Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. And welcome to the 2020 Annual Shareholders Meeting of Lowe's. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. Today's presentation includes forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations and projections. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rick Dreiling, Chairman of the Board of Lowe's.

Thank you. And good morning. This is Rick Dreiling. And as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lowe's, it's my pleasure to welcome all of you to the Lowe's 2020 Annual Shareholders Meeting. For the first time, we are hosting this meeting on a virtual platform due to the health impact of COVID-19. We look forward to returning to the in-person meeting format next year. This is indeed an extraordinary time. And on behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to express our appreciation to the Lowe's associates that have been on the front line providing essential goods and services to their local communities during this crisis. Also to you, the shareholders, thank you for your continued support of our company. Now I'd like to introduce your Board of Directors, in addition to myself, who are standing for election at today's meeting, and all are present virtually for the meeting: first, Mr. Raul Alvarez; Mr. David Batchelder; Ms. Angela Braly, Ms. Sandy Cochran; Ms. Laurie Douglas; Mr. Marvin Ellison; Mr. Brian Rogers; Mr. Bert Scott; Ms. Lisa Wardell; and Mr. Eric Wiseman. At this time, I would also like to recognize Jim Morgan, who is also on the call with us today. Jim is retiring from Lowe's Board today having reached our mandatory retirement age for directors. And I would like to thank him for his 5 years of dedicated service. The Board will miss Jim's advice and counsel, and we all wish him the best. In order to facilitate this virtual meeting, I have asked our President and CEO, Marvin Ellison, to conduct the rest of the business portion of the meeting. Thank you all now, and I'll turn the rest of the meeting over to Marvin.

Thank you, Rick. And to all of our shareholders, we're glad you could join us. This is an unprecedented time as we all navigate the ongoing global economic, social and health impacts of COVID-19. I'd like to start out by extending my best wishes for the health and safety of you and your families. As we begin the business portion of the meeting today, I'd like to introduce 4 members of management who are joining me on the line. We have Heather Hollander, our Senior Director of Investor Relations; Dave Denton, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Bill McCanless, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; and Chris Cassell, Director of Corporate Sustainability. I'd also like to note that Ms. Laurie Londergand from the independent accounting firm of Deloitte, is also on the call. She'll be available to answer the questions in the question-and-answer session of the meeting. And Mr. Sid Rodrigue, Senior Director at Broadridge, is joining us on the call today, Mr. Rodrigue has been appointed inspector of elections for the meeting, and Broadridge will assist with the tabulation of proxies and ballots. As your proxy cards indicated, Bill McCanless, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary; Dave Denton, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, have been duly appointed as proxies for this meeting. At this time, I officially call the meeting to order. Bill, please outline the process for today's meeting and report on the mailing of notice for the meeting, the presence of a quorum and other business we will consider today.

Thank you, Marvin, and good morning. We will begin the meeting with the formal business portion. This consists of the election of directors named in the proxy statement, ratification of the appointment of the independent auditors and consideration of the company's proposals and one shareholder proposal. After we complete the formal portion of the meeting, the annual meeting will adjourn, and Marvin and Dave will provide a brief business overview. We will then open the floor for questions, and we'll use the time remaining to answer questions that were submitted by shareholders during the meeting. Duplicate questions regarding the same topic may be consolidated in order to answer as many questions as possible in the allocated time. [Operator Instructions] Please refer to the meeting rules of conduct posted on the web portal for additional guidance regarding the procedures for the meeting and the question-and-answer session. No one attending via webcast or telephone is permitted to use any device to record the meeting. I'll now cover the notice of meeting. Notice of the annual meeting of shareholders of Lowe's Companies, Inc. has been provided to shareholders of record as of March 23, 2020. The notice and proxy statement were mailed to the shareholders beginning on April 16, 2020. As of the date of record, there were 754,948,648 shares of common stock outstanding, of which 662,398,285 are represented at the meeting today, either in person or by proxy. This represents 87.74% of the company's stock. Therefore, we have a quorum. As provided in the notice of the annual meeting of shareholders, the purpose of this meeting is to address 7 items of business: First, elect 11 directors for a term of 1 year. A description of the nominee's qualifications to serve as a director is included in the proxy statement. Second, approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers in fiscal 2019; third, ratify the appointment of Deloitte as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2020; fourth, consider and vote on an amendment to the company's bylaws, decreasing from 25% to 15% the percentage of shares required to call a special shareholders' meeting; fifth, approve the company's 2020 employee stock purchase plan; sixth, consider and vote on the shareholder proposal if properly presented; and seventh, transact such other business as may properly come before the annual meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof. With regard to the item #6, to consider and vote upon the shareholder proposal submitted by Mr. John Chevedden. Mr. Chevedden will now have 3 minutes to present the proposal. Mr. Chevedden, your line is now open.

