(TJX) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to The TJX Companies Third Quarter Fiscal 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded as of today, November 15, 2023.

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的支持，並歡迎參加 TJX 公司 2024 年第三季財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次電話會議的錄音截止日期為 2023 年 11 月 15 日。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ernie Herrman, Chief Executive Officer and President of The TJX Companies, Inc. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給 TJX Companies, Inc. 執行長兼總裁 Ernie Herrman 先生。請繼續，先生。

Thanks, Ivy. Before we begin, Deb has some opening comments.

謝謝，艾維。在我們開始之前，黛布有一些開場白。

Thank you, Ernie, and good morning. The forward-looking statements we make today about the company's results and plans are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results and the implementation of the company's plans to vary materially. These risks are discussed in the company's SEC filings, including, without limitation, the Form 10-K filed March 29, 2023. Further, these comments and the Q&A that follows are copyrighted today by The TJX Companies, Inc.

謝謝你，厄尼，早安。我們今天做出的有關公司業績和計劃的前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果和公司計劃的實施出現重大差異。這些風險在公司向 SEC 提交的文件中進行了討論，包括但不限於 2023 年 3 月 29 日提交的 10-K 表格。此外，這些評論和隨後的問答今天的版權歸 TJX Companies, Inc. 所有。

Any recording, retransmission, reproduction or other use of the same for profit or otherwise without prior consent of TJX is prohibited and a violation of United States copyright and other laws. Additionally, while we have approved the publishing of a transcript of this call by a third party, we take no responsibility for inaccuracies that may appear in that transcript.

未經 TJX 事先同意，禁止以營利或其他方式錄製、轉發、複製或以其他方式使用該內容，否則將違反美國版權法和其他法律。此外，雖然我們已批准第三方發布本次通話的文字記錄，但我們對該文字記錄中可能出現的不準確之處不承擔任何責任。

We have detailed the impact of foreign exchange on our consolidated results and our international divisions in today's press release in the Investors section of our website, tjx.com. Reconciliations of other non-GAAP measures we discuss today to GAAP measures are also posted on our website, tjx.com, in the Investors section. Thank you.

我們在今天的新聞稿中在我們網站 tjx.com 的投資者部分詳細介紹了外匯對我們的綜合業績和國際部門的影響。我們今天討論的其他非 GAAP 指標與 GAAP 指標的對帳也發佈在我們網站 tjx.com 的投資者部分。謝謝。

And now I'll turn it back over to Ernie.

現在我會把它轉回給厄尼。

Good morning. Joining me and Deb on the call is John. I want to start by recognizing our global associates for their continued hard work and dedication to TJX. Again, I want to give special recognition to our store, distribution and fulfillment center associates for their commitment to our company.

早安.加入我和黛布通話的是約翰。首先，我想對我們的全球員工持續辛勤工作和對 TJX 的奉獻表示認可。再次，我要特別感謝我們的商店、配送和履行中心員工對我們公司的承諾。

Now to our business update and third quarter results. I am extremely pleased with our third quarter performance of sales, profitability and earnings per share all exceeded our expectations. Our 6% overall comp sales increase was entirely driven by customer traffic, which was up at all of our divisions.

現在介紹我們的業務更新和第三季業績。我對我們第三季的銷售業績、獲利能力和每股盈餘都超出了我們的預期感到非常滿意。我們 6% 的整體銷售成長完全是由客戶流量推動的，我們所有部門的客戶流量都有所成長。

Marmaxx, our largest division, continued its strong momentum by once again delivering terrific increases in both comp sales and customer traffic. In the third quarter, our apparel sales remained very strong, and sales for overall Home were outstanding, accelerating sequentially versus the second quarter, particularly at HomeGoods. We also saw comp sales and traffic increases at our Canadian and international divisions.

我們最大的部門 Marmaxx 繼續保持強勁的勢頭，再次實現了產品銷售和客戶流量的大幅成長。第三季度，我們的服裝銷售仍然非常強勁，整個家居產品的銷售也非常出色，與第二季度相比，環比加速成長，尤其是家居用品。我們也看到加拿大和國際部門的銷售量和流量增加。

Importantly, overall merchandise margin remains very healthy. Our excellent third quarter results are a testament to the strong execution of our teams across the company and their continued focus on growing both our top and bottom lines. With our above-plan results in the third quarter, we are raising our full year outlook for comp sales and earnings per share. John will talk to this in a moment.

重要的是，整體商品利潤率仍然非常健康。我們出色的第三季業績證明了整個公司團隊的強大執行力以及他們對提高營收和利潤的持續關注。鑑於第三季的業績高於計劃，我們上調了全年的公司銷售額和每股收益預期。約翰稍後會談到這一點。

The fourth quarter is off to a strong start, and we continue to see outstanding availability of merchandise across a wide range of brands in the marketplace. This gives us great confidence that we can keep flowing a fresh assortment to our stores and online throughout the holiday season and beyond.

第四季有一個良好的開端，我們繼續看到市場上各種品牌的商品供應狀況良好。這讓我們充滿信心，相信我們可以在整個假期及以後繼續向我們的商店和網上供應新鮮的商品。

Longer term, I am convinced that the flexibility of our business model, our wide demographic reach and our differentiated treasure hunt shopping experience will continue to serve us well and allow us to keep growing successfully in the United States and internationally.

從長遠來看，我相信我們靈活的商業模式、廣泛的人口覆蓋範圍和差異化的尋寶購物體驗將繼續為我們提供良好的服務，並使我們能夠在美國和國際上繼續成功發展。

Okay. Before I continue, I'll turn the call over to John to cover our third quarter financial results in more detail.

好的。在繼續之前，我將把電話轉給約翰，更詳細地介紹我們第三季的財務表現。

Thanks, Ernie, and good morning, everyone. I also want to add my gratitude to all of our global associates for their continued hard work. I'll start with some additional details on the third quarter.

謝謝，厄尼，大家早安。我也要對我們所有全球員工的持續辛勤工作表示感謝。我將從第三季的一些額外細節開始。

As Ernie mentioned, our overall comp store sales increased 6%, well above the high end of our plan and were entirely driven by an increase in customer traffic. We saw continued momentum with our apparel comp sales, which includes accessories with a mid-digit -- with a mid-single-digit increase. Overall, Home-comp sales accelerated and were up high single digits. TJX net sales grew to $13.3 billion, a 9% increase versus the third quarter of fiscal '23.

正如 Ernie 所提到的，我們的綜合商店銷售額成長了 6%，遠高於我們計劃的上限，這完全是由客戶流量的成長所推動的。我們看到我們的服裝銷售持續成長，其中包括中等個位數的配件銷售，增幅為中等個位數。整體而言，家庭用品銷售額加速成長，並出現高個位數成長。 TJX 淨銷售額成長至 133 億美元，較 2023 財年第三季成長 9%。

The third quarter consolidated pretax margin of 12% was up 80 basis points versus last year. Our pretax profit margin came in above our plan, primarily due to expense leverage on our stronger-than-expected sales and a benefit of approximately 40 basis points from the timing of expenses. As we stated in our press release this morning, we expect this benefit from the timing of expenses will reverse out in the fourth quarter.

第三季綜合稅前利潤率為 12%，比去年上升 80 個基點。我們的稅前利潤率高於我們的計劃，主要是由於我們強於預期的銷售的費用槓桿以及費用時間安排帶來的約 40 個基點的好處。正如我們今天早上在新聞稿中所說，我們預計支出時間帶來的這種好處將在第四季度逆轉。

Third quarter pretax profit margin was negatively impacted by approximately 30 basis points of cost from the closing of our HomeGoods online business, which was not contemplated in our previous guidance. All the costs associated with the closing of our HomeGoods e-commerce business are reflected in our Q3 results and there are no further write-downs expected going forward. Third quarter gross margin was up 200 basis points versus last year. This increase was driven by a higher merchandise margin due to the significant benefit from lower freight costs.

第三季稅前利潤率受到我們 HomeGoods 線上業務關閉帶來的約 30 個基點成本的負面影響，這在我們先前的指導中沒有考慮到。與關閉 HomeGoods 電子商務業務相關的所有成本都反映在我們第三季的業績中，預計未來不會進一步減記。第三季毛利率比去年同期成長了 200 個基點。這一增長是由於貨運成本降低的顯著效益導致商品利潤率提高所致。

Gross margin also benefited from expense leverage on the 6% comp sales increase. Supply chain investments and our year-over-year shrink accrual were headwinds to gross margin in the third quarter. Third quarter SG&A increased to 140 basis points, primarily due to incremental store wage and payroll costs, higher incentive accruals due to above-plan results and approximately 30 basis points of costs related to the closing of our HomeGoods online business.

毛利率也受益於費用槓桿帶來的銷售額成長 6%。供應鏈投資和我們應計費用的年減是第三季毛利率的不利因素。第三季銷售、管理及行政費用增加至140 個基點，主要是由於商店工資和工資成本增加、由於高於計劃的業績而增加的應計獎勵以及與關閉我們的HomeGoods 在線業務相關的約30 個基點的成本。

Net interest income benefited pretax profit margin by 30 basis points versus last year. Lastly, we were very pleased that diluted earnings per share of $1.03 were also above our expectations and up 20% versus last year's adjusted $0.86. This includes an approximately $0.03 negative impact due to the closing of our HomeGoods online business, which was not contemplated in our previous guidance. This also includes approximately $0.03 of unplanned benefit from the timing of expenses that we expect will reverse out in the fourth quarter.

