create the sales. And when sales come down, we have an activity-based system that we think is best-in-class that we can take hours out based on department level day and hour that we think will drive the business from a productivity standpoint, but without hindering service. So we feel good about the whole model, and we don't think there's any negative implications of sales going up and SG&A not being able to be managed as tightly and as efficiently as we've managed in the last couple of years.

喬已經談論這個問題五年了。我們正在嘗試建立一個模型，在該模型中我們投資技術並提高生產力，使我們能夠擁有更多面向客戶的員工並減少任務。因此，我們相信，基於活動的人員配置模式使我們處於有利地位，當銷售額上升時，我們會根據創造銷售額的活動來投資薪資。當銷售額下降時，我們有一個基於活動的系統，我們認為這是同類中最好的，我們可以根據部門級別的日期和時間抽出幾個小時，我們認為這將從生產力的角度推動業務發展，但不會阻礙服務。因此，我們對整個模式感覺良好，我們認為銷售成長和銷售管理及行政費用（SG&A）無法像過去幾年那樣嚴格有效地管理不會產生任何負面影響。

And Simeon, let me give you a quick example. If you think about 5 years ago, we had less than 50% of the stores that actually had self-checkout. And so over the last 5 years, we've mentioned we've developed our own internal self-checkout built with the home improvement customer in mind. We now have that complete across the entire chain. And now we have started our front-end transformation in adding incremental assisted self-checkouts, and we have 400 stores complete. This has also allowed us to roll out a best-in-class loyalty program for the DIY customer that is tied right in with our mobile technology. And so as we look to complete the incremental $500 million in 2024. And then I mentioned in the prepared remarks, our back-end initiatives, too. So very confident in the activity-based labor model and the PPI initiatives we continue to focus on.

西蒙，讓我舉一個簡單的例子。想想 5 年前，我們只有不到 50% 的商店實際上擁有自助結帳功能。因此，在過去 5 年裡，我們提到我們已經開發了自己的內部自助結帳系統，該系統是在考慮到家居裝修客戶的情況下建造的。現在我們已經在整個鏈條上完成了這一點。現在我們已經開始前端轉型，增加增量輔助自助結帳，目前我們已經完成了 400 家門市。這也使我們能夠為 DIY 客戶推出與我們的行動技術緊密結合的一流忠誠度計劃。因此，我們希望在 2024 年完成 5 億美元的增量。然後我在準備好的發言中提到了我們的後端計劃。因此，我們對基於活動的勞動力模式和我們繼續關注的 PPI 措施非常有信心。

One last point. I mean that's just one example of many initiatives that Brandon and I both have on our time line that we've yet to develop and yet to implement. So this is an ongoing process that is alive and well in every function including merchandising, as Bill outlined in his prepared comments.

最後一點。我的意思是，這只是布蘭登和我在我們的時間表上尚未制定和實施的許多舉措之一。因此，正如比爾在他準備好的評論中所概述的那樣，這是一個持續的過程，在包括銷售在內的每個職能中都充滿活力。

The follow-up is on the cycle. I think in some models, the weakest part of the cycle would have been the second half of '23 and even the first half of '24. And maybe the market was kind of looking for light a little bit sooner. I can't tell if that was your base case as well. It seems like the market is more dependent on existing home sales. And then Marvin, you mentioned in the prepared comments that it is a big question of whether or not we get back to something normal. And I'm curious when things start up again, do we get back to normal? Or is it something that's less than normal?

後續就是循環了。我認為在某些模型中，週期中最薄弱的部分是 23 年下半年，甚至是 24 年上半年。也許市場會更早尋找光明。我不知道這是否也是你的基本情況。市場似乎更依賴現房銷售。然後馬文，你在準備好的評論中提到，我們是否恢復正常是一個大問題。我很好奇當事情再次開始時，我們會恢復正常嗎？還是低於正常水平的情況？

I'll give you my perspective, Simeon, and I'll let Brandon provide any additional comments. When you think about the cadence of our comp sales for this year, as Brandon mentioned, is more indicative of year-over-year comparison versus our forecast that the market is going to improve at some point this year. We hope that it improves and we are positioning ourselves that when that happens, we think that we will have outsized top and bottom line growth. But our perspective of 2024 is that we're going to feel this DIY pressure throughout the year and we're going to perform at a high level irrespective of kind of what type of macro environment that we're dealing with.

