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

Michael Baughn: Yes. I think as we think through the Q3, Q4 split, again, we’re highlighting a relatively even split in terms of EPS, absent of the 53rd week, which we’ve quantified as about $0.15. And I think what we’re acknowledging is our guidance range with the potential that 4Q could be a little tougher than 3Q, given the compares. But again — and then with Q3 having some additional margin pressure year-over-year. So a little bit of those markdowns weighted more heavily towards Q3. But again, as of right now, they’re relatively even split by [indiscernible].

Operator: And our next question today comes from Lorraine Hutchinson with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Lorraine Hutchinson: Thanks. Good morning. How is your customer reacting to launches and limited product drops? Are those still driving outsized demand? Or is it really a focus on promotion that gets the core customer buying at this point?

Franklin Bracken: Yes. We’re still seeing very good sell-through on launch type products. So whether that’s release date or pure launch, retro or innovation. I think the consumer is responding very favorably, and the sell-throughs continue to be very good. I’d just remind you that 2Q was our most challenging launch quarter in the fiscal year. So Q3, it’ll moderate and be somewhere between Q1 and Q2. And in fourth quarter will actually be the best relative comp comparison from a launch standpoint. So that two factors into our revised guidance. On the base business, sort of non-launch, we are seeing that promotional pressure is impacting sell-throughs, and it’s been very competitive. We’ve seen heightened promotions from both brand ETC as well as retail competitors. And that went across the U.S. marketplace and also key markets into Europe, which again put pressure on comps and also sell-through and conversions throughout our store base.

Operator: And our next question comes from Janine Stichter with BTIG. Please go ahead.

Janine Stichter: Hi. Good morning, and welcome, Mike. I wanted to ask about the inventory. I think you’re still planning it down slightly, which would be higher than where sales are trending. Would your expectation be to be completely clean by year-end? And how should we think about based on where we are now the potential for promotions to linger into the first half of next year? And then I also wanted to ask about the expense base just based on your initial assessment, is there any room for additional cuts versus what was given at the Investor Day in March?

Michael Baughn: So from an inventory standpoint, again, we’re pleased with the progress that we made in the quarter here to be up 11%. We are calling out that we will end the year flat to slightly down. We have included, within our guidance, the necessary promotional levels that we believe will be needed to achieve that going into the back half of the year. I think from a cost perspective, acknowledging we’re operating below our expectations in ’23. As you can imagine, we’ve been very tight with our discretionary spending. I could really commend the team for being agile in that front. I do think we’ll obviously — we have a culture that is very disciplined on expense management, and we will continue to operate in that manner. And then from an overall cost perspective, again, we quantified $35 million of savings within the quarter across margin and SG&A tied to our cost initiatives. So again, we’re on track for the $350 million tied to the Lace Up plan as well.

Franklin Bracken: Yes. And I’ll just add, going back to our first quarter call, when we saw some of the slowdown in April begin in the base business, we immediately made some order book adjustments to our Q3 and our holiday order book. So that did not stay static. And as the businesses continue to slow down and miss our internal expectations, we continue to work back with our vendor partners to make adjustments, both to the order book as well as our receipt flow for the back half of ’23.