淨利息收入使稅前利潤率較去年提高了 30 個基點。最後，我們非常高興的是，稀釋後每股收益為 1.03 美元，也高於我們的預期，比去年調整後的 0.86 美元增長了 20%。這包括由於我們的 HomeGoods 線上業務關閉而產生的約 0.03 美元的負面影響，這在我們之前的指導中沒有考慮到。這也包括我們預計在第四季度扭轉的費用時間帶來的約 0.03 美元的計劃外收益。

Moving to our third quarter divisional performance. At Marmaxx, third quarter comp store sales increased a very strong 7%, entirely driven by customer traffic. Marmaxx' apparel and home categories both saw significant comp sales increases. Further, comp sales increases were very consistent across low-, mid- and high-income demographic areas and was strong across all regions. Marmaxx's third quarter segment profit margin was 14% up 50 basis points versus last year. This was driven by a benefit from lower freight costs as well as expense leverage on the strong sales, partially offset by incremental store wage and payroll costs and higher incentive accruals.

轉向我們第三季的部門業績。在 Marmaxx，第三季比較店銷售額強勁成長了 7%，這完全是由客流量推動的。 Marmaxx 的服飾和家居品類銷售額均顯著成長。此外，低收入、中收入和高收入人口區域的公司銷售成長非常一致，並且在所有地區都很強勁。 Marmaxx 第三季分部利潤率為 14%，比去年同期成長 50 個基點。這是由於貨運成本降低以及銷售強勁帶來的費用槓桿的好處，部分被商店工資和工資成本的增加以及應計獎勵的增加所抵消。

We are convinced that T.J. Maxx and Marshalls will continue to be gift-giving destinations this holiday season. Long term, we remain confident in our ability to capture additional market share in the U.S.

我們確信 T.J. Maxx 和 Marshalls 將繼續成為這個假期的送禮目的地。從長遠來看，我們對在美國獲得更多市場份額的能力仍然充滿信心。

At HomeGoods, third quarter comp store sales accelerated to an outstanding 9% increase entirely driven by customer traffic. Comp performance was very strong across each region in the U.S. and across stores in different income demographic areas. We were very pleased to see HomeGoods third quarter segment profit margin returned to double-digits increasing 140 basis points to 10.3%. This increase was due to a benefit from lower freight costs and expense leverage on stronger sales partially offset by costs related to closing our HomeGoods online business. With more than 900 stores today, we continue to see a significant opportunity to open up more HomeGoods and HomeSense stores around the country.

在 HomeGoods，第三季比較店銷售額加速成長，增幅高達 9%，這完全是由客流量推動的。美國每個地區以及不同收入人口區域的商店的比較表現都非常強勁。我們很高興看到 HomeGoods 第三季分部利潤率恢復至兩位數，增加 140 個基點至 10.3%。這一成長是由於運輸成本下降和銷售強勁帶來的費用槓桿的好處，部分被關閉我們的 HomeGoods 線上業務相關的成本所抵消。如今，我們擁有超過 900 家商店，我們繼續看到在全國各地開設更多 HomeGoods 和 HomeSense 商店的重大機會。

We're excited about our market share opportunities and bringing our eclectic home assortment and great values to even more shoppers.

我們對我們的市場份額機會感到興奮，並將我們不拘一格的家居品種和巨大的價值帶給更多的購物者。

At TJX Canada, comp store sales growth was 3% and was also driven by an increase in customer traffic. Segment profit margin on a constant currency basis was 17%, up 120 basis points. We have a very loyal shopper base in Canada and are convinced that we can capture additional market share through all 3 of our Canadian banners.

在 TJX Canada，Comp Store 銷售額成長了 3%，這也是受到客戶流量增加的推動。以固定匯率計算的分部利潤率為 17%，上升 120 個基點。我們在加拿大擁有非常忠實的購物者基礎，並堅信我們可以透過我們的所有 3 個加拿大橫幅獲得額外的市場份額。

At TJX International, comp store sales were up 1% and customer traffic was up. Comp sales and traffic increased both -- in both Europe and Australia. In Europe, we were pleased with our performance given the high inflation impacting customer discretionary spend in the unseasonably warm weather. Segment profit margin for TJX International on a constant currency basis was 5.3%, down 140 basis points. We are confident that we can keep growing our footprint across our existing European countries in Australia and improve the overall profitability of this division.

在 TJX International，Comp 商店銷售額成長了 1%，客流量也有所增加。在歐洲和澳大利亞，Comp 銷售額和流量均有所增加。在歐洲，我們對自己的表現感到滿意，因為在異常的溫暖天氣下，高通膨影響了顧客的可自由支配支出。 TJX International 以固定匯率計算的部門利潤率為 5.3%，下降 140 個基點。我們有信心能夠繼續擴大我們在澳洲現有歐洲國家的足跡，並提高該部門的整體獲利能力。

As to e-commerce, overall, it's a very small percentage of our business and remains complementary to our very successful brick-and-mortar business. As to homegoods.com online business, when we looked at our long-term projections, we did not see a path to profitability over the long term like we do for our other banners. In terms of our other e-commerce sites, we were very pleased with their sales trends in the third quarter.

至於電子商務，總體而言，它只占我們業務的一小部分，並且仍然是我們非常成功的實體業務的補充。至於 homegoods.com 線上業務，當我們審視長期預測時，我們沒有看到像其他橫幅廣告那樣的長期獲利之路。就我們的其他電子商務網站而言，我們對他們第三季的銷售趨勢非常滿意。

Moving to inventory. Balance sheet inventory was essentially flat versus the third quarter of fiscal '23. We feel great about our inventory levels and the outstanding availability in the marketplace. We are very we are well positioned to flow fresh assortments to our stores and online this holiday season.

轉向庫存。與 2023 財年第三季相比，資產負債表庫存基本上持平。我們對我們的庫存水準和市場上出色的可用性感到非常滿意。我們非常有能力在這個假期期間將新鮮品種送到我們的商店和網上。

I'll finish with our liquidity and shareholder distributions. For the third quarter, we generated $1.2 billion in operating cash flow and ended the quarter with $4.3 billion in cash. In the third quarter, we returned $1 billion to shareholders through our buyback and dividend programs.

最後我將介紹我們的流動性和股東分配。第三季度，我們產生了 12 億美元的營運現金流，季末現金為 43 億美元。第三季度，我們透過回購和股利計畫向股東返還 10 億美元。

Now I'll turn it back to Ernie.

現在我會把它轉回給厄尼。

All right. Thanks, John. Now I'd like to highlight the key opportunities we see to keep driving sales and traffic in the fourth quarter.

好的。謝謝，約翰。現在我想強調我們看到的在第四季度繼續推動銷售和流量的關鍵機會。

First, as always, offering outstanding value is our top priority for the holiday selling season, especially in an environment, where consumers' wallets are stretched. The marketplace continues to be loaded with quality merchandise and we are set up extremely well to offer a wide range of good, better and best brands to consumers.

首先，一如既往，提供卓越的價值是我們假期銷售季的首要任務，尤其是在消費者錢包緊張的環境下。市場上繼續充斥著優質商品，我們已經做好了充分準備，可以為消費者提供各種優質、更好和最好的品牌。

Second, we believe our strongly position -- we are strongly positioned to be a top destination for gifts this holiday season. Our buyers have done a terrific job selecting the best merchandise available for our global vendor base to surprise -- from our global vendor base to surprise and excite our customers. We are confident that shoppers will find an eclectic assortment of guests to choose from for everyone on their list. In addition, we will remain focused on being a gifting destination throughout the year.

其次，我們相信我們的強勢地位——我們有能力成為這個節日禮物的首選目的地。我們的買家做得非常出色，為我們的全球供應商群體選擇了最好的商品，讓我們的全球供應商群體感到驚訝和興奮。我們相信，購物者會發現各種各樣的客人可供選擇，適合他們名單上的每個人。此外，我們全年將繼續致力於成為禮品目的地。

Next, we will be following fresh product to our stores and online multiple times a week throughout the holiday season, which we believe differentiates us from many other major retailers. With our ever-changing mix of merchandise, shoppers can see something new every time they visit. Further, we feel great about our plans to transition our stores post-holiday and offer consumers the categories and trends they want to start the year.

接下來，我們將在整個假期期間每週多次在我們的商店和線上追蹤新鮮產品，我們相信這使我們與許多其他主要零售商不同。隨著我們不斷變化的商品組合，購物者每次訪問都能看到新的東西。此外，我們對節後商店轉型的計劃感到非常高興，並為消費者提供他們想要開始新一年的類別和趨勢。

Lastly, we feel great about our holiday marketing campaigns across all of our brands, which launched earlier this month. Each of our brands are emphasizing our value leadership and our great assortment of quality gifts for the whole family. We believe we are set up very well to be top of mind for consumers and drive shoppers to our stores this holiday season. Additionally, we feel great about our in-store shopping experience as our customer satisfaction scores remain very strong.