我會告訴你我的觀點，西蒙，我會讓布蘭登提供任何額外的評論。正如布蘭登所提到的，當你考慮今年我們的比較銷售節奏時，這更能說明同比比較，而不是我們對今年市場將在某個時候改善的預測。我們希望情況能有所改善，我們的定位是，當這種情況發生時，我們將實現營收和利潤的大幅成長。但我們對 2024 年的看法是，我們將全年感受到這種 DIY 壓力，無論我們面臨何種類型的宏觀環境，我們都將保持高水準的表現。

I'll let Brandon add any additional comments.

我會讓布蘭登添加任何其他評論。

Yes, I would just say, Simeon, you mentioned the base case. I mean our base case guide assumes no change in macro conditions versus what we've experienced here the last couple of quarters. It's unclear is the timing of the rate cuts, the improvements in home improvement share of wallet. Marvin mentioned housing turnover, consumer sentiment. So sort of more of the same philosophy there. And even when we start to see some green shoots there, it's going to be -- the trends are going to improve. There is an expected lag before the macro drivers we believe are going to translate into spending. So those have been the underpinnings, the assumptions that we've made here for 2024. And again, the improvement is just a function of what we're cycling in the second half versus our views on the macro and the timing of any improvement.

是的，我只想說，西蒙，你提到了基本情況。我的意思是，我們的基本案例指南假設宏觀條件與我們過去幾季所經歷的情況相比沒有變化。目前還不清楚降息的時機以及家庭裝修所佔錢包份額的改善情況。馬文提到了房屋成交量、消費者信心。所以那裡有更多相同的哲學。即使我們開始看到一些萌芽，趨勢也會改善。我們認為，在宏觀驅動因素轉化為支出之前，預計會有一個滯後期。因此，這些是我們對 2024 年所做的假設的基礎。再說一次，這種改善只是我們下半年的循環情況與我們對宏觀和任何改善時機的看法的函數。

Our next question is from the line of Chris Horvers with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Chris Horvers。

So 2 related questions, follow-up on the demand environment. First, did you see a -- do you think weather was a net headwind in the fourth quarter? Obviously, December was warmer year-over-year and that probably helped areas like outdoor paint. But then January is much colder, and you have a much more southern geography and it seemed to impact that part of the country more. So do you think weather was actually a net headwind over the quarter? Or was it more neutral when you think about the December side?

所以2個相關問題，需求環境的跟進。首先，您是否認為天氣在第四季是一個淨逆風？顯然，12 月同比變暖，這可能對戶外塗料等領域有所幫助。但一月要冷得多，而且地理更加偏南，似乎對這個國家的那部分地區的影響更大。那麼您認為天氣其實是本季的淨逆風嗎？或者當您考慮 12 月方面時，它是否更加中立？

And then Brandon, you mentioned green shoots on share of wallet. Did you see anything in the holiday period that would suggest that, that share of wallet pull forward is at least starting to move past due but maybe not moving towards the more positive side?

然後布蘭登，你提到了錢包份額的萌芽。您在假期期間是否看到任何跡象表明，錢包提前拉動的份額至少開始逾期，但可能不會朝著更積極的方向發展？

Chris, let me -- I'll hit the weather things first, and it really was just a January winter -- extreme winter weather story impacted January as we sized at about 200 basis points of impact on the month. It had an outsized impact on our Pro business over those weeks. The other weather theme also just to mention is we've cycled 2 straight years of hurricane recovery with Ian and Ida, it's about 150 basis point comp impact to Q4, just cycling that. But again, that was all baked into our expectations. And in terms of just what we saw through the holiday season, I'll actually toss it over to Bill, and he can give a view on what we saw in terms of consumer behavior there.

克里斯，讓我——我先談談天氣問題，這確實只是一月的冬天——極端的冬季天氣故事影響了一月，因為我們對該月的影響大約有 200 個基點。那幾週，它對我們的專業業務產生了巨大影響。另一個天氣主題也只是提一下，我們已經與 Ian 和 Ida 一起連續兩年經歷了颶風恢復，這對第四季度的影響大約是 150 個基點，只是循環一下。但同樣，這一切都融入了我們的期待。就我們在假期期間看到的情況而言，我實際上會將其交給比爾，他可以就我們在該地區的消費者行為方面看到的情況提出看法。

Yes. Chris, I think for the holiday, we saw -- as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we saw record holiday sales. We saw the consumer respond very favorably to our Trim and Tree program and saw a nice performance there. We also saw, as you mentioned, December was warmer. And so we saw those outdoor businesses perform both on the Pro side as well as on the DIY side as the consumer continued to take on outdoor projects. As we've rolled into February and get started with 2024, as we begin to start our spring program for the South and Deep South, we're starting to see some of those early signs of spring where the weather is warmer, we're starting to get started with some of those spring-related businesses. So where we've got some warm weather, we're starting to see some of those early signs of spring. So we're excited about that.