This is John Chevedden. Can you hear me okay?

Yes, sir. We can hear you.

Okay. Proposal 6, make shareholder right to call special meetings more accessible. Shareholders ask our Board to take the steps necessary to amend our bylaws and governing documents to give the owners of a total of 10% of our outstanding common stock the power to call a special shareholder meeting. This proposal is already a success because it led to the Board lowering the special meeting stock ownership threshold to 15%. It is so important to have a 10% stock ownership threshold because Lowe's shareholders permanently lack the right to act by written consent. North Carolina law, unlike the vast majority of other states, does not allow those shareholders to act by written consent. Special shareholder meetings allow shareholders to vote on important matters, such as electing new directors, that can arise between annual meetings. This proposal topic won more than 70% support at Edwards Life Sciences. This proposal topic also won 78% support at a Sprint annual meeting with 1.7 billion yes votes. Nuance Communications shareholders gave 94% support to a 2018 shareholder proposal calling for 10% of shareholders to call a special meeting. Since special shareholder meetings allow shareholders to vote on important matters, such as electing new directors, adoption of this proposal might motivate our directors to perform better. For instance, Ms. Sandra Cochran was rejected by 40x as many shares in 2019 as each of 8 other Lowe's directors. This proposal topic won 46% at the 2018 Lowe's annual meeting. This means that it likely won majority support from the shares that have access to independent proxy voting advice. The management statement next to the 2018 special meeting proposal cited the shareholder engagement that Lowe's reportedly does. Apparently, this engagement is mostly focused on affirming the present practices of management. Plus Lowe's was taking steps to eliminate an in-person annual meeting before the pandemic. It is a contradiction for management to cite purported shareholder engagement, while management is meanwhile taking steps to eliminate in-person contact with its shareholders. Please vote, yes, make shareholder right to call a special meeting more accessible, Proposal 6.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chevedden. After careful consideration of the proposal, the Board of Directors recommends voting against this proposal, as more fully detailed in the proxy statement. Marvin, this completes our proposals, and I return the meeting to you.

Thank you, Bill. I now declare the polls open for voting. The proxies have already delivered their ballots to the inspector of election. If you've already voted, it is not necessary to vote during the meeting unless you wish to change your vote. Anyone who desires to vote during the meeting should do so now by following the instructions on the website. I'll now pause my comments to allow any voting to take place. [Voting]