最後，我們對本月稍早推出的所有品牌的假日行銷活動感到非常滿意。我們的每個品牌都強調我們的價值領先地位以及我們為全家人提供的各種優質禮物。我們相信，我們已經做好了充分準備，能夠成為消費者心目中的首選，並在這個假期吸引購物者到我們的商店購物。此外，我們對店內購物體驗感到非常滿意，因為我們的客戶滿意度仍然非常高。

Moving on. I'd like to spend a moment and list off the key characteristics of TJX that give us confidence that we can continue our successful growth around the world for many years to come. First, we have the largest brick-and-mortar off-price retailer in the world. We leverage our global infrastructure and share best practices across all of our divisions so that we can deliver the best merchandise values and shopping experience to our customers.

繼續。我想花點時間列出 TJX 的主要特徵，這些特徵讓我們有信心在未來許多年裡能夠在全球範圍內繼續成功發展。首先，我們擁有世界上最大的實體折扣零售商。我們利用我們的全球基礎設施並在所有部門分享最佳實踐，以便我們能夠為客戶提供最佳的商品價值和購物體驗。

Second, we have one of the most flexible business models in retail. This allows us to buy close to need and quickly adjust our store assortment to meet changing consumer preferences and offer the hottest trends. Third, we successfully operate stores across a very wide demographic and we curate our store mix to appeal to shoppers across all income demographics. Importantly, we continue to attract an outsized number of Gen Z and millennial shoppers to our stores, which we believe bodes well for the future.

其次，我們擁有零售業最具彈性的商業模式之一。這使我們能夠根據需要購買並快速調整我們的商店品種，以滿足不斷變化的消費者偏好並提供最熱門的趨勢。第三，我們成功地在非常廣泛的人群中經營商店，並精心策劃我們的商店組合以吸引所有收入人群的購物者。重要的是，我們繼續吸引大量 Z 世代和千禧世代購物者來到我們的商店，我們相信這對未來來說是個好兆頭。

Next, we source from an ever-changing universe of approximately 21,000 vendors in more than 100 countries. As a growing retailer with almost 5,000 stores, we believe many vendors want to work with TJX because we offer them a very attractive way to grow their business. All of this gives us great confidence that there will be plenty of quality branded merchandise available for us.

接下來，我們從 100 多個國家/地區的約 21,000 家供應商組成的不斷變化的世界中進行採購。作為一家擁有近 5,000 家商店的成長型零售商，我們相信許多供應商都希望與 TJX 合作，因為我們為他們提供了一種非常有吸引力的方式來發展業務。所有這些都讓我們充滿信心，我們將有大量優質品牌商品可供選擇。

Fifth, we believe our best-in-class buying organization is a tremendous advantage. Many of our more than 1,300 buyers have multiple decades of off-price buying experience. which we believe has allowed us to establish some of the best mutually beneficial vendor relationships and all of retail. Next, we continue to have a significant opportunity to grow our global store base. Long term, we see the potential to open an additional 1,300-plus stores with just our current banners in just our current countries.

第五，我們相信我們一流的採購組織是一個巨大的優勢。我們的 1,300 多名買家中的許多人都有數十年的折扣購買經驗。我們相信這使我們能夠建立一些最好的互惠互利的供應商關係和整個零售業。接下來，我們繼續有重要的機會來擴大我們的全球商店基礎。從長遠來看，我們認為有可能僅在現有國家開設 1,300 多家僅使用現有橫幅的商店。

Lastly, but most important is our talent. Throughout TJX, our management teams have deep decades-long off-price expertise in the U.S. and internationally, which we believe is unmatched. Additionally, we are laser focused on teaching and training to develop the next generation of leaders for our company.

最後，但最重要的是我們的人才。在整個 TJX，我們的管理團隊在美國和國際上擁有數十年深厚的折扣專業知識，我們相信這是無與倫比的。此外，我們非常注重教學和培訓，為我們公司培養下一代領導者。

Finally, I am so proud of our culture, which I believe is a major differentiator and another key component of our success. We believe that the combination of all these characteristics is why we have such a long history of successful growth in many types of economic and retail environments. We are convinced that these aspects of our business are a tremendous advantage and will allow us to continue offering shoppers inspiring merchandise, outstanding value and an exciting treasure hunt shopping experience every day.

最後，我為我們的文化感到自豪，我相信這是我們成功的一個主要差異因素和另一個關鍵組成部分。我們相信，所有這些特徵的結合是我們在多種經濟和零售環境中擁有如此悠久的成功成長歷史的原因。我們相信，我們業務的這些方面是巨大的優勢，將使我們能夠繼續每天為購物者提供鼓舞人心的商品、卓越的價值和令人興奮的尋寶購物體驗。

Turning to corporate responsibility. I am pleased to share with you that we recently published our 2023 Global Corporate Responsibility Report. The report summarizes our fiscal 2023 initiatives and progress within the 4 areas we focus on: workplace, communities, environmental sustainability and responsible business. We are proud to continue to make progress in our programs and initiatives, and we aim to provide our stakeholders with relevant information through our report and website.

轉向企業責任。我很高興與您分享，我們最近發布了 2023 年全球企業責任報告。該報告總結了我們 2023 財年的舉措以及我們重點關注的 4 個領域的進展：工作場所、社區、環境永續性和負責任的企業。我們很自豪能夠在我們的計劃和舉措中繼續取得進展，我們的目標是透過我們的報告和網站向利害關係人提供相關資訊。

I'm grateful to our teams around the globe for the work that they do to support our global priorities. As always, we invite you to visit tjx.com to read our full report and our updates throughout the year. Summing up, we were very pleased to deliver another quarter of strong sales and profitability. The fourth quarter is off to a strong start, and we are excited about the initiatives we have planned to drive sales and traffic this holiday season. Going forward, I want to assure you that we are laser-focused on further improving the profitability of TJX over the long term. Further, I am convinced that the key characteristics of our business have set us up extremely well to take advantage of the market share opportunities we see ahead in the United States and internationally.

我感謝我們遍布全球的團隊為支持我們的全球優先事項所做的工作。一如既往，我們邀請您訪問 tjx.com 閱讀我們的完整報告和全年更新。總而言之，我們很高興又一個季度實現了強勁的銷售和盈利能力。第四季有一個良好的開局，我們對計劃在這個假期期間推動銷售和流量的舉措感到興奮。展望未來，我想向您保證，我們將專注於進一步提高 TJX 的長期獲利能力。此外，我相信我們業務的關鍵特徵使我們能夠很好地利用我們在美國和國際上看到的未來​​市場份額機會。

Now I'll turn the call back to John to cover our fourth quarter and full year guidance, and then we'll go on to open it up for questions.

現在我將把電話轉回給約翰，介紹我們的第四季和全年指導，然後我們將繼續開放提問。

Thanks again, Ernie. Before I start, I want to remind you that our fiscal '24 calendar includes an extra week in the fourth quarter. Now starting with our fourth quarter guidance. We will continue to expect overall comp store sales growth to be up 3% to 4%. As a reminder, our comp guidance for the fourth quarter excludes our expected sales from the extra week in the quarter.

再次感謝，厄尼。在開始之前，我想提醒您，我們的 24 財年日曆包括第四季度額外的一周。現在從我們的第四季指導開始。我們將繼續預期實體店整體銷售額將成長 3% 至 4%。提醒一下，我們第四季的比較指引不包括本季額外一週的預期銷售額。

For the fourth quarter, we expect consolidated sales to be in the range of $15.9 billion to $16.1 billion, which includes approximately $800 million of revenue expected from the extra week. We now expect fourth quarter pretax profit margin to be in the range of 10.4% to 10.6%, excluding an expected benefit of approximately 40 basis points from the extra week, we expect adjusted pretax profit margin to be in the range of 10.0% to 10.2%, on a 13-week basis, this would represent an increase of 80 to 100 basis points versus last year's pretax profit margin of 9.2%. The decrease in the fourth quarter pretax profit margin guidance is due to the expected reversal of the approximately 40 basis point benefit we saw in the third quarter from the timing of expenses.

我們預計第四季度的綜合銷售額將在 159 億美元至 161 億美元之間，其中包括額外一周預計的約 8 億美元收入。我們目前預計第四季度稅前利潤率將在 10.4% 至 10.6% 範圍內，排除額外一周約 40 個基點的預期收益，我們預計調整後稅前利潤率將在 10.0% 至 10.2% 範圍內%，以13 週為基礎計算，這意味著與去年9.2% 的稅前利潤率相比，增加了80 至100 個基點。第四季稅前利潤率指引的下降是由於我們在第三季度看到的費用時間安排帶來的約 40 個基點的收益的預期逆轉。

Next, we expect fourth quarter gross margin on a 13-week basis to be in the range of 28.2% to 28.4%, up 210 to 230 basis points versus last year. We're planning a significant benefit from lower freight costs as well as a benefit from our year-over-year shrink accrual, partially offset from our ongoing supply chain investments.

