Zumiez Inc. (ZUMZ) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon and welcome to the Zumiez 2019 Holiday Sales Call. This is Chris Work, the company's Chief Financial Officer. Before I start, I'd like to note that during this call, I may make certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties are described in the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended November 2, 2019, that was filed with the SEC on December 9, 2019. You are urged to consider any forward-looking statements made today in the context of the risk factors contained in our SEC filings. Our company does not intend and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. While it is currently Zumiez' standard practice to report sales only on a quarterly basis, given the significance of the holiday season to our annual results, we have made the decision to report combined fiscal November and December comparable sales growth. We will provide our full fourth quarter results on March 12, 2020. The company's comparable sales increased 6.8% for the 9-week period ended January 4, 2020, compared to the 9-week period ended January 5, 2019. In the prior year, comparable sales increased 4% for the 9-week period ended January 5, 2019. The increase in comparable sales for the 9 weeks ended January 4, 2020, was driven by an increase in transactions and an increase in dollars per transaction. Dollars per transaction increased for the 9-week period due to an increase in units per transaction, partially offset by a decrease in average unit retail. During the 9-week period, the hardgoods category provided our largest comparable sales increase, followed by men's, accessories and footwear. Women's was our only negative comping category during this time frame. Based primarily on stronger-than-expected quarter-to-date sales, the company is increasing guidance and now expects comparable sales to increase approximately 6% for the quarter, with earnings per share between $1.34 and $1.38. This compares to our previous guidance of comparable sales growth between 2% and 4%, with earnings per share between $1.26 and $1.32. We ended fiscal December 2019 with 719 stores, of which 704 stores were comp. Thank you for your continued interest in Zumiez.