Hibbett, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIBB) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Jared Briskin: Yeah, that’s exactly right. When the shortfall came in the transaction number and we believe primarily attributed to the Apparel business, which was worse than our expectations. Certainly we’re not expecting a robust apparel business, but it was €“ it had a lot more pressure on it. Certainly as we talked earlier, the market was incredibly promotional, and you know consumers were spending their money in other categories with us. So I think, God! That added some pressure, to the Apparel business especially when we compare it to the prior year where there wasn’t much inventory available in the footwear.

Mitch Kummetz: Okay, that’s helpful. And then second question, I know you mentioned going forward you’re going to stop anchoring against 2020, but I hope you might indulge my question anyways, because when I look at the comp guide on ’24, its low singles. That implies a four year, like the low 40’s. And then when I kind of run your quarterly spreads in terms of kind of percentage of sales by quarter, I kind of back into at least or kind of pencil into like a Q1 comp on a four year, like you know in the low 30’s and then the balance of the year kind of in the mid-40’s. That’s a pretty big difference and I was hoping you might be able to address that a little bit?

A – Mike Longo: Yes, so I think you know again, every year has got a little bit of a different unique cadence than we over the last three or four years. So last year again as we’ve touched on a couple of times, inventory was not in a great position as we entered the first quarter. So as you think about tax season being one of our big kind of seasonal peaks, we didn’t have a great assortment for the customer. We didn’t do a great job of meeting the needs. So if we feel this first quarter is going to be stronger, and I do think that that’s why we’re kind of looking at the mix of sales being a little bit, you know heavier here as far as the first quarter is concern. So I think that does give you a little bit more ammunition as far as leverage in the first quarter, and we will see a little bit of lowering as the year goes on again.

Fourth quarter is a big year, we’re having a big quarter for us as well, but I also want to remind everyone the 53rd week is in that fourth quarter of this year, so that’s going to give a little bit of lift to the fourth quarter. But we do not see that 53rd week as being a very accretive week for us. It’s a relatively low sales week. We’re considering closer to a roughly breakeven type of scenario. So again, I think that your original question I do see for this quarter being a little bit stronger this year than last year clearly.

Mitch Kummetz: Okay, and then lastly, you know a lot of vendors have already reported their Q4 given their December year-end or not all of them are on a December year end, but a lot. Some of them have talked about having too much inventory and kind of working through that, through the first half of the year; a lot of that going kind of through their direct channels. I’m wondering if you’re seeing any impact from vendor discounting and a lot of them have talked about how that should improve in the back half of the year as they get their inventory kind of right sized by the back half. So I guess maybe just a two part question. One, are you seeing much competition from the vens being on sale direct, and I guess if so, does that actually kind of ease up in your plans as you kind of go through the year.

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