Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Michael Hartshorn: Sure. On the what gives us confidence on the guidance. So the multiyear stack in the Q4 is lower than what we actually achieved in the third quarter. We’re confident about the assortment that we have for the holidays. And any conservatism would be based on the macroeconomic environment and what we think is going to be a very, very promotional holiday. In terms of the flow-through for next year, as you would expect, operating margin improvements will be highly dependent on sustained strong sales growth over time and then how quickly some of the inflationary cost pressures subside. But I’d say, over the longer-term, we think we can achieve gradual improvement in profitability. As for 2023 specifically, we’re in the midst of our budgeting process for next year currently, and we will be able to provide an update on our year-end call.

And we will have a better sense of the macro economy entering the year and to the opportunities we have in places like ocean and domestic freight. I would say also, keep in mind, with lower incentive costs that have benefited our profitability this year, we will reset the baseline next year. And thus, incentives will be a headwind in SG&A.

Michael Binetti: Okay, that’s helpful. Thanks, Mick.

Operator: And our next question comes from the line Adrienne Yih with Barclays. Please proceed with your question.

Adrienne Yih: Good afternoon. Thank you very much, excuse me. Barbara, can you talk about the buying environment and how much better it has gotten perhaps in the past 60 to 90 days since last quarter? And then how long does it take from, say, a contract negotiation to be able to get that product ready and available for sale in your stores? Thank you very much.

Barbara Rentler: Sure. Yes, the buying environment has gotten even better, broader, more brands, old classification. So it has absolutely in the last 60 to 90 days more vendors want to move more merchandise and also some new resources that perhaps we weren’t doing business with before also want us to purchase the merchandise. So yes, there is a lot of supply out there. Adrienne, just to the second part of your question again.

Adrienne Yih: Yes. I was wondering from the time that you actually negotiated…

Barbara Rentler: Well, it depends how quickly a vendor can ship, right? So assuming I buy the goods on Monday and the vendor could ship in a week, probably takes about 3 to 4 weeks, depending upon what €“ there is a lot of variables here, Adrienne, where they are shipping from, what . But basically, as a general rule, I would say, somewhere between 3 to 4 weeks.

Adrienne Yih: Okay. Fantastic. Best of luck for holiday. Congrats.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Laura Champine with Loop Capital. Please proceed with your question.

Laura Champine: Thanks for taking my questions. I’m interested in the contrast between what looks like more promotional department stores this year versus last and the off-price kind of effort to raise the ring a bit. How is your pricing umbrella holding up versus those mall-based stores this year?

Barbara Rentler: Well, Laura, we went in and actually went in and right-sized some of our values and we will continue to do that in the fourth quarter, which is why we are staying built into our guidance we have some additional markdowns in there. The promotional calendar, I mean you know what’s going on up there, you can see it as everyone is trying to move through inventory in some places. The promotional calendar looked €“ shore up is €˜19, as deep as €˜19, a couple of businesses, you say to yourself, it’s a little deeper than €˜19. But €“ so the merchants are out there assessing that, and then we are either buying to the values that we think we need to be based off all the supply that’s out there or we are going in and revaluing some of the things that we have that we think we need to get to the right price value.