Boot Barn Posts Solid Preliminary Q3 Results, Holiday Numbers

Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BOOT) released preliminary results for the third quarter of fiscal 2019, ahead of its ICR Conference scheduled on Jan 13. The company’s solid preliminary results reflect continued business momentum, courtesy of its effective growth strategies. Additionally, the lifestyle retail chain announced same-store sales numbers for the fiscal November-December period, which also constitutes the holiday season sales number.

Preliminary Numbers for Q3

Boot Barn’s adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter grew 23% to 81 cents, which compares favorably with the current Zacks Consensus Estimate of 78 cents. The solid bottom-line performance can be attributable to enhanced sales and merchandise margins.

Notably, net sales for the quarter advanced 11.8% to $284 million, better than the consensus mark of $281.4 million as well as management’s guidance of $275-$280 million. Further, same-store sales rose around 6.7%, better than management’s guidance of 5%. Markedly, retail store same-store sales increased nearly 5.7%, whereas the company saw an 11% rise in e-commerce sales. Retail same-store sales improved for the eleventh straight time.

Well, same-store sales growth was backed by strength in nearly all key product categories and regions. Also, robust brand penetration and constant focus on full-price selling drove the company’s merchandise margin, which expanded in the quarter under review.

Holiday Sales

Concurrently, Boot Barn stated that its same-store sales rose about 6% for the combined November and December period. Apart from Boot Barn, many other retailers came out with their holiday season sales results. L Brands (NYSE:LB) posted net sales of $3.906 billion for the nine weeks ended Jan 4, 2020, reflecting a year-over-year decline of 4.1%. Comparable sales fell 3% during the same time frame against an increase of 4% reported in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) holiday period comps dipped 0.2% year over year. Although the company saw strength in several key business areas like digital, beauty, active, children’s, men’s and footwear, softness in the women’s category impeded results. At Macy’s (NYSE:M) , comps edged down 0.7% on an owned basis, and 0.6% on an owned and licensed basis. Nevertheless, this department store retailer’s holiday sales number reflected an improvement from the third quarter.

Wrapping Up

Coming back to Boot Barn, the company stated that its sales trend for the first two weeks of the fourth quarter is similar to the third quarter. This, along with its impressive past record and strategic endeavors, keeps us encouraged about the company’s ongoing prospects.

Markedly, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock has more than doubled in a year, against the industry’s decline of 21.4%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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