Since all the votes have now been cast, I declare the polls to be closed. I've received the report from the voting inspector. And based upon the vote of the shareholders, all nominees to the Board of Directors are elected. The advisory vote on compensation paid to the company's named executive officers has been approved. Deloitte is ratified as the company's independent public accountant for fiscal 2020. The company's proposed amendment to the company's bylaws has been approved. The company's 2020 employee stock purchase plan has been approved, and the shareholder proposal did not pass. Please note that the final voting results will be filed with the SEC within 4 business days. And this concludes the business portion of the meeting. I would now like to take time to provide an update on Lowe's operation during COVID-19 pandemic as well as some insight on our progress and performance over the past year. First, I'd like to begin by thanking our associates for their tremendous actions to support our customers and communities across both the U.S. and Canada in this very challenging environment. Their work and dedication has been nothing short of heroic. This is an unprecedented time for the company, and our associates, our customers and our communities have worked their way through these challenging times. Like most retailers, we began 2020 focused on meeting our internal financial plan while executing our retail strategy. But due to the global health crisis caused by COVID-19, everything changed in late February, and we immediately pivoted by establishing a cross-functional COVID-19 task force, opened a company-wide command center and reprioritizing our objectives. As a company, our focus shifted from running a business to achieve a financial plan to functioning as an essential retailer operating in a pandemic with 3 key priorities: first, creating a safe environment for our associates and our customers; second, providing support for our community, including health care providers and first responders; and third, financially supporting our associates during this unprecedented time. As a result of these new priorities, in the first quarter, we invested $340 million to support our associates, health care workers, first responders and our communities. In addition, we committed $50 million of charitable contributions for our communities, so we could do our part in this time of need. I'd like to now highlight a few of the operational actions that we took in response to COVID-19. In early March, we shortened our store operating hours by closing 3 hours earlier each day at 7 p.m., so we could increase third-party cleaning routines and restock shelves. During the hours that our stores will open, we implemented several operational changes to ensure the safety of our associates and our customers. Including the garden centers, a typical Lowe's store averages 144,000 square feet of space. And to develop our social distancing safety procedures, our team took a strategic data-driven approach. We tracked the store traffic trends and patterns to identify the areas where customers tend to congregate. And based on the analysis, we implemented additional safety and social distancing protocols in 3 distinct areas: point-of-sale checkout, the garden center and the paint desk. Lowe's was also one of the first retailers to install Plexiglass shields at all point-of-sale checkouts in every store. We also distributed gloves and masks for our associates to wear during their shifts. Our store team was so effective at implementing and executing our enhanced safety guidelines for our customer service that our scores for customer service improved by 200 basis points year-over-year in the first quarter. This is truly an incredible accomplishment and a reflection of our commitment to service even during this unprecedented time in this unique environment. I'd now like to review a few of the actions we took as a reflection of our commitment to our associates. In the first quarter, we provided our associates with incremental financial assistance totaling $290 million of investments. We made 2 special payments to our associates to help them with unexpected expenses, one in March and one in May, with each payment consisting of $300 for full-time and $150 for part-time and seasonal associates. And in the month of April, we instituted a temporary wage increase of $2 an hour for all our associates. And to further protect the health of our associates and all those around them, we offered 14 days of emergency paid leave for all associates who needed it. And for those associates in high-risk categories of severe illness from COVID-19, we offered emergency paid leave of up to 4 weeks. To show our support to our dedicated frontline managers, we've also provided them with 2 additional weeks of paid vacation to recharge and spend time with their families. We also extended telemedicine services to all associates and their families, whether or not they were enrolled to Lowe's medical plans. Also, to provide our much valued associates with a day off to spend with their families and loved ones, we closed all of our stores and distribution centers on Easter Sunday. This decision negatively impacted sales and operating income, but it was absolutely the right thing to do for our associates. In this unprecedented environment, we have decided to dramatically limit our promotional messaging. And instead, we shifted our marketing efforts to highlight our commitment to our communities and our great appreciation for our frontline associates. In fact, as the presenting sponsor on the NFL for the draft on ESPN, which posted a record-setting viewership, we ran a campaign that simply spotlighted and thanked our associates for their support of their communities and the local first responders during this time of crisis. We know that actions like closing on Easter, reducing promotions, closing stores 3 hours earlier each day and limiting customer access to areas like paint and the garden center negatively impacted our sales and operating income, but they are truly a reflection of our culture and our fundamental commitment to the safety of our associates and our customers. And to assist other retailers in operating safely in this exceptionally challenging environment, we shared our best practices with the Retail Industry Leaders Association. And we're pleased to share best practices with others, even our competitors, because in fact, the only competitive threat we are focused on right now is the COVID-19 virus. And to do our part to protect the frontline medical workers and first responders, we committed $50 million of support to our communities this year, including approximately $10 million in essential protective products, including N95 masks; $25 million in grants, products and services to help small businesses with their reopening plans. Look, I'm very pleased with what we're doing to address the high levels of unemployment in the country. Lowe's has hired over 100,000 store associates just during the spring season. We have a unique and a very resilient business model, and we operate well when our communities need us most. Whether it's a hurricane, a flood, a tornado or now a global health crisis, we're committed to being there for our customers. I'm also pleased that over the past 18 months, we've established the agility to provide our customers with the essential products that they need to keep their homes safe and functional and their businesses running. And our strong 2019 first quarter results and our 2020 results thus far reflect the benefits of our retail fundamental strategy and the improvement in our overall execution and also the strength in the home improvement business model. We're very fortunate to operate in a retail sector where approximately 2/3 of what we sell is defined as nondiscretionary repair and maintenance items for the home. And we've made steady and very deliberate progress in executing against our 4 strategic initiatives of merchandising excellence, operational efficiency, supply chain transformation and customer engagement. And although we are worried that our current and our future environment is unpredictable, I'm confident in our ability to execute and continue to provide the essential products and services our communities need. And in closing, I'm just tremendously proud of our associates, and I'd like to once again express my heartfelt appreciation for their hard work and their dedication. And now I'd like to introduce Lowe's Chief Financial Officer, Dave Denton. And Dave will provide an overview of our 2019 financial results, our strong liquidity position and our capital allocation priorities.