是的。克里斯，我認為在假期裡，我們看到了——正如我在準備好的演講中提到的那樣，我們看到了創紀錄的假期銷售。我們看到消費者對我們的 Trim and Tree 計劃反應非常積極，並看到了良好的表現。正如您所提到的，我們還看到 12 月天氣變暖。因此，隨著消費者繼續參與戶外項目，我們看到這些戶外業務在專業和 DIY 方面都有表現。隨著我們進入 2 月並開始 2024 年，當我們開始啟動南方和南方腹地的春季計劃時，我們開始看到一些春天的早期跡象，天氣變暖，我們正在開始著手一些與春季相關的業務。因此，在天氣溫暖的地方，我們開始看到一些春天的早期跡象。所以我們對此感到興奮。

And then my follow-up is on the appliance category. It did track below, I think, your overall comp, you mentioned ASP pressures as you're leaning to the assortment more to the value side. Do you think -- how are you looking at your performance relative to the market? I don't know if you track line or something gives you sort of unit demand performance relative to the market. But it's your largest category. And obviously, you have a leading assortment and footprint in the store. So how do you think you're performing on the share side?

然後我的後續行動是關於家電類別。我認為，它確實跟踪了您的整體競爭情況，您提到了平均售價壓力，因為您更傾向於價值方面的品種。您認為－您如何看待自己相對於市場的表現？我不知道你的追蹤線或其他東西是否可以給你相對於市場的單位需求表現。但這是最大的類別。顯然，您在商店中擁有領先的品種和足跡。那麼您認為您在股票方面的表現如何？

Yes. So for the year, we saw share growth in appliances. For the quarter, we saw unit growth across all the major categories. We did see average selling price pressure as we called out. For the key major events, both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we saw a nice performance across those holiday weeks, and we're pleased with that. We did see the consumer pivot. And we met them where they wanted to go, and that was a shift from multiunit purchases to a single unit purchase as the consumer was looking for that.

是的。因此，今年我們看到了家電市場份額的成長。在本季度，我們看到所有主要類別的單位數量都有所增長。當我們呼籲時，我們確實看到了平均售價壓力。對於關鍵的重大活動，黑色星期五和網路星期一，我們在假期周中看到了良好的表現，我們對此感到滿意。我們確實看到了消費者的轉向。我們在他們想去的地方遇到了他們，這就是消費者所尋求的從多單位購買到單一單位購買的轉變。

We also see the consumer moving to kind of 2 spectrums. We're seeing them look for value, so looking for products in that value conscious, and we're also seeing them trade up and finding innovation, and I'll share 2 examples. They'll look for entry-level laundry, for example, and then they're not afraid to invest in, for example, the GE Profile all-in-one washer dryer combination that retails for over $2,500 of which we could sell every single one that we can get our hands on. So those are just 2 spectrums of what's going on in that business. And it's happening across really all categories of the appliance business. So it's really 2 spectrums of what's going on.

我們也看到消費者轉向兩種頻譜。我們看到他們尋找價值，因此尋找具有價值意識的產品，我們也看到他們進行升級並尋找創新，我將分享兩個例子。例如，他們會尋找入門級洗衣房，然後他們就不怕投資，例如 GE Profile 一體式洗衣烘乾機組合，其零售價超過 2,500 美元，我們可以出售其中的每一件一個我們可以獲得的。這些只是該行業正在發生的事情的兩個範圍。這種情況實際上發生在家電行業的所有類別中。所以這實際上是正在發生的事情的兩個範圍。

We're continuing to see our online appliance business perform very well as that business continues to evolve, and we're continuing to build out our capabilities there to make sure that we're meeting the customer where they want to be met and those fulfillment capabilities and delivery. And as Joe talked about, with 2-way text and market delivery and getting all those capabilities rolled out so that we can fulfill the way we want to fulfill.