接下來，我們預期第四季13週毛利率將在28.2%至28.4%之間，較去年上升210至230個基點。我們計劃從較低的貨運成本中獲得顯著收益，並從同比應計收益縮減中獲得收益，部分抵消我們正在進行的供應鏈投資。

On a 13-week basis, we're planning fourth quarter SG&A to be approximately 18.5%, up 150 basis points versus last year. This expected increase is primarily driven by incremental store wage and payroll costs and higher incentive accruals. For modeling purposes, we're currently assuming a fourth quarter tax rate of 26%, net interest income on a 13-week basis of about $49 million, and a weighted average share count of approximately 1.15 billion shares.

以 13 週為基礎，我們計畫第四季的 SG&A 約為 18.5%，比去年增加 150 個基點。這項預期成長主要是由商店工資和工資成本增量以及應計獎勵增加所推動的。出於建模目的，我們目前假設第四季稅率為 26%，13 週淨利息收入約為 4,900 萬美元，加權平均股數約為 11.5 億股。

As a result of these assumptions, we are now -- we now expect fourth quarter earnings per share to be in the range of $1.07 to $1.10, excluding an expected benefit of approximately $0.10 from the extra week, we expect fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.97 to $1. On a 13-week basis, this will represent an increase of 9% to 12% versus last year's earnings per share of $0.89. I want to be clear that our assumptions for comp sales, pretax profit margin and earnings per share for the fourth quarter are unchanged versus our previous guidance. The decrease in the fourth quarter pretax profit margin and earnings per share guidance is due to the expected reversal of the approximately 40 basis points and $0.03 benefit from the timing of expenses that we saw in the third quarter.

由於這些假設，我們現在預計第四季度每股收益將在 1.07 美元至 1.10 美元之間，不包括額外一周帶來的約 0.10 美元的預期收益，我們預計第四季度調整後每股收益範圍為0.97美元至1 美元。以 13 週為基礎，這將比去年​​的每股收益 0.89 美元增長 9% 至 12%。我想澄清的是，我們對第四季度的比較銷售、稅前利潤率和每股收益的假設與我們先前的指導相比沒有變化。第四季稅前利潤率和每股盈餘指引的下降是由於我們在第三季看到的費用時間安排帶來的約 40 個基點和 0.03 美元收益的預期逆轉。

Now to the full year. We are now expecting overall comp store sales increase of 4% to 5%. As a reminder, our comp guidance excludes our expected sales from the 53rd week. For the full year, we now expect consolidated sales to be in the range of $53.7 million to $53.9 billion, which includes approximately $800 million of revenue expected from the 53rd week.

現在到了全年。我們目前預計店內整體銷售額將成長 4% 至 5%。提醒一下，我們的比較指導不包括第 53 週的預期銷售。對於全年，我們現在預計綜合銷售額將在 5,370 萬美元至 539 億美元之間，其中包括預計從第 53 週開始的約 8 億美元收入。

We expect full year pretax profit margin to be approximately 10.8%, excluding an expected benefit of approximately 10 basis points from the 53rd week, we expect adjusted pretax profit margin to be approximately 10.7%. On a 52-week basis, this would represent an increase of 100 basis points versus fiscal '23 pretax profit margin of 9.7%.

我們預期全年稅前利潤率約為10.8%，剔除第53週起約10個基點的預期收益，我們預期調整後稅前利潤率約為10.7%。以 52 週為基礎計算，這意味著與 23 財年 9.7% 的稅前利潤率相比，增加了 100 個基點。

Regarding shrink, our indicators are still leading us to believe that we can continue to plan shrink flat for fiscal '24. As a reminder, we will not know the full effect of our shrink initiatives or the accuracy of our indicators until we do a full annual inventory count in January.

關於收縮，我們的指標仍然讓我們相信我們可以繼續規劃 24 財年的收縮。提醒一下，在我們在一月份進行完整的年度庫存盤點之前，我們不會知道縮減計劃的全部效果或指標的準確性。

Moving to full year adjusted gross margin on a 52-week basis, we now expect it to be approximately 29.6%, a 200 basis point increase versus last year. We expect virtually all of this increase to be driven by a benefit from lower freight costs. This guidance also assumes a continuation of headwinds from our supply chain investments. We are very pleased with the level of fleet recapture we've seen so far this year and remain focused on looking for ways to reduce our freight costs going forward.

以 52 週為基礎計算全年調整後毛利率，我們現在預計約為 29.6%，比去年增加 200 個基點。我們預計幾乎所有這些成長都將受到貨運成本下降的推動。該指引也假設我們的供應鏈投資將繼續面臨阻力。我們對今年迄今所看到的機隊回收水準感到非常滿意，並將繼續致力於尋找降低未來貨運成本的方法。

For the full year, adjusted SG&A on a 52-week basis, we are now expecting it to be approximately 19.2%, a 130 basis point increase versus last year. This is expected -- this expected increase is primarily driven by incremental store wage and payroll costs and higher incentive accruals. For modeling purposes, we're currently assuming a full year tax rate of 25.7%, net interest income on a 52-week basis of about $165 million, and a weighted average share count of approximately 1.16 billion shares.

對於全年，以 52 週調整後的 SG&A，我們現在預計約為 19.2%，比去年增加 130 個基點。這是預期的——這種預期的增長主要是由商店工資和工資成本的增量以及應計獎勵的增加所推動的。出於建模目的，我們目前假設全年稅率為 25.7%，52 週淨利息收入約為 1.65 億美元，加權平均股數約為 11.6 億股。

As a result of our above planned third quarter earnings performance, we are increasing our full year earnings per share guidance to a range of $3.71 to $3.74, excluding an expected benefit of approximately $0.10 from the 53rd week, we expect adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.61 to $3.64. On a 52-week basis, this would represent an increase of 16% to 17% versus fiscal '23's adjusted earnings per share of $3.11.

由於我們的第三季獲利表現超出計劃，我們將全年每股收益指引提高至 3.71 至 3.74 美元，不包括第 53 週約 0.10 美元的預期收益，我們預計調整後每股收益為範圍為3.61 美元至3.64 美元。以 52 週為基礎計算，這意味著與 23 財年 3.11 美元的調整後每股收益相比，增長了 16% 至 17%。

It's important to understand that we did not flow through the entire third quarter earnings per share beat to the fourth quarter because of the $0.03 of costs related to closing of the e-commerce business.

重要的是要明白，由於與關閉電子商務業務相關的 0.03 美元成本，我們整個第三季的每股盈餘並未超過第四季。

In closing, I want to reiterate that we are very pleased with the execution of our teams across the company in the third quarter and are confident in our plans for the fourth quarter. Long term, I want to reiterate that we will not be complacent when it comes to looking at ways to improve our profitability. We have a very strong balance sheet and are in an excellent financial position to invest in the growth of our business and simultaneously return significant cash to our shareholders.

最後，我想重申，我們對整個公司團隊在第三季的執行力感到非常滿意，並對我們第四季的計畫充滿信心。從長遠來看，我想重申，在尋找提高獲利能力的方法時，我們不會自滿。我們擁有非常強大的資產負債表，並處於良好的財務狀況，可以投資於我們的業務成長，同時向股東返還大量現金。

Now we are happy to take your questions. As we do every quarter, we're going to ask that you please limit your questions to one per person, so we can keep the call on schedule and answer as many questions as we can. Thanks.

現在我們很樂意回答您的問題。正如我們每個季度所做的那樣，我們將要求您將問題限制為每人一個，以便我們可以按計劃進行通話並回答盡可能多的問題。謝謝。

And now we'll open it up for questions.

現在我們將開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Lorraine from Bank of America.

（操作員指示） 我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Lorraine 線路。

Your gross margins are now trending nicely above pre-COVID levels. You just said you won't be complacent about finding opportunities for margin expansion. So can you talk about the 2 or 3 factors that you're most excited about to expand your gross margin in the coming years?

您的毛利率目前明顯高於新冠疫情爆發前的水平。您剛才說過，您不會因為尋找利潤擴張的機會而自滿。那麼您能談談您最希望在未來幾年擴大毛利率的 2 或 3 個因素嗎？

Yes. I mean the top thing is continuing to drive our top line sales is important. And where we see opportunities as other retailers increase their average retails, we can hold our 20% to 60% value gap in raise ours as well.

是的。我的意思是，最重要的是繼續推動我們的營收成長，這很重要。當我們看到其他零售商增加平均零售額的機會時，我們也可以保持 20% 到 60% 的價值差距，同時提高我們的平均零售額。

Lorraine, it's obviously top of mind for all of our merchant teams in terms of how we're retailing the goods and managing our inventory flow. And like anything else, those teams have just continuing to get better and better in terms of how we flow the merchandise. And one reason our merchandise has been a healthy margin year-to-date and last year is not only because of the way we bought it, it's also the way our planning and allocation teams have flowed the goods, which has helped with our sales, of course, having the right goods in the right stores at the right time, but also in the way we float it, we have saved markdowns appropriately in categories. So we're very bullish on that.