Thank you, Marvin, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin this morning by echoing Marvin's comments in thanking our associates for their tremendous actions to support our customers and our communities in these unprecedented times. I'm incredibly proud of our company and the role that we are playing in serving the community as an essential retailer. This morning, I'll provide a brief review of our 2019 financial results as well as our Q1 2020 results. Then I will review actions we took to further strengthen our liquidity position in this unpredictable market. In 2019, we returned more than $5.9 billion to our shareholders through a combination of both dividends and share repurchases as a demonstration of our commitment to driving sustainable, long-term shareholder value. Further underscoring this commitment, yesterday, our Board of Directors approved a $0.55 quarterly dividend scheduled to be paid on August 5 of this year. Last year, we made significant progress transforming the company. In 2019, our sales exceeded $72 billion, and we delivered comparable sales growth of 2.6%. Sales growth supported by strong expense management and improving productivity led to a 12% increase in adjusted diluted earnings per share. In fact, 2019 represented the highest sales and adjusted diluted earnings per share in our company's history. And for the first quarter of 2020, we delivered total sales growth of 10.9% driven by comparable sales growth of 11.2%. We reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.77 a share, an increase of 45% compared to the prior year supported by strong sales and improved gross margins. And these results are inclusive of $340 million that we've invested to assist our associates, our customers and our communities as they deal with the impacts of COVID-19. Given the uncertain economic outlook, we decided to bolster our liquidity to plan for any unforeseen disruptions. We raised $4 billion in senior notes and increased the capacity of our revolving credit facility by $770 million. And after repaying $500 million of senior notes due in April of 2020, we now have over $6 billion of cash and cash equivalents as well as $3 billion in undrawn capacity on our revolving credit facility, which will be available for any unanticipated liquidity needs. However, we believe that we have more than adequate liquidity to manage through any of the potential scenarios that we could be facing. During Q1, we also decided to halt our share repurchase program. We remain committed to returning capital to shareholders through our dividend program. And as always, we look for ways to drive significant shareholder value over the longer term. Also, consistent with our capital allocation framework, we are continuing to prioritize investments in the business for future growth. Our expectations for $1.6 billion of capital expenditures to support our transformation in 2020 remains unchanged. Lowe's is a terrific company with an outstanding brand and a powerful balance sheet. And in closing, let me just take a moment to remind you of the 3 key areas that we are focused on to drive significant shareholder value. This is our road map for unlocking that value. First is our focus to drive towards operational excellence throughout the enterprise. Second is our ability to generate significant levels of cash flow. And finally, it's instilling a more effective approach to capital allocation. Maximizing shareholder value remains a major focus of the company, and I believe that all 3 areas will contribute to our success. Thank you for your investment at Lowe's. Our CEO, Marvin Ellison, will now lead a shareholder question-and-answer session.

Thank you, Dave. That concludes the business update portion of the meeting. I'll now open the question-and-answer period of the meeting. We will attempt to answer as many questions as possible during our time today. If we do not get to your question, we encourage you to contact Lowe's Investor Relations at [email protected]. [Operator Instructions] Heather, on our Investor Relations team will now read the shareholder questions.

Thank you, Marvin. Our first question is on the subject of COVID-related social distancing. What is Lowe's policy on social distancing? And how will it affect store foot traffic?

Thank you for the question. As always, our top priority is the health and well-being of our associates in our stores, and we've taken very specific steps to make sure that we are executing our social distancing protocols in our store. I'll walk you through some of the things that we've done, and I'll remind you of some comments that I've made in my prepared statements earlier. First, we reduced the hours in early March, and that shortening the stores gave us a chance to not only clean and sanitize the store more effectively, but also to make sure we were stocking the shelves. As we think about social distancing, we did a data-driven approach. We looked at traffic patterns in the store. And I'll remind you again that the average Lowe's store, including the garden center, is approximately 144,000 square feet. And so from this analysis, we came to the conclusion that we had 3 areas that customers tend to congregate: outside garden, the point-of-sale checkout and the paint desk. So we put additional steps in place to ensure proper social distancing. We put signs up. We put decals on the floor, and we do periodic announcements over the overhead. We also installed Plexiglass shields at point of sale. And as I mentioned, we're one of the first retailers to install those in all stores around the country. In addition to that, we launched curbside pickup, which will give our customers the ability to do an online order and not have to come in the store, and we can do a touchless delivery out in the customer's vehicle. We also added 2 associates to our garden area that we call social distancing ambassadors, and these associates' primary responsibility is to make sure that they are looking at customer traffic and reminding customers of the social distancing protocols that we would like them to follow. And our IT team, along with store operations, developed a mobile app so that our local associates in the store can monitor real-time the number of customers in the store, and they can ensure that we're not getting in a position that we feel as though we're not providing the necessary social distancing protocol.