隨著業務的不斷發展，我們繼續看到我們的線上家電業務表現良好，我們將繼續增強我們的能力，以確保我們在客戶想要的地方滿足他們的需求並滿足他們的需求能力和交付。正如喬所說，透過雙向文字和市場交付，並推出所有這些功能，以便我們能夠實現我們想要實現的方式。

And Chris, this is Marvin. Just one last point on appliances. The work of our market delivery supply chain infrastructure is going to be significant, not only in 2024, but for years to come. I mean, we're virtually the only national player that can deliver major appliances next day and 2-day in virtually every ZIP code in the country. And that's significant in addition to having same-day capacity for customers to have emergency purchases we still have take-with inventory in virtually every store where a customer can come in and literally leave with an appliance within the hour. And so our model is difficult, if not impossible, to replicate in the brands that Bill and his team have brought to our assortment is something that we think will continue to work for us. And look, we'll work and manage through the macro environment. And I think Bill and his team have done a really nice job, and we'll continue to listen to the consumer and pivot based on where they want us to go.

克里斯，這是馬文。關於電器的最後一點。我們的市場交付供應鏈基礎設施的工作不僅在 2024 年，而且在未來幾年都將非常重要。我的意思是，我們實際上是唯一一家能夠在全國幾乎每個郵遞區號的第二天和兩天內交付主要家電的全國性參與者。除了為客戶提供當天緊急採購的能力之外，這一點也很重要，我們幾乎在每家商店都擁有現貨庫存，客戶可以在一小時內帶著設備進出。因此，我們的模式即使不是不可能，也很難在比爾和他的團隊為我們帶來的品牌中複製，但我們認為這將繼續為我們服務。看，我們將在宏觀環境中工作和管理。我認為比爾和他的團隊做得非常好，我們將繼續傾聽消費者的意見，並根據他們希望我們發展的方向進行調整。

Our question comes from the line of Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

我們的問題來自高盛的凱特·麥克沙恩 (Kate McShane)。

You mentioned big ticket still stays under pressure in DIY. And we wondered if we could try and get our arms around that a little bit more in terms of how it compares the mix of what you were seeing prepandemic in terms of smaller versus larger projects. And that also -- that question goes to the Pro as well within the backlog. It sounds like you're seeing a stable backlog. But what are you seeing in terms of percentage of mix when it comes to those big ticket versus smaller ticket?

您提到DIY仍然面臨大額壓力。我們想知道我們是否可以嘗試更多地了解它如何比較您在大流行前所看到的小型專案和大型專案的組合。而這個問題也存在於待辦事項中的 Pro 中。聽起來您看到了穩定的積壓訂單。但是，當涉及大票與小票時，您看到的混合百分比是多少？

Yes. Kate, this is Marvin. I'll take the first part, and I'll let Bill or Joe jump in on the second part. But if you think about the DIY consumer for a second, the consumer is healthy and we feel good about the financial wherewithal of that consumer, they're simply choosing to leverage their spend in different places. As we've discussed and is not just us, but in all the different companies that talk about consumer spending, customers are just spending more of their wallet on experiences, on travel, on concerts, on restaurants because of this whole post-COVID relationship of getting back out and getting back to normal.

是的。凱特，這是馬文。我將承擔第一部分，然後我將讓比爾或喬參與第二部分。但如果你考慮 DIY 消費者，他們是健康的，我們對他們的財務狀況感到滿意，他們只是選擇在不同的地方利用他們的支出。正如我們所討論的，不僅是我們，而且在所有談論消費者支出的不同公司中，由於整個後新冠疫情關係，客戶只是在體驗、旅行、音樂會和餐廳上花費了更多的錢退出並恢復正常。

And also, I don't think is a surprise for us to say that customers purchased quite a few home-related goods during the pandemic. So we're still working through that cycle. Having said that, we believe that we will work our way out of this macro environment at some point. We're not trying to call the timing on it. Our objective is to continue to invest in our business and execute at a high level. So whenever that consumer spend reverts back to normal, we're going to be in a perfect position to take advantage of it.

而且，我認為顧客在疫情期間購買了相當多的家居相關商品並不令人意外。所以我們仍在經歷這個週期。話雖如此，我們相信我們將在某個時候擺脫這種宏觀環境。我們並不是想確定時機。我們的目標是繼續投資我們的業務並且高水準執行。因此，每當消費者支出恢復正常時，我們都將處於一個完美的位置來利用它。

One of the reasons why we launched our DIY loyalty program is specifically for the DIY consumer to give them some level of rationale to choose us over someone else and to create a level of differentiation in the marketplace, both in-store and online, so that we can be a preference for the DIY consumer. And so as we think about what they're buying and where we think that big ticket is going, I think it remains to be seen, but we feel good about what we're positioning for those consumers, and we'll wait on whatever time frame occurs with them to change their spending habits.