洛林，對於我們所有的商家團隊來說，就如何零售商品和管理庫存流而言，這顯然是我們最關心的問題。和其他事情一樣，這些團隊在我們的商品流通方式方面不斷變得越來越好。我們的商品今年迄今和去年保持良好利潤率的原因之一不僅在於我們購買商品的方式，還在於我們的規劃和分配團隊流通貨物的方式，這有助於我們的銷售，當然，在正確的時間在正確的商店中提供正確的商品，而且在我們浮動的方式中，我們在類別中適當地保存了降價。所以我們非常看好這一點。

I think the we mean more to the vendors today than ever before. And I think that's another facet of why we're very bullish on where our merchandise margins can go. And I think John, when he's mentioning that you're ultimately talking about market share with store closures, et cetera. But even if those fall off, we're not anticipating stores close at the same rate. We still have a base now of customers and a value umbrella, which I think what John was talking about is, we are positioned with tremendous opportunities to still show our 20% to 60% off and still retail goods advantageously, I would say, and then still buy better with all of the availability that's out there.

我認為今天我們對供應商來說比以往任何時候都更重要。我認為這也是為什麼我們非常看好我們的商品利潤率的另一個面向。我認為約翰，當他提到你最終談論的是商店關閉等市場份額時。但即使這些下降，我們預計商店也不會以同樣的速度關閉。我們現在仍然擁有客戶群和價值保護傘，我認為約翰所說的是，我們擁有巨大的機會，仍然可以展示我們的 20% 至 60% 折扣，並且仍然可以有利地零售商品，我想說，並且然後仍然可以利用現有的所有可用性購買更好的產品。

So multiple factors going on. All going back to why I would say we are always happy to see a seasoned buying team like we have with such consistency and tenure over the years -- this is what allows you to sleep at night and know you're going to take advantage of those opportunities with the vendor community.

所以有多種因素在發生。一切都回到了為什麼我會說我們總是很高興看到像我們這樣多年來如此穩定和長期任職的經驗豐富的採購團隊 - 這就是讓您在晚上入睡並知道您將利用的原因與供應商社區合作的機會。

Next, we'll go to the line of Paul from Citigroup.

接下來，我們要講的是花旗集團的保羅。

Just a little bit more on gross margin. Curious on freight if you got back all of what you lost in 3Q last year, was it even more than that. And where is the upside coming from within the freight line. And I'm also curious, can you talk about the pure merch margin excluding freight, just considering your average unit cost and average unit retail.

只是毛利率多一點。好奇運費是否能把去年第三季的損失全部拿回來，是不是還不止於此。貨運業的上行空間在哪裡？我也很好奇，您能否談談不包括運費的純商品利潤，僅考慮您的平均單位成本和平均單位零售量。

So on freight, so compared to FY '20, we lost 300 basis points, and so we've gotten back about 2/3 of that. We've done it through obviously, the rates that we've negotiated, have been favorable. And we had some benefit from our year-over-year accrual, but we're also implementing a lot of initiatives to try to be as efficient as we can in our freight. So some of those initiatives are how we move the merchandise from ports to our DCs, from the DCs to stores. So that's where we've seen a lot of benefit as well.

因此，在貨運方面，與 20 財年相比，我們損失了 300 個基點，因此我們已經恢復了大約 2/3。顯然，我們已經做到了這一點，我們協商的價格是有利的。我們從逐年累積的收益中獲得了一些好處，但我們也在實施許多舉措，以盡可能提高貨運效率。其中一些措施是我們如何將商品從港口轉移到配送中心，從配送中心轉移到商店。因此，我們也看到了許多好處。

Going forward, so there's a bit of stickiness in the freight cost. As you -- as we've seen this year, there was a rail strike. So wages went up on rail salaries, truck driver salaries have gone up. So there's a bit of stickiness in the domestic freight, which is the lion's share of our freight rate. So we don't believe at this point now that we will get back all of the freight, but we'll continue to look at ways to be as efficient as we can on the freight rate going forward.

展望未來，運費存在一定的黏性。正如我們今年所看到的，發生了鐵路罷工。因此，鐵路工人的薪水上漲了，卡車司機的薪水也上漲了。所以國內貨運有一點黏性，這是我們貨運價格的最大份額。因此，我們目前不認為我們會收回所有運費，但我們將繼續尋找盡可能提高未來運費率的方法。

And just to remind you, a lot of the freight benefit that we're seeing this year has been a pull forward of what we expected to see in FY '25. So we're seeing a lion's share of that coming in FY '24. And so for FY '25, again, it's about looking for ways to be more efficient with initiatives internally.

只是提醒您一下，我們今年看到的許多貨運效益都比我們預期在 25 財年看到的要好。因此，我們看到其中很大一部分將在 24 財年實現。因此，對於 25 財年，我們要再次尋找提高內部規劃效率的方法。

John, on the pure merch margin mix rate.

約翰，關於純商品利潤混合率。

So the underlying merch margin, so Marmaxx was up. We did see a bit of headwind in FX rates for Canada and Europe. But we're seeing a benefit in the Marmaxx division.

所以潛在的商品利潤率，所以 Marmaxx 上漲了。我們確實看到加拿大和歐洲的匯率出現了一些逆風。但我們看到了 Marmaxx 部門的優勢。

Paul, and I'll jump in there as well. I'll tell you another place where I think we have an advantage on merchandised margin going forward is in our Home business. So our Home business, as you can tell from these results, which we are very bullish on, we feel is going to be very contrarian to the marketplace and much healthier than the marketplace.

保羅，我也會跳進去。我會告訴你另一個我認為我們在商品利潤方面具有優勢的地方是我們的家庭業務。因此，正如您從這些結果中可以看出的那樣，我們非常看好我們的家庭業務，我們認為這將與市場非常相反，並且比市場健康得多。

And with that, based on the momentum that we've seen, and you could see it improving every quarter. John and I have talked about it every quarter. And then coming out of this quarter with a 9 comp and HomeGoods is just way above the market. But our Marmaxx home business is very healthy. And our other home business and the other divisions have improved as well. That is an area where we think there's specifically a margin opportunity because some of our margin is on the mix of departments within TJX. And as Home now going forward over the next couple of years, we're anticipating that to kind of grow in percent of total for us. I think that's going to help our merchandise margin in total TJX. So just that's why that's another bright spot in terms of merchandise margin directly.

有了這個，基於我們所看到的勢頭，你可以看到它每個季度都在進步。約翰和我每季都會討論這個問題。本季結束後，HomeGoods 推出了 9 款產品，其表現略高於市場水準。但我們的 Marmaxx 家居業務非常健康。我們的其他家庭業務和其他部門也有所改善。我們認為這是一個特別有利潤機會的領域，因為我們的一些利潤來自於 TJX 內的各個部門的組合。隨著 Home 在未來幾年的發展，我們預計這一比例將在我們的總數中成長。我認為這將有助於提高我們 TJX 的商品利潤率。這就是為什麼這直接成為商品利潤的另一個亮點。

Next, we'll go to the line of Adrienne from Barclays.

接下來，我們將轉到巴克萊銀行的艾德麗安行。

Ernie, I guess my question is on -- we're hearing -- we had a wholesale report, and they talk about kind of the spring season and the end channel retailers in a department stores buying down for the first half. How do you think about that in terms of availability for next year and the continuation of this kind of great buying environment? I know it's always great. But it seems like there's a disconnect between their plan right now and maybe what's actually kind of being realized as we hear from the wholesalers.

厄尼，我想我的問題是——我們聽到——我們有一份批發報告，他們談到了春季的情況以及百貨公司的終端通路零售商在上半年的購買量。您如何看待明年的供應情況以及這種好購買環境的延續？我知道這總是很棒的。但他們現在的計劃與我們從批發商那裡聽到的實際情況之間似乎存在脫節。

Sure, Adrienne. It's ironic that the 2 people sitting here with me. We've talked about this yesterday as we were kind of talking -- prepping for the call that ironically, when we're always saying there is a -- I don't know, we've used all different types of words, phenomenal availability. I don't know if we have used plethora of (inaudible) -- the avenues to avenue that we haven't used that one yet. But then we keep getting pleasantly surprised because the world -- how do I put this, a world that has a lot going on in terms of instability and trends in different retail around domestically and globally just continues to create more spill off part of that is a lot of these companies that would like to clean up they are public companies, they cannot back off trying to push the envelope to grow.

當然，艾德麗安。諷刺的是，和我一起坐在這裡的兩個人。我們昨天已經討論過這個問題，因為我們正在準備打電話，諷刺的是，當我們總是說有一個——我不知道，我們使用了所有不同類型的詞語，驚人的可用性。我不知道我們是否使用了過多的（聽不清楚）——我們還沒有使用過的途徑。但隨後我們不斷感到驚喜，因為這個世界——我該怎麼說，這個世界在國內和全球不同零售業的不穩定和趨勢方面發生了很多事情，只是繼續創造更多的溢出效應。許多想要清理的公司都是上市公司，他們不能放棄嘗試突破極限以實現成長。

And so for whatever reason, I understand how one might one season be able to cut back successfully. But over the course of multiple seasons. And in total, with the 21,000 vendors, where it always ebbs and flows by vendor, there's just always more -- and I can't picture in this environment where the sales projections are so erratic that there won't be more. And I'll go to one other key point, which is the e-com business. So the e-com business, we've talked about this before, Adrienne, not with just yourself but the group, is that e-com has created more spill-off. Well, the e-com -- if you look at the volatility in e-com trends over the last 12 months, some of the -- especially in apparel, their forecasts have been way off from where they're trending because I think the e-com business is a little bit more fickle. So I think that's going to actually spill up more than what some of the more traditional brick-and-mortar vendors might be able to pull back on. So I just see it staying at similar levels of tremendous availability.