Our next question is on the subject of COVID-related impact on our supply chain. Have you seen any disruption in your supply chain related to COVID?

Thank you for the question. We mentioned back, about 1.5 years ago, that we're making a significant commitment in our supply chain and we committed a $1.6 billion capital investment over a 5- year period. And because of that investment, we're starting to see our supply chain modernize. And although we have witnessed and observed some level of impact to the supply chain, those have been minimal based on the steps we've taken to improve inventory visibility and also improve our replenishment methodology. We went into this year with our best in-stock position in probably 10 years. That in-stock position allowed us to serve our Pro customers with what we call job-like quantities and ensure we had product available to sell. But as you think about our global supply chain, the first COVID impact in the global community started in Asia. And so we saw early disruption in Asia, but the Asian market has really recovered well, and we're basically back at normal production capacity. And although we have sporadic merchandising categories that we're dealing with supply and demand-related issues, overall, we feel really good about our ability to serve our customers and most importantly, our ability to do this while keeping our customers and associates safe and ensuring we're providing those essential products that customers need to keep their homes functioning and to keep their business running.

Our next question is regarding our Board meetings. When was the last in-person Board meeting?

We started our virtual Board meetings in late March based on the impact of COVID-19 and ensuring the highest degree of safety for our Board members and our management team. In addition to that, we also put in place every 2-week calls with our Board to update them on the impact of COVID-19 to the business and to the company. So although we haven't had an in-person Board meeting since the beginning of the year, the ability to leverage technology has given our Board the ability to stay in tune and in touch with management, engaged and the ability for us to have ongoing communication. And we'll continue to leverage technology as effectively as we can to make sure that our Board stays fully informed and fully engaged.

Our next question is regarding our customer focus. Had there been shifts in the customer? And have you changed your focus to homeowners?

Thank you for the question. As we finished out Q1, we talked about the increased demand in what we call the do-it-yourself or DIY customer segment. Lowe's customer balance is roughly 75% of our revenue on an annual basis is driven from that do-it-yourself customer segment and roughly 25% comes from the Pro or Professional segment. In the first quarter, we definitely saw an increased growth in the DIY segment. If you think about it, the explanation is pretty basic. First, when customers were sheltering in place, they spent a lot of time at home. And when they found time at home, that long list of to-do projects that they just didn't have a chance to get to in previous months, they finally had an opportunity to address those tasks and that list of do-it-yourself of items. And because of the concern with having individuals in your home, we didn't see the growth in the Pro or the install segment that we saw in the do-it-yourself segment. Our core business has always been focused on the home. And we've been just very pleased that we've been able to give our customers the essential products and services they need. And as a reminder, 2/3 of what we sell we classify as nondiscretionary, meaning that these are essential items that the customer needs to keep their home functioning, to keep it safe and ensure that they can manage it effectively during these really stressful times. But other than the increase in DIY, we didn't see any dramatic shifts in any other customer segment of our business.

Our next question is regarding e-commerce demand. How has COVID-19 affected e-commerce demand?

We had our best Lowes.com performance probably ever in the first quarter, and that is very consistent with customers' desires to shop in a touchless environment. We spent a lot of time over the past 18 months modernizing and improving our e-commerce platform, in part transitioning the entire site from a decade-old platform to a cloud-based environment. That cloud-based environment and that transition gave us the ability to manage the increased volume and the increased online traffic. As we look forward, we know that retailers must provide customers with options, and we define that as an omnichannel environment, whether that is traditional shopping in store; traditional buy it online, have it shipped to your home; buy it online, pick it up in store; or as I mentioned earlier, our new curbside process where a customer can buy it online, park in the parking lot and we'll have an associate bring it out to them. We're pleased with our progress online. And -- but more importantly, we're pleased we're able to provide our customers with an ability to shop where they can feel safe and they can get the essential items they need to keep their homes functioning. And we'll continue to invest online, and we know that, that will be something that our customers will be very appreciative of.