我們推出 DIY 忠誠度計劃的原因之一是專門針對 DIY 消費者，讓他們有一定程度的理由選擇我們而不是其他人，並在市場（店內和網上）中創造一定程度的差異化，以便我們可以成為DIY消費者的首選。因此，當我們考慮他們正在購買什麼以及我們認為大額門票將去向哪裡時，我認為這還有待觀察，但我們對我們為這些消費者的定位感到滿意，我們會等待任何事情他們會設定一個時間框架來改變他們的消費習慣。

Yes. Kate, I would just add that it really varies by product category. And so as I said, with appliances, you've got really 2 spectrums going. You've got the value-conscious consumer looking at low-end pricing all the way to innovation, and we meet the customer across a variety of price points. And then you have the Pro looking at their jobs, and we can meet them wherever they want to be met, whether that's on stock cabinets and having those products in our stores again across a multitude of price points that we offer in our stores and the different levels of product quality of product that we offer both online and in-store.

是的。凱特，我想補充一點，它確實因產品類別而異。正如我所說，對於電器，你實際上有兩個頻譜。注重價值的消費者一直在關注低端定價直至創新，而我們會滿足各種價位的客戶。然後你讓專業人士查看他們的工作，我們可以在他們想要的任何地方見到他們，無論是在庫存櫃上，還是在我們的商店中再次提供這些產品，涵蓋我們在商店中提供的多種價位以及我們在網上和店內提供的產品品質不同。

And as we get ready for spring, we have a lot of new product that we're excited about. And so you think about bigger ticket product like riding lawn mowers, walk behind mowers, the launch of Toro, it's bigger ticket product. We're excited about that. And those are all new. And so same thing with patio furniture, we introduced Origin 21. We introduced the Allen & Roth program. Those are bigger ticket products as she's looking to address and upgrade their outdoor spaces. So again, we want to meet her wherever she wants to be met. We want to be able to offer a variety of pricing to her based on how she wants to be met as she takes on these projects. And that's what we're trying to do, both online and in-store.

當我們為春天做好準備時，我們有很多令人興奮的新產品。因此，您會考慮更大的門票產品，例如騎乘式割草機、手扶式割草機、Toro 的推出，這是更大的門票產品。我們對此感到興奮。這些都是新的。對於露台家具，我們推出了 Origin 21。我們推出了 Allen & Roth 計劃。這些都是更昂貴的產品，因為她正在尋求解決和升級他們的戶外空間。再說一遍，我們想在任何她想見到的地方見到她。我們希望能夠根據她在承擔這些項目時希望得到的滿足程度，為她提供各種定價。這就是我們正在努力做的事情，無論是在線上還是店內。

And we're excited about the readiness. We've worked really hard with our assortments that we offer both online and in-store. We've worked really hard to make sure that we've got these variations across the country so that we're localized to address those needs across the different areas and geographies of our stores, and we're ready. We're ready for mother nature to cooperate and we're ready to get going.

我們對一切準備就緒感到興奮。我們在網路上和店內提供的產品種類上付出了極大的努力。我們非常努力地確保我們在全國範圍內都有這些變化，以便我們能夠本地化來滿足我們商店不同地區和地理位置的這些需求，我們已經準備好了。我們已準備好與大自然合作，我們已準備好出發。

So with that, Rob, we have time for one more question.

那麼，羅布，我們還有時間再問一個問題。

The final question will be from the line of Steven Zaccone with Citi.

最後一個問題將由花旗銀行的 Steven Zaccone 提出。

Brandon, I wanted to just circle back to the same-store sales guidance. And I was curious if you could talk a little bit more about that second half outlook in particular because it does embed a pretty big improvement on a 1-year basis and then also on a multiyear basis, from stacks perspective. So maybe just flush out a bit what's really driving the improvement? Because you could arguably say that's not conservative in one view.

布蘭登，我想回到同店銷售指導。我很好奇你是否能多談談下半年的前景，因為從堆疊的角度來看，它確實在一年的基礎上以及在多年的基礎上實現了相當大的改進。那麼也許只是想一下真正推動改進的因素是什麼？因為從某個角度來看，你可以說這並不保守。

Yes, Steve. Really, just when we look at the cadence of comps, I'm going to reaffirm my earlier comment, we expect the macro pressures, inflation, higher interest rates, low housing turnover to persist. When we looked specifically at the second half, we're cycling the easier compares as we comp over the DIY weakness that intensified in particular in Q3 of last year. And to be clear, our comp improvement in the second half is not a result of any views on the improving macro but purely are reflective of easier year-over-year comparison. So we looked at the cadence. We looked at it a lot of different ways. I would tell you on a 2-year basis, which we leaned into pretty hard 2-year ex lumber. There's a pretty consistent trajectory as we moved across the year. So we feel really comfortable with the full year the break down, the comps and the operating margin and wanted to provide the right level of transparency and visibility to that.