因此，無論出於何種原因，我理解一個賽季如何成功地削減開支。但在多個季節的過程中。總的來說，在21,000 家供應商中，供應商總是隨供應商的變化而變化，總是會有更多的供應商- 我無法想像在這種銷售預測如此不穩定的環境中不會有更多的供應商。我將談談另一個關鍵點，即電子商務業務。因此，對於電子商務業務，艾德麗安，我們之前已經討論過這一點，不僅是與您自己，而且是與整個團隊，電子商務創造了更多的溢出效應。嗯，電子商務——如果你看看過去 12 個月電子商務趨勢的波動性，其中一些——尤其是服裝領域，他們的預測與趨勢相差甚遠，因為我認為電子商務業務有點變化無常。因此，我認為這實際上會超出一些更傳統的實體供應商可能能夠收回的規模。所以我認為它保持在相似的巨大可用性水平。

And Ernie talked about the importance we have with our vendors, we add thousands of vendors every year. So again, we're just becoming that more important to the marketplace.

厄尼談到了我們對供應商的重要性，我們每年都會增加數千家供應商。再說一次，我們對市場來說變得越來越重要。

Next, we'll go to the line of Matthew from JPMorgan.

接下來，我們將轉到摩根大通的馬修的路線。

Congrats on another nice quarter. So Ernie, with the continued strength in apparel and now it's complemented by the acceleration in home, is there a way to speak to maybe the scale opportunity to drive market share across the wider demographic reach.

恭喜又一個美好的季度。因此，厄尼，隨著服裝領域的持續強勢，加上現在家居領域的加速發展，是否有辦法談論可能的規模機會，以在更廣泛的人口範圍內推動市場份額。

And then, John, could you just help elaborate on pretax margin puts and takes to consider multiyear or maybe relative to the historical model flow-through if comps were to remain consistent going forward?

然後，約翰，如果未來的比較保持一致，您能否幫助詳細說明稅前保證金看跌期權和需要考慮多年或相對於歷史模型流通？

Yes, great question, Matt. Let me -- I'll go to the scale of the model, specifically in apparel, and then I'll let John take the other part. But the -- we do look at it that way because also some of the competitors, specifically brick-and-mortar out there have not done a good job in apparel. And we have had a consistently pretty healthy apparel business that makes us feel like, again, market share opportunity, which is what you're talking about.

是的，很好的問題，馬特。讓我——我會討論模型的比例，特別是服裝，然後我會讓約翰承擔另一部分。但我們確實這樣看待它，因為一些競爭對手，特別是實體店，在服裝領域也沒有做得很好。我們擁有一直相當健康的服裝業務，這讓我們再次感受到市場份額的機會，這就是你所說的。

We have looked -- we've already started looking at our apparel plans for the spring season. in identifying which pockets of apparel and which areas -- in which parts of the country, by the way, we think, have opportunities for us to almost take the market share from items and categories that aren't being serviced by the competition anymore as much as they used to.

我們已經開始考慮春季的服裝計劃。在確定服裝的哪些口袋和哪些地區——順便說一句，我們認為，在國家的哪些地區，我們有機會幾乎從不再由競爭對手提供服務的商品和類別中奪取市場份額，因為就像他們以前那樣。

So I don't want to give you the exact categories, but there's a handful of categories, by the way, which happened to skew a little younger in our customer audience, so we get a bit of a win-win there, Matt, in terms of the categories we go after. But that is our objective, not just in home, but to continue to exploit the apparel opportunity that's out there.

所以我不想給你確切的類別，但順便說一句，有一些類別恰好在我們的客戶群中偏向年輕一些，所以我們在那裡得到了一些雙贏，馬特，就我們所追求的類別而言。但這是我們的目標，不僅是在國內，而是繼續利用外面的服裝機會。

The other neat thing that's happening is because of department store and specialty store and online business not being as healthy in apparel. Some of those key brands are more interested in doing more additional SKUs with us than in the past. So we're getting wider assortments in some of the brands that we've always had, but we're able to get wider assortments there, which also helps our treasure hunt and our ability to do more business there and keep the turns healthy.

正在發生的另一件好事是因為百貨公司、專賣店和線上業務在服裝領域並不那麼健康。與過去相比，其中一些主要品牌更有興趣與我們合作推出更多 SKU。因此，我們在一些我們一直擁有的品牌中獲得了更廣泛的品種，但我們能夠在那裡獲得更廣泛的品種，這也有助於我們的尋寶和我們在那裡開展更多業務並保持健康發展的能力。

So John, on...

所以約翰，關於...

Matt, so just to answer your second part of your question, I'd say we're, first of all, we're very pleased to get back to really, we're forecasting to be beyond, where we were in FY '20 pretax profit margin. And again, that's with approximately 100 basis points of more freight headwind.

馬特，為了回答你問題的第二部分，我想說，首先，我們很高興回到真正的情況，我們預測會超越我們在財年的水平。稅前利潤率20。再說一次，這是在貨運逆風增加約 100 個基點的情況下。

As I said earlier in the call, we've probably gotten back 2/3 of our freight from where we were. So that really speaks to the performance of our merchandise margin versus FY '20. But going forward, we are not going to be complacent. We're always going to strive to improve our profitability. And again, the best way to improve our profitability is with our outsized sales and controlling our costs. So that's we're laser-focused on that part of it.

正如我之前在電話中所說，我們可能已經收回了 2/3 的運費。因此，這確實說明了我們的商品利潤率與 20 財年相比的表現。但展望未來，我們不會自滿。我們將始終努力提高獲利能力。再說一遍，提高獲利能力的最佳方法是擴大銷售並控製成本。所以我們非常關注這一部分。

Next, we'll go to the line of Chuck from Gordon Haskett.

接下來，我們將轉到戈登·哈斯克特的查克線。

Just wondering if you guys talk about the cadence of sales in the quarter, particularly in October, the temperatures were a bit higher nationally, and in some pockets actually been very warm. Just curious if there's any discernible slowdown during this time period. And if you've seen that demand capture so far in November as temperatures have normalized?

只是想知道你們是否談論本季的銷售節奏，特別是在 10 月份，全國範圍內的氣溫有點高，而且在某些地方實際上非常溫暖。只是好奇在此期間是否有任何明顯的放緩。隨著氣溫正常化，您是否已經看到 11 月迄今為止的需求成長？

So the cadence of the quarter, August and September were strong the October when the warmer weather did set in, and I'll add in there, the geopolitical events that are also taking place. We did see our trend a little bit of a drop from our August September trend. But when we saw the weather cooled down, towards the end of October, we saw our sales trends return. And again, we're our fourth quarter is off to a strong start, as we said in our -- not only our earnings release, but also our prepared remarks this morning. So...

因此，當天氣變暖時，本季、八月和九月的節奏很強勁，我將在其中添加也正在發生的地緣政治事件。我們確實看到我們的趨勢比 8 月 9 月的趨勢略有下降。但當我們看到十月底天氣變冷時，我們的銷售趨勢又恢復了。再說一遍，我們的第四季度有一個良好的開端，正如我們在我們的收益報告中所說的那樣，而且也是我們今天早上準備好的演講中所說的那樣。所以...

Next, we'll go to the line of Brooke from Goldman Sachs.

接下來，我們將轉到高盛的布魯克。

Can you elaborate on your outlook for comp growth between traffic versus ticket as you look forward? Did you happen to see any shifts in ticket this quarter versus your expectations? And how much more opportunity do you see to continue with the pricing strategy that has been successful year-to-date.

您能否詳細說明一下您對流量與門票之間的對比增長的展望？您是否發現本季的門票與您的預期有任何變化？您認為繼續採用今年迄今已取得成功的定價策略的機會還有多少。

So as far as what we saw in tickets, so again, our sales were driven by transactions. As expected, we did see a drop in our ticket that was offset by -- partially offset by additional units as what we've seen historically. But again, the important thing is driving that top line through transactions, we feel is a very healthy way for us to drive our business. And again, that ticket drop is due to mix. It's mix related within category. So...

就我們在門票中看到的情況而言，我們的銷售是由交易驅動的。正如預期的那樣，我們確實看到門票數量有所下降，但這一下降被我們歷史上看到的額外單位所部分抵消。但同樣，重要的是透過交易來推動營收，我們認為這是推動業務的一種非常健康的方式。再說一次，門票下降是由於混合造成的。它與類別內的混合相關。所以...

And Brooke, to remind you, we don't drive -- I think John starting to touch on it. We don't drive our ticket -- our average -- we don't have a top-down strategy to drive our average ticket up or down. We let the -- it really starts at the buyer, merchandise manager levels when they're saying these are the right values and having a good better mix, good, better, best mix. And it translates into, hey, these are the right values and it could, if there's a hot category like John said, and it happens to be a lower ticket, we're going to not go after that because our market share gain is still the priority in driving sales and top line.