Our next question is regarding share repurchases. Are you planning share repurchases in 2020?

Our Chief Financial Officer, David Denton, is here, and I will pass that question on to Dave.

Thank you for the question. At this point in time, we do not anticipate any -- doing any additional share repurchases for the remainder of this year beyond what we've already committed to in Q1. I will say that we are committed very strongly to generating substantial and sustainable long-term shareholder value. And our capital allocation program is a core component of that. As we gain more confidence and clarity into the impact of -- that COVID is behind us and behind the macro environment, we will go back and reevaluate our share repurchase program at that point in time.

Our next question is on the subject of our dividend. Was the dividend increased?

This is Dave again. We remain committed, again, to returning capital to our shareholders. At this point in time, we are not increasing the dividend. We are confirming the dividend. I'm proud to say that our Board of Directors yesterday reaffirmed a $0.55 per quarter dividend.

Our next question is on the subject of our annual shareholder meeting voting procedures. I am pleased with several aspects of Lowe's operations and advertising and voted during the meeting. However, the time allotted was quite brief. Please comment on this as the rapid response to voting results was so quick. I have 2 accounts with Lowe's totaling over 1.3 million and have been a family-owned shareholder.

Our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Bill McCanless, is present. I'll let Bill take that question.

Sure. And just so a brief outline of the voting process, the votes are tabulated as they come in throughout the proxy season, and Broadridge provides us with the results of that voting. And so during the meeting, while the vast majority, as I mentioned during the call, almost 90% of the shares have been voted, there is the opportunity for shareholders to vote. And then we receive from Broadridge, based upon their calculations, the voting results on the specific proposals. However, as Marvin mentioned, the final voting results will be made available within 4 business days when we file our 8-K, and that will reflect any changes should any votes have either been changed or should there have been any additional votes. So again, that's how the process works. But anyone voting today or that voted at any point during the proxy season, those votes will be reflected in the final report that we issue with our 8-K.

Our next question is regarding our COVID-related operating hours. Do we have a projected date to return to regular business hours, and will we be doing additional cleaning after the return to regular business hours?

Thank you for the question. We do not have a definitive date that we'll return to standard operating hours. As you can imagine, this is a very fluid situation. We have a COVID task force, as I mentioned in my prepared comments, and we are staying very close, not only to each and every store, but to all communities, local officials, and we're also staying close to guidelines being communicated by the CDC. Relative to cleaning procedures, we're committed that we will continue to have very robust third-party cleaning procedures regardless of our opening time because we know that is consistent with our commitment to providing a safe environment for our customers and for our associates.

Our next question is regarding our business and investment strategy in light of COVID-19. Are you planning to change your business and investment strategy due to COVID-19?

I'll let Chief Financial Officer, Dave Denton, take that question.

Yes, we are committed to our long-term transformational efforts here at Lowe's. As I indicated in my prepared remarks, we are investing from a capital expenditure perspective in 2020 $1.6 billion as we drive the company forward to improve performance over the long term and drive substantial shareholder value. It is our expectation that we are not veering from that road map. Those programs are very complementary to the strategic plan of the company and complementary to driving against accrued shareholder value over the long term. Throughout 2020, however, we do anticipate that we will reprioritize some of our efforts to pull some efforts that we might have had in the back half of 2020 into the first half of 2020, just given the changes in demand patterns that we are seeing from consumers and professionals as they shop various channels in the company.

And we have time for one more question. And that question is, my store has more inventory than the footprint allows. Is there a way for you to determine the level of inventory each store needs to be in stock without having excess inventory?

Thank you for the question. The short answer is yes. As you can imagine, we operate roughly 22,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. And oftentimes, inventory levels will fluctuate based on time of the year and based on the financial plan of that store. And so often, we'll look at a store at a point in time, and it may look as though inventory is excessive. But we sometimes will preload inventory in a store location, anticipating sales will come. And that is a way that we can make sure we never disappoint a customer by not having the product on hand that they're looking for. This is something that we spend a lot of time on. This is something that is part of our supply chain transformation and is something that I also believe we'll continue to get better at as a company. And I just want to thank all the shareholders for submitting your questions.

Thank you for your questions and comments. That concludes our question-and-answer session. If we were unable to answer your question, we encourage you to reach out to our Investor Relations department. Thank you for your attendance and participation. This meeting is now adjourned.

This concludes the meeting. Thank you for attending, and have a pleasant day.