Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: And our next question today comes from Alex Straton with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Alexandra Straton: Great. I wanted to clarify something on the Nike relationship that you said. So I think you said this was the second of four quarters in the Nike reset. But I think last quarter, if I recall correctly, you said that the vendor mix hadn’t changed. So can you just clarify that for me? Maybe where did Nike penetration sit in the first quarter and second quarter versus last year? And then a follow-up on that is just how this impacts profitability or what the implications are there?

Mary Dillon: Yes. I’m not sure if can site the exact number. What I’ll tell you is that we are certainly evolving. We’re going through the recent year as we discussed. Our longer-term mix that we expect would be 48% of our business being other brands, and we ended this quarter at 36%, which is up from 31% a year ago. So that’s plus five points. So we’re making progress against that goal.

Alexandra Straton: Got it. Okay. Maybe one follow-up just on the comp and how that kind of trended in the quarter. I think May was down low double digits, and it seems like the second quarter guide contemplated an acceleration. So can you just remind me why you thought that would happen, kind of what didn’t come to fruition? And then maybe also what the June uptick was a result of?

Michael Baughn: Yes. This is Mike. So I think as we saw through the quarter, again, to your point, operating with May from a low double-digit perspective and exited the quarter at a low double digit with a little bit of upside in June. I think we saw a lot of volatility from a promotional standpoint throughout the quarter. And we had expected for more progression in the month of July in our original guidance, really tied to momentum expected around back-to-school and the ramp-up of that holiday. I think what we’ve seen here is that it’s been a promotional environment. And as we contemplated our guidance for the back half of the year, we’re acknowledging that things have continued relatively similar into the month of August. In August, our comps are trending down high single digits to date.

And that’s really contemplated in the midpoint of the guidance that we provided. So again, our outlook is with our year-to-date trend. As we talk through the back half of the year, our downside scenario embeds further macro risk, really recognizing that our consumer is still under pressure. And that there are potential spending changes on the horizon with the resumption of student loans. Our upside scenario from a guidance standpoint reflects some of the early wins and building momentum we are seeing within our strategic initiatives.

Operator: And our next question today comes from Jonathan Komp with Baird. Please go ahead.

Jonathan Komp: If I could just follow up — I wanted to follow up on the last comments there, Mike, just so we’re clear. Are you still trending down low double digits or high single digits? And does the guidance require any improvement from the July-August levels?

Michael Baughn: Jonathan, so you were breaking up, but to make sure I heard you correctly, you were asking about the August trend. So our August comp trend is trending down high single digits, so a little bit better than where we exited the quarter within the month of July. And that high — down high single digits is really in line with our year-to-date performance, which again is then the midpoint of our back half guidance.

Jonathan Komp: Okay. That’s helpful. And hopefully, you can hear me okay. And then when we think about the comments around third and fourth quarter earnings being relatively similar, it doesn’t look like traditionally, the normal pattern looks like fourth quarter typically is much higher in terms of the earnings of the profit dollars. Could you maybe just parse out a little further if there are some factors unique to the fourth quarter that we should expect?