布魯克，提醒你一下，我們不要開車——我想約翰已經開始談到這一點了。我們不會推動我們的門票——我們的平均門票——我們沒有自上而下的策略來提高或降低我們的平均門票。我們讓它真正從買家、商品經理層面開始，當他們說這些是正確的價值觀並且有更好的組合，好，更好，最好的組合時。這意味著，嘿，這些是正確的價值觀，如果有一個像約翰所說的熱門類別，而且它恰好是一個較低的價格，我們就不會追求這個，因為我們的市場份額增益仍然是優先推動銷售和營收。

In terms of your second part of your question, the opportunity on continuing the pricing strategy. Yes, we feel like we're in a good place on that. I think that will be a consistent opportunity as we look forward. We kind of monitor it as we look -- as we go into first quarter of next year at this point. And I would say we're positioned right where we would think we would be. And there's a lot of -- there's a combination in this environment with so much goods and we're always wary of where other retailers are going to potentially promote.

就問題的第二部分而言，繼續定價策略的機會。是的，我們覺得我們在這方面處於有利位置。我認為這將是我們期待的一個持續的機會。當我們進入明年第一季時，我們會一邊觀察一邊監控它。我想說，我們所處的位置正是我們所認為的位置。在這種環境下，有許多商品的組合，我們總是對其他零售商可能在哪裡進行促銷保持警惕。

So again, we're very selective on where we do it, but we have been seeing us the ability to continue to retail grab where appropriate. At the same time, actually buy a little better, and that's where we get some of the merchandise margin mark-on benefit. So again, feeling good about it, but we're always watching a very, very balanced, I would say, and surgically. John?

再說一遍，我們對開展業務的地點非常有選擇性，但我們一直看到我們有能力繼續在適當的地方進行零售搶奪。同時，實際上買更好一點的東西，這就是我們獲得一些商品利潤加成收益的地方。再說一次，我對此感覺很好，但我想說，我們總是在觀看非常非常平衡的比賽，而且是手術式的。約翰？

And look, our customers are telling us that their value perception of us remains very strong, which is, again, is key.

看，我們的客戶告訴我們，他們對我們的價值觀念仍然非常強烈，這又是關鍵。

The -- we do surveys, and we get data on perception. Our perception right now is actually -- has improved on their perception of our values relative to others.

我們進行調查，並取得有關感知的數據。我們現在的看法實際上已經改善了他們對我們相對於其他人的價值觀的看法。

Next, we'll go to the line of Alex from Morgan Stanley.

接下來，我們將轉到摩根士丹利的 Alex 線路。

Congrats on a great quarter, guys. I wanted to focus on Marmaxx, its operating margin has been at about 14% almost all year compared to slightly below that pre-COVID. So I'm just wondering, how do you think about that? Are we at peak? Or are there still headwinds hurting that segment? And how do you think about it from here?

夥計們，恭喜你們度過了一個出色的季度。我想專注於 Marmaxx，它的營業利潤率幾乎全年都在 14% 左右，略低於新冠疫情之前的水平。所以我只是想知道，你對此有何看法？我們正處於高峰期嗎？或仍存在損害該細分市場的阻力？您對此有何看法？

I mean, yes, look, we're very pleased about driving a 7 comp entirely through traffic. We were -- we've seen nice benefit from the freight. But look, we have -- we're continuing to see this year. I mean we've had headwinds on supply chain and wage. So -- but we feel really good about where we are, as far as a pretax profit margin being up 50 basis points versus last year.

我的意思是，是的，看，我們非常高興能夠完全駕駛一輛 7 輛汽車穿越交通。我們已經看到了貨運帶來的巨大好處。但是看，今年我們將繼續看到這一情況。我的意思是我們在供應鏈和工資方面遇到了阻力。所以，但我們對目前的狀況感到非常滿意，稅前利潤率比去年提高了 50 個基點。

Next, we'll go to the line of Michael from Evercore ISI.

接下來，我們將轉到 Evercore ISI 的 Michael 線。

Congrats on a nice quarter. Can you help us think about what's flow-through will look like on the SG&A side as we think about potential for comp upside in the fourth quarter and maybe some thoughts on SG&A growth or leverage for next year? I know this year is largely defined by some structural labor issues that you've spoken about and then restoring incentive comp. But maybe you could help with some thoughts on the go-forward leverage point on SG&A as we kind of transition off of that kind of year this year into next year? And then I have a follow-up.

恭喜您度過了一個美好的季度。當我們考慮第四季度的比較成長潛力以及對明年的 SG&A 成長或槓桿的一些想法時，您能否幫助我們思考 SG&A 方面的流量會是什麼樣子？我知道今年很大程度上是由您談到的一些結構性勞動力問題以及恢復激勵補償所決定的。但也許您可以幫助我們思考 SG&A 的未來槓桿點，因為我們從今年的這種情況過渡到明年？然後我有一個後續行動。

I mean, so SG&A for the fourth quarter is primarily due to incremental store wage and payroll costs and higher incentive accruals. When we look out next year, while we haven't completed our planning process, we would expect that we would not see the increases that we saw this year. And again, we're not giving guidance, but that's what we would expect. And I would say that as far as the leverage point, I would say that, that's unchanged from what we've said.

我的意思是，第四季度的銷售管理費用主要是由於商店工資和工資成本的增加以及應計獎勵的增加。當我們展望明年時，雖然我們尚未完成規劃過程，但我們預計不會看到今年的成長。再說一次，我們不會提供指導，但這是我們所期望的。我想說，就槓桿點而言，我想說，這與我們所說的話沒有改變。

And as you look at -- I guess, thinking about Alex's question, as you look at where HomeGoods margins are today, still below 2019 levels. I know there's a lot of freight impacting that business, and you told us that's still behind versus 2019 now, you don't expect to get it all back. But if you take out freight in that business, do you still see opportunities to kind of get back to where you were in 2019 like you have at Marmaxx or maybe some thoughts on some of the differences in the structural I guess, the cost structure for that business as we kind of come out of some of these moving parts?

當你看到——我想，想想亞歷克斯的問題，當你看到家居用品今天的利潤率仍然低於 2019 年的水平。我知道有很多貨運影響了該業務，而且您告訴我們，與 2019 年相比，現在仍然落後，您預計不會全部收回。但是，如果你從事該業務的貨運業務，你是否仍然看到機會回到 2019 年的水平，就像你在 Marmaxx 那樣，或者也許對結構上的一些差異有一些想法，我猜，成本結構我們的業務是從這些活動部件產生的嗎？

I mean, look, the cost structure, as we've said before is it's -- it has a higher freight rate. So when we talk about getting back only 2/3 of the freight, HomeGoods is going to be a little bit more impacted on the freight line. But again, it's similar. The headwinds are similar, where we talk about store wage and payroll costs and supply chain investments. So look, we're really pleased with the improvements we've made to HomeGoods bottom line throughout the year. And looking out, we're focused on continuing to drive that bottom line.

我的意思是，你看，成本結構，正如我們之前所說，它的運費更高。因此，當我們談論僅收回 2/3 的運費時，HomeGoods 對貨運線路的影響將會更大一些。但話又說回來，很相似。不利因素是相似的，我們談論的是商店工資和工資成本以及供應鏈投資。所以看，我們對全年家居用品利潤的改善感到非常滿意。展望未來，我們致力於持續提高利潤。

Next, we'll go to the line of Dana from Telsey Advisory Group.

接下來，我們將前往 Telsey Advisory Group 的 Dana 線路。

Congratulations on the nice results. As we continue to hear about department stores ordering spring down even in some instances, down high single digits. How do you see your merchandising opportunity to take on better brands going forward? And do you see this reduction in orders from other wholesale accounts as a market share tailwind for you to gain share?

恭喜取得的好成績。我們不斷聽到百貨公司的訂單甚至在某些情況下下降，甚至下降到高個位數。您如何看待未來與更好品牌合作的行銷機會？您認為其他批發帳戶訂單的減少是否會成為您獲得市場份額的動力？

Dana, that was a classic -- right in the sweet spot of a merchant question right there. Strategically, I would say yes and yes. The reduction and their ordering just -- it's a little similar to what we spoke about earlier, where we're becoming a little more important to most of the brands. And I think with a lot of them talking about cutting back, I think they're going to look to us as a way to kind of even off that up and down roller coaster ride, which they don't want to typically see in their business.

達納（Dana），那是一個經典——就在商人問題的最佳位置。從戰略上講，我會說是，是的。減少和他們的排序有點類似於我們之前談到的，我們對大多數品牌來說變得更加重要。我認為，當他們中的許多人都在談論削減開支時，我認為他們會將我們視為一種擺脫上下過山車之旅的方式，他們通常不希望在他們的生活中看到這種情況。商業。

So we buy in a lot of different ways. And our teams right now and many of those pockets of businesses, are in talks with some of these vendors to figure out how to do what's a mutually beneficial as we actually said in the script, what's been really neat to see ever since it was true prior to COVID, but I think even more so post-COVID, that our buyers are great at figuring out the mutually beneficial way to work with a vendor. And the vendors love our buyers for that reason because we figure out opportunities that are good for them and good for us.

所以我們透過很多不同的方式購買。我們的團隊和許多這樣的企業現在正在與其中一些供應商進行談判，以找出如何做互惠互利的事情，正如我們在劇本中實際所說的那樣，自從它成為現實以來，看到的東西真的很漂亮在新冠疫情之前，但我認為在新冠疫情之後更是如此，我們的買家非常善於找出與供應商合作的互惠互利的方式。出於這個原因，供應商喜歡我們的買家，因為我們找到了對他們和我們都有好處的機會。

And that's -- this is a classic case, where this is happening to many pockets of business around it. We think it better positions us. And it also were allowed to kind of more tailor it to the brands that we think work to balance off our good, better, best, which I think is also what you're touching on there indirectly.