是的，史蒂夫。確實，當我們審視比較的節奏時，我將重申我先前的評論，我們預計宏觀壓力、通膨、利率上升、低房屋成交量將持續存在。當我們具體觀察下半年時，我們正在比較容易的比較，因為我們彌補了去年第三季尤其加劇的 DIY 弱點。需要明確的是，我們下半年的業績改善並不是對宏觀經濟改善的任何看法的結果，而純粹反映了同比比較的輕鬆。所以我們觀察了節奏。我們用很多不同的方式來看待它。我會以兩年為基礎告訴你，我們傾向於相當困難的兩年前木材。我們全年的發展軌跡相當一致。因此，我們對全年的細分、比較和營業利潤率感到非常滿意，並希望為此提供適當程度的透明度和可見度。

Okay. That's helpful. And then the follow-up I had is just on the rural framework. Is there anything that's new this year as you think about the opportunity? And then when you think about the store portfolio more broadly, one of your peers has shifted to opening stores, would you consider being a net opener of stores at some point in the future?

好的。這很有幫助。然後我的後續行動只是關於農村框架。當您考慮今年的機會時，有什麼新的變化嗎？然後，當您更廣泛地考慮商店投資組合時，您的一位同行已轉向開設商店，您是否會考慮在未來某個時候成為淨開設商店？

This is Marvin. I'll take that final part of your question. So on the new store openings, it's -- we're going to always look for what we describe as real estate voids around different parts of the country where we believe that we can get the right return on our capital for new store investment. But candidly, I mean, our focus is on space productivity. We have such incredible upside opportunities in our stores to just invest capital in our existing infrastructure and create space productivity. We think the return on invested capital is significantly greater in using our dollars for that versus opening new stores with expensive real estate, where we're struggling to get those investments to pencil. And again, we'll open a handful of stores for voids where you're going to see us spend a ton of time on driving space productivity and creating greater value from the assets that we already own. And that's going to be our key focus.

這是馬文。我將回答你問題的最後一部分。因此，在新店開業時，我們將始終在全國不同地區尋找我們所描述的房地產空白，我們相信在這些地區我們可以為新店投資獲得適當的資本回報。但坦白說，我的意思是，我們的重點是空間生產力。我們的商店擁有如此令人難以置信的上升機會，只需在現有基礎設施上投資資金並創造空間生產力即可。我們認為，與使用昂貴的房地產開設新店相比，使用我們的美元進行投資的資本回報率要高得多，而我們正在努力讓這些投資付諸實施。再次，我們將開設一些空缺商店，在那裡你會看到我們花費大量時間來提高空間生產力並從我們已經擁有的資產中創造更大的價值。這將是我們的重點。

Relative to rural, we're extremely pleased with the performance of those 300-plus stores when you think about categories like pet, things like clothing and automotive, they're positive performing, outperformed the company and most other merchandising categories. And you're going to see us start to expand some of those rural categories in nonrural locations around the country. We wanted to make sure that we learned enough about the consumer demand, enough about how we serve customers well and Bill and Joe and their teams have done an exceptional job. And so you're going to hear us continue to talk about this, but it's something that we're very pleased with. And you'll start to see it show up in more places around the portfolio of our stores.

相對於農村地區，我們對這 300 多家商店的表現非常滿意，當你想到寵物、服裝和汽車等類別時，它們表現積極，優於公司和大多數其他商品類別。您將看到我們開始在全國非農村地區擴展一些農村類別。我們希望確保我們充分了解消費者的需求，並充分了解我們如何為客戶提供良好的服務，比爾和喬以及他們的團隊做得非常出色。所以你會聽到我們繼續談論這個，但我們對此非常滿意。您將開始看到它出現在我們商店產品組合的更多地方。

Thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you on our first quarter earnings call in May.

感謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待在五月的第一季財報電話會議上與您交談。

This concludes the Lowe's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. You may now disconnect.

Lowe's 2023 年第四季財報電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。