Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:WOOF) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Brian LaRose: Yeah, I can take that one, Anna. So in terms of gross margin, relatively in line with our expectations overall and that was despite the discretionary category not coming in line with our expectations. So the change of the guide, as we mentioned, is primarily related to our renewed expectations on that supplies and discretionary category. On the cost actions, Ron did mention that they are heavily weighted towards gross margin, but the benefits of those cost actions will mostly benefit 2024 and 2025. Some of the benefits in 2023 are more in the SG&A line from some of the headcount actions that we’ve taken.

Anna Andreeva: All right. Fair enough. Thanks so much, guys.

Ron Coughlin: Thanks, Anna.

Operator: Our next question comes from Steven Forbes from Guggenheim. Please go ahead with your question.

Steven Forbes: Good morning, Ron, Brian. Ron, you mentioned premium receivables up 8%, and I think, non-premium up 4%. But given some of the comments you made about assortment and just the consumer in general, curious if you provide unit volume color between those two subcategories and how you’re thinking about the current mix of the business from a go-to-market strategy?

Ron Coughlin: Thanks for the question. We continue to see a bifurcation in demand. We’re still seeing strong growth on premium offerings like Fresh Frozen, Orijen, Acana, which continue to be outperforming. That said, at the category level, we do see an increase in value-seeking behaviors amongst the subsegment. We’ve supplemented our value offers like our launch of Fancy Feast and Diamond Naturals with price points that are appealing to our customers. And additionally, the cost enhancements on supplies and related freight will be weaved in, in the second half to allow us to be more cost competitive on those products as well. So it’s really a story of bifurcation, strong demand on the high end and increased demand on the value side as well.

Steven Forbes: Thank you. Maybe just a quick follow-up for Brian. To level set the capital spending expectations, can you expand on where you’re deprioritizing capital spending this year with the most recent change? And then any comment on sort of initial 2024 plans as it pertains to balancing through your strategic growth initiatives with other investment needs like automation, to capture some of the savings that you noted?

Brian LaRose: Yeah. Good question, Steve. First, let me address 2023. So we’ve maintained our — that target of 50 to 55 hospitals in 2023 and our small town rural build out of about 10. And we’ve also maintained our commitment to pay down $100 million of debt this year in terms of our capital allocation priorities. We’re already at $75 million, we did $25 million in Q2. We did another $15 million last week. So already $15 million in Q3 gets us to $75 million. In terms of 2024, I don’t expect those capital allocation priorities to change dramatically. We will continue to focus on debt paydown. We will continue to lean into areas like that and other strategic priorities with high ROI. The adjustment of the CapEx guide for this year did not trade off any of those strategic priorities. It was in other ancillary areas where we were able to make some trade-offs to maintain our cash balance and make sure we were managing our working capital appropriately.

Steven Forbes: Thank you.

Ron Coughlin: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Seth Basham from Wedbush Securities. Please go ahead with your question.

Seth Basham: Thanks a lot and good morning. My question is just trying to better understand some of the merchandising and price changes that you’re making. Now first, supplies typically aren’t traffic driving. So what’s leading you to the decision to have to invest in price and supplies? And then secondly, bringing back things like Fancy Feast and the Supplies Perks program, why were those removed in the first place?