這是一個典型的案例，這種情況發生在周圍的許多業務領域。我們認為這更好地定位了我們。它還被允許對我們認為可以平衡我們的好、更好、最好的品牌進行更多的定制，我認為這也是你間接談到的。

Do you see new category opportunities too, Ernie?

厄尼，您也看到了新類別的機會嗎？

Yes. I think -- well, probably a couple new or more of expanding ones that have been not nearly as big as they could have been. So what we see probably -- yes, we always see new ones. But Dana, what we're seeing now is we've had some -- again, we don't talk publicly, we don't announce to competition, what are really helped driving our comps because obviously, they're very healthy. But what we're seeing is there's a few categories that have been so good. We are just looking at now in terms of moving even more staff into them, how to even explode them to a much larger degree -- and that's how we're on it. So I would say that is more of what's going on right now.

是的。我認為——嗯，可能有幾個新的或更多正在擴展的項目，但它們的規模遠遠沒有達到應有的程度。所以我們可能看到的是——是的，我們總是看到新的。但是達納，我們現在看到的是我們已經有了一些——再說一遍，我們不會公開談論，我們不會向競爭對手宣布，真正有助於推動我們的競爭，因為顯然，它們非常健康。但我們看到有一些類別非常好。我們現在只是考慮將更多的員工轉移到這些機構中，如何在更大程度上擴大——這就是我們的做法。所以我想說這更多的是現在正在發生的事情。

It's a little of what you're talking about, but it's more about these big families of business that we are really driving increases with. We think we can do even more by making sure we have the right buying team as that can mark-to-market coverage. And then by the way, again, I mentioned it earlier on the call, our planning teams are essential. When we explored a category in a department, they're the ones that help the store, and the stores get it all set up appropriately. They are the ones that really help the stores and the buyers get the goods to the stores in the right manner, to actually drive those sales. So we have -- 2 or 3 categories at a high level, I'm thinking of that are going to be huge impact for us for next year. Again, ones we're already doing, but nearly not up to the degree we can drive. So big opportunities.

這只是你所說的一部分，但更多的是關於我們真正推動成長的這些大企業家族。我們認為，透過確保我們擁有合適的採購團隊，我們可以做得更多，因為這可以按市場覆蓋。順便說一句，我之前在電話會議上提到過，我們的規劃團隊至關重要。當我們探索某個部門的某個類別時，他們是為商店提供幫助的人，而商店則將其全部設置得當。他們真正幫助商店和買家以正確的方式將貨物送到商店，從而真正推動銷售。因此，我們有 2 或 3 個高級別類別，我認為這將對我們明年產生巨大影響。同樣，我們已經在做了，但幾乎沒有達到我們可以駕駛的程度。這麼大的機會。

Next, we'll go to the line of Simeon from BMO Capital Markets.

接下來，我們將討論來自 BMO 資本市場的 Simeon。

I just wanted to clarify a prior point, if I could. The HomeGoods e-com costs that you called out, were those costs to close the business in more onetime? Or were they an impact from losing the volume? I think you had suggested it was the former, but I wanted to confirm that. Because if so, excluding those costs, wasn't HomeGoods margins already up pretty nicely, weren't they about pre-pandemic. So I just wanted to check on that. And if that is the case, any reason the HomeGoods margin shouldn't maintain this underlying expansion.

如果可以的話，我只是想澄清之前的一點。您提到的 HomeGoods 電子商務成本是一次性關閉業務的成本嗎？還是音量下降造成的影響？我想你已經暗示是前者，但我想確認一下。因為如果是這樣的話，排除這些成本，家居用品的利潤率不是已經上升得相當不錯了，不是大流行前的情況嗎？所以我只是想檢查一下。如果是這樣的話，無論出於什麼原因，家居用品的利潤率都不應該維持這種潛在的擴張。

So the costs associated with that were mainly cost to shut the business down. And moving forward, we would expect next year that this would be slightly accretive. I mean, don't forget, the homegoods.com was not a big portion of our overall business. So -- but yes, the pace that it is, it would be accretive.

因此，與此相關的成本主要是關閉業務的成本。展望未來，我們預計明年這將略有增加。我的意思是，不要忘記，homegoods.com 並不是我們整體業務的重要組成部分。所以——但是，是的，以現在的速度，它會加速成長。

And then Ernie, any color on where the customer traffic is coming from and any general views on -- again, it's hard to do, but segmenting what the traffic growth between new and returning customers?

然後厄尼，關於客戶流量來自哪裡的任何顏色以及對 - 再次，這很難做到的任何一般觀點，但是細分新客戶和回頭客之間的流量增長是什麼？

Yes, very broad. In fact, we talk about those. So one of the things that we're very bullish about is how broadly and diversified our traffic is from income and age groups and it's very balanced, where it's been. Obviously, we've had a greater percent of younger customers growing over the last, I don't know, 3 to 5 years, I guess, you'd say. But a recent -- we're very happy with how broad the customer traffic.

是的，非常廣泛。事實上，我們正​​在談論這些。因此，我們非常看好的一件事是，我們的流量來自收入和年齡層的廣泛性和多樣性，而且非常平衡。顯然，你會說，我猜，在過去的三到五年裡，我們的年輕客戶比例有所成長。但最近，我們對客戶流量的廣泛程度感到非常滿意。

We believe we're attracting newer customers to our business, generally speaking.

總的來說，我們相信我們正在吸引新客戶加入我們的業務。

Which I think you were just asking about as well. Yeah. So very -- also a great barometer that were reflecting the younger demos, but in balance, it's grown, but it's all very balanced by age group and income demographics.

我想你也只是在問這個問題。是的。所以，這也是一個很好的晴雨表，反映了年輕一代的情況，但總的來說，它正在增長，但按年齡組和收入人口統計數據來看，這一切都非常平衡。

And for the final question today, we'll go to the line of Ed from Piper Sandler.

對於今天的最後一個問題，我們將請聽聽派珀·桑德勒 (Piper Sandler) 的埃德 (Ed) 的發言。

It seems like you guys have been expanding square footage in category like beauty. It seems like that's getting some traction. I would love to just kind of think broadly about the opportunity there, if you've been kind of making some of those explosions, as you've called them within the category and kind of what their relationship has been like with those vendors, given that, that hasn't historically been an area of focus for off-price.

看來你們一直在擴大美容等類別的面積。這似乎正在受到一些關注。我很樂意廣泛地思考那裡的機會，如果你一直在製造一些爆炸性的產品，正如你在類別中所說的那樣，以及他們與這些供應商的關係是什麼樣的，考慮到從歷史上看，這並不是折扣的重點領域。

Ed, you guys are full with good merchant questions and observations today. This is very good. Yes, that's a good example. You can visibly see it, obviously, right? And what happens in a situation like that is we do show -- it's not typical off price. But as you know, if you walk that area, we're showing very strong values and an eclectic mix and one that's changing its classic treasure hunt. And we have a few of those type of businesses around the store. That's one that you've probably walked in and seen some new fixturing, et cetera.

艾德，你們今天充滿了很好的商人問題和觀察。這是非常好的。是的，這是一個很好的例子。你顯然可以看到它，對嗎？我們確實表明，在這種情況下會發生什麼——這不是典型的折扣。但如您所知，如果您走在該地區，我們會展示出非常強烈的價值觀和不拘一格的組合，並且正在改變其經典的尋寶活動。我們商店周圍有一些此類企業。您可能走進過那裡並看到一些新的裝置等等。

And so you are touching on the type of business, where we really go after it. Those vendor relationships are great. We have buying teams in the beauty area that have really worked well with the market, and they're always looking for new items and/or SKUs and/or categories within that whole family of business, to continue to do more.

所以你談到了我們真正追求的業務類型。這些供應商關係非常好。我們在美容領域擁有與市場合作良好的採購團隊，他們總是在整個業務家族中尋找新的商品和/或 SKU 和/或類別，以繼續做更多的事情。

I won't talk about the couple of others because we have others within the store that we can explode as well and go after very aggressively. So I hope that answers your question, though. We have a lot -- this is how we look where there's demand and where we can really take market share and offer tremendous value in brands, and that is one of them.

我不會談論其他幾個，因為我們店裡還有其他人，我們也可以爆炸並非常積極地追擊。所以我希望這能回答你的問題。我們有很多——這就是我們如何看待有需求的地方，以及我們可以真正佔據市場份額並提供巨大品牌價值的地方，這就是其中之一。

And that was our final question for today.

這是我們今天的最後一個問題。

Okay. Ivy, thank you. Thank you all for joining us today. And we look forward to updating you again on our fourth quarter earnings call in February. Everybody, take care. Bye.

好的。艾維，謝謝你。感謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待在二月的第四季財報電話會議上再次向您通報最新情況。大家保重。再見。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes your conference call for today. You may all disconnect, and thank you all for participating.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。大家可以斷開連接，感謝大家的參與。