NASDAQ:SPWH Sportsman's Warehouse Q1 2024 Earnings Report $1.24 -0.03 (-2.36%) Closing price 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$1.25 +0.01 (+0.40%) As of 07:47 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. ProfileEarnings HistoryForecast Sportsman's Warehouse EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.39Consensus EPS -$0.37Beat/MissMissed by -$0.02One Year Ago EPS$0.05Sportsman's Warehouse Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$267.50 millionExpected Revenue$266.68 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$820.00 thousandYoY Revenue Growth-13.60%Sportsman's Warehouse Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2024Date5/30/2023TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateTuesday, May 30, 2023Conference Call Time5:00PM ETUpcoming EarningsSportsman's Warehouse's Q1 2027 earnings is estimated for Tuesday, June 2, 2026, based on past reporting schedules, with a conference call scheduled at 5:00 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2027 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Sportsman's Warehouse Q1 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 30, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Q1 Sales Headwinds: Net sales fell to $267.5 million, down 13.6% YoY, driven by record western precipitation and consumer inflation, leading to a 17.8% decline in same‐store sales and a $0.39 per share loss. Firearms Outperformance: The hunting department led performance with strong firearm sales and accessory attach rates, although ammunition sales and margins moderated as expected from pandemic levels. Aggressive Store Growth: The company opened 5 stores in Q1 and plans 15 new openings in 2023, with new locations averaging profitability within 5–6 months and delivering over 110% ROIC over the past five years. Omni-Channel Momentum: Sportsmans.com now penetrates in the mid‐teens and is comping positive YoY, as the company enhances digital functionality and marketing to reach new customers beyond its physical footprint. Q2 Outlook & Cost Discipline: Q2 net sales are guided to $310–$340 million (SSS down 17% to 9%) and EPS of $0.02–$0.15, with further company-wide cost reductions planned to align expenses with current sales trends. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallSportsman's Warehouse Q1 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Greetings, welcome to Sportsman's Warehouse first quarter 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Riley Timmer, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Thank you. You may begin. Riley TimmerVice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development at Sportsman's Warehouse00:00:29Thank you, operator. Participating with me on the call today is Joseph Schneider, our Interim CEO and Chair of the Board, and Jeff White, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now remind everyone of the company's safe harbor language. The statements we make today contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which includes statements regarding expectations about our future results of operations, demand for our products, and growth of our industry. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested in such statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those described in the company's most recent Form 10-K and the company's other filings made with the SEC. We will also disclose non-GAAP financial measures during today's call. Riley TimmerVice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development at Sportsman's Warehouse00:01:23Definitions of such non-GAAP measures, as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, are provided as supplemental financial information in our press release, included as Exhibit 99.1 to the Form 8-K we furnished to the SEC today, which is also available on the investor relations section of our website at sportsmans.com. I will now turn the call over to Joe. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:01:51Thank you, Riley. Good afternoon, everyone. As a member of the Sportsman's Warehouse Board of Directors for nine years now, I have been deeply involved in the oversight of the company's strategy and execution. Now, as interim CEO, I have gained additional insights into the day-to-day operations of the business over the last several weeks. These additional insights will benefit me as the chairman and the rest of the board together in the long term. With those insights, I'm even more confident that we have a clear path to achieving our strategic objectives that we have previously outlined for 2023. Those key strategies are growing our store footprint, further developing our omni-channel capabilities, and growing sales from sportsmans.com, leveraging our customer databases and engaging our customers. The leadership team at Sportsman's are talented individuals with extensive experience in their respective areas of expertise. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:03:16This allows them to execute at the highest level to further the success of the business. As I've gotten involved in the day-to-day of the business, it's been exciting to work with each and every one of them personally as we carefully navigate the current environment and execute on our key initiatives for the year. While we have been faced with weather-related short-term headwinds and tough macroeconomic conditions, which Jeff will address in a few moments, the underlying foundation of the business remains strong. Our real estate funnel is strong, with 15 planned new stores opening this year. We have a robust omni-channel platform, allowing us to leverage our inventory and provide excellent service to our customers. Our industry-leading assortment and in-store expertise gives us confidence in our competitive position within our hunting, shooting, sports department, as well as the other key categories we offer outdoor enthusiasts. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:04:34We stand firmly committed to our right to win as a consumer's first choice for their outdoor needs. Before I turn the call over to Jeff, I want to reiterate both my and the board's focus on finding a permanent long-term CEO to lead Sportsman's Warehouse. We are working expeditiously but prudently to find the right person with deep retail and omni-channel experience, a passion for the outdoors, and a proven ability to return value to our shareholders. Egon Zehnder has helped the board create a strong pipeline of qualified candidates. We are energized by the enthusiasm for leading this company that we hear from many of the candidates we have spoken to. I'll now turn the call over to Jeff to go through the first quarter's results and discuss our view on the second quarter. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:05:41Thank you, Joe, and good afternoon, everyone. Over the past three years, our business has grown tremendously, nearly doubling in size. We knew that eventually the business would begin to normalize, and we have been experiencing a moderation of demand over the last few quarters. Much of this, we believe, has been due to significant inflation and its impacts on our consumer. Our sales in the first quarter were also impacted by the unfavorable weather conditions in the Western United States, as record levels of rain and snow pressured the spring camping and fishing seasons, causing demand for products in those categories to be softer than expected. If we look beyond weather, the business continues to experience pressure from the difficult macroeconomic conditions, and we are not seeing the increase in store traffic we had expected, with softness throughout our spring-related merchandising categories. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:06:36Because of these trends, we are closely managing our spring assortment and merchandising efforts while making the necessary adjustments to ensure our inventory stays seasonally relevant and our in-stocks for turning merchandise remain healthy. During Q1, our hunting department outperformed most of our other categories, driven by strong firearm sales during the quarter. Our industry-leading firearms assortment, coupled with best-in-class omni-channel capabilities, allowed us to better service our customers and win at the point of sale. Within the hunting department, we did see reduced ammunition sales and lower margins on ammunition compared with last year. We expected the comps to be tough during Q1 2023, as we lapped the industry, returning to an in-stock position in Q1 2022, driving customers to pull forward purchases. During the quarter, the team continued their execution on organic growth and opened five new stores as we continue to expand our store footprint. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:07:41We have six stores slated to grand open in the second quarter and four stores on track to open early in the third quarter as we enter the hunting and the holiday seasons. It's critical that we continue to stay diverse and flexible in our approach, but disciplined in our financial hurdles of 10% for four wall EBITDA and 20% ROIC as we navigate through the macroeconomic pressures we are seeing in the business. As the primary vehicle for deploying capital, new store openings have proven to be a strong way to generate positive return by generating over 110% ROIC over the last five years when compared to the total capital invested. These returns are achieved through our new stores reaching profitability on average in 5-6 months, even with including the pre and grand opening costs associated with that store. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:08:35We continue to believe in new store growth due to the considerable white space opportunities driven by increased firearm ownership, outdoor participation, and a reduction in the competitive landscape. We also continue to invest in our omni-channel platform, adding incremental functionalities as a way to drive additional sales through reaching new consumers outside our geographic area and making the experience for customers as seamless as possible. This allows us to leverage our fleet-wide inventory and increase assortment through introduction of new relevant products to our website. We will continue to use enhanced digital marketing efforts to reach new customers and entice existing customers to shop our website. The website now penetrates in the mid to high teens and is one part of the business that is comping positive year-over-year on both a quarterly and annual basis. Turning now to our Q1 results. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:09:35Our first quarter results were in line with our guidance range for both sales and earnings per share. We achieved net sales of $267.5 million, compared to $309.5 million in Q1 of 2022. The decrease was primarily driven by the unusually wet weather and extended winter in the Western United States and lower overall sales demand from consumer inflationary pressures. These declines were partially offset by the opening of 11 new stores over the last year. Same-store sales decreased 17.8% in the quarter compared with the same quarter of fiscal year 2022. Gross margin was 29.9% for the quarter, a decrease of 210 basis points versus the prior year first quarter period. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:10:24The decrease in gross margins was primarily due to a reduction in sales mix in our camping and fishing departments, which carry a higher margin profile and lower comparable product margins, mainly in ammunition. Selling, general, and administrative expenses in the first quarter were $99 million, compared to $96.1 million in Q1 of 2022. As a percentage of net sales, SG&A expense increased to 37%, compared to 31% in the first quarter of the prior year. This increase was primarily due to higher rent, depreciation, and pre-opening expenses from the addition of 11 new stores opened over the last year. Looking now at earnings per share, we reported a $0.39 per share loss in the quarter. In adding some additional color to this loss, I want to highlight some significant drivers. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:11:20First, the reduction in sales due to weather and lower penetration in our camp and fish departments contributed $0.18 to this reduction of EPS. Next, the expense burden of new store openings reduced EPS by an additional $0.03 per share during the quarter on a year-over-year basis. Finally, the increase in our interest expense reduced EPS by $0.04 on a year-over-year basis. I will now take a minute and review our balance sheet and liquidity. First quarter ending inventory was $469.5 million. We expect this to be the high point for inventory for the year, as this includes most of the buildup needed for the balance of our new stores to be open this year and much of the seasonal products for the summer and early fall selling season. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:12:12Although we will be adding 15 new stores during 2023, we expect year-end inventory to be approximately $400 million as we improve our terms and gain efficiency with better regional and seasonal assortments. This equates to a per store reduction of inventory of approximately 10%. Our liquidity continues to be a strength as we ended Q1 with $150.3 million on our line of credit. Our total liquidity, including cash on hand at the end of Q1, was $153.5 million. Turning now to our view on the second quarter. Starting with our net sales outlook. We estimate second quarter net sales to be in the range of $310 million-$340 million. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:13:00Same-store sales in the second quarter of 2023 are anticipated to be in the range of down 17% to down 9%. This guidance takes into consideration a 3%-4% same-store sales headwind versus Q2 of last year, driven by the political rhetoric due to the unfortunate event in Uvalde. EPS for the second quarter of 2023 is expected to be in the range of $0.02-$0.15. To add some color to our Q2 outlook. Over the last year, we've started reducing our costs in many of our stores, particularly focused on store labor. This effort resulted in a year-over-year cost reduction of 6% on a per store basis. We continue to see pressures on the business from the macroeconomic environment and a demand slowdown in our camping and fishing categories, reducing the amount of traffic to our stores. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:13:59In response to this continued softening, during the second quarter, we will further implement a company-wide cost reduction effort to align our expenses with the current sales trends. It is critical that we maintain financial discipline and rigor as we navigate the current consumer headwinds. That concludes our prepared remarks today, I will now turn the call back to the operator to facilitate any questions. Operator00:14:25Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, you may press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Eric Wold with B. Riley. Please proceed with your question. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:15:01Thank you. Good afternoon, guys. A couple questions, I guess. Jeff, you noted that, you know, firearm sales, were a strong point in the quarter. Can you maybe talk about, you know, kind of the attach rates you're seeing with those purchases, people coming in, if they're buying a similar level of kind of accessories, and ammo, that they may have previously purchased? I know you said the ammo sales are down, but in terms of the people buying firearms at that time, you're seeing similar levels of attach rates. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:15:32Same kind of question along that line, you know, as they kind of make their way through the store, you know, twice, you know, once for the background check and once to pick up the firearm, are you seeing them kind of, you know, buy a similar level of other basket items as they make their way back, or is that being impacted as well? Bit of a follow-up. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:15:48Yeah, Eric, great question. In terms of firearm sales and the attachment of accessories onto the firearm, we're still seeing a very good attachment rate for items specifically relating to the firearm purchase. A holster, a security product, ammunition, to the extent that they need it to go use. Where we're seeing the customer back off from purchases is the attachment rate to other items within the store. The consumers coming in, they're purchasing the firearm, they're purchasing the associated accessory with that firearm, they are not shopping other areas of the store, such as camping, fishing, apparel, footwear, places like that, where we used to see a higher attachment rate. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:16:32Got it. Okay. My second question, obviously, you noted the kind of the weather impact you saw in Q1 have kind of lingered in, into Q2. What does the guidance imply the down 9%, the down 17%? I mean, have you, I guess, have you seen any turn so far in those regions of demand coming back? Are you getting a sense that kind of pent-up demand is coming back in the stores, or do you think those sales may be lost, showing us that wide range? Are you assuming, you know, that you're starting to see some turnaround, are you assuming it continues, or is it one end assuming no turnaround, the other end assumes the turnaround? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:17:11That's a great question. In terms of the guidance, the guidance figures in that the pattern continues with our current business trends. We gave a large range on the guidance just because we have seen some areas start to turn in camping and fishing penetration, but not at the rate that we were hoping or expecting them to turn. With the guidance that we gave, we've kind of figured in the downside risk and then the upside opportunity if those trends start to change in the business and we get further penetration into fishing and camping and other seasonal merchandise. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:17:51Just to clarify, the low end of the range is assuming current trends continue, the better end of the range is assuming an improvement, or is the low end of the range assuming a further downturn from here? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:18:04I think the low end of the range assumes a further downtrend from our current business patterns. The midpoint right now is in line with what we're seeing in current business trends. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:18:15Got it. Perfect. Thanks, Jeff. Operator00:18:20Our next question comes from the line of Justin Kleber with Robert W. Baird. Please proceed with your question. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:18:28Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking the question. Just a first follow-up there on firearms, specifically. Jeff, did that business comp positive in the first quarter or not? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:18:41It did not comp positive, Justin, but it outperformed the rest of the company in terms of comps for the quarter. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:18:49Got it. Okay, thank you for that. Then just maybe help us disentangle the gross margin in the first quarter a bit more. Like, can you frame the mix impact versus the headwind from lower margins in ammo? Then specifically on the ammo piece, I guess, where are we in the process of margins on ammunition normalizing? I know we were overearning on those categories during the pandemic, but where are we in that kind of mean reversion from a margin perspective, specifically within ammo? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:19:19That's a great question, Justin Kleber. In terms of the gross margin for the quarter, if you look at the degradation year-over-year, I'm down about 200 basis points in totality. I will tell you that mix accounts for roughly half of that, the margin impact in the quarter equates about the other half of that. The big driver on the margin degradation is going to be in terms of ammunition. You know, we knew eventually we were going to see some degradation in ammunition margin, that it was not going to stay at the levels that it was at during COVID. We are now seeing that in the market, we're still seeing a margin that is much higher than what it was pre-COVID. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:20:01This is an expected change in the margin profile on ammunition, and that took a larger, basis point decline in overall gross margin in Q1, just given softness in some of the other categories like fishing and camping, which tend to carry higher gross margins. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:20:24Yep. Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for that color. Just one follow-up, kind of on margin. What is? Can you help us just think about how or what you're embedding in your earnings guidance for 2Q from a gross margin rate perspective? Do we anticipate the year-over-year declines? Do they ease from what we just seen in the first quarter? Do they get worse? Just any color that would be helpful. Thanks so much. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:20:52On Q2, we're really looking at the penetration into some of the other categories. back to Eric Wold's question, you know, the middle point of the guidance assumes that our current penetration trends in areas like camp and fish continue for the rest of the quarter. If we start to penetrate higher in those categories, those carry overall accretive margins to the overall gross margin. we will see better profitability from a gross margin perspective. If the current trend continues, where we penetrate heavily into firearms, we're going to see a continuation of some of the margin difficulties we saw in Q1. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:21:33All right. Thanks, guys. Best of luck. Operator00:21:38Our next question comes from the line of Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:21:45Hi, guys. First off, Jeff, just can we dig into the ammo business just a little bit more? You've talked a bit about the profitability. Just any changes that you're seeing fundamentally in that business as far as, you know, competition, kind of where your inventories are today? As we think about competition and kind of your initiatives to online, are you seeing more consumers move to online purchases of ammunition? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:22:12Yeah, Mark, in terms of ammunition, let's talk about industry and where we're at as we sit here today. The industry is very full and robust in terms of in-stocks in ammunition. The consumer is no longer buying excess boxes of ammo. They're coming in and buying what they use. They're able to find anything that they want at this point, and they're able to find, you know, copious quantities of it on the shelf. There's really no reactionary behavior from the consumer. In terms of the competitive landscape, you know, we, as noted, we've seen some declines in the margin profile, I'm not seeing any aggressive promotional activity in the market like we saw pre-COVID when there was, you know, a ripe in-stock position or an overstock position. I have yet to seen aggressive promotional items. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:23:02I think in terms of what we'll see going forward, it's back to a normal promotional cadence where you'll see good deals as some of the holiday seasons, Father's Day, you know, hunting seasons, holiday, those types of things. As we progress through those, I think we'll go back to a very normalized promotional cadence in the ammo business. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:23:25Perfect. Then as we think about the rest of the business, as far as inventory, you know, some of these categories that are fairly spring-based, some of the camping and fishing, you know, do you feel like you're gonna have to clear out some of this inventory? Will we see some bigger markdowns? You know, what kind of hits, you know, do you think you could take, or do you feel pretty comfortable with where the inventory is and your ability to move that over the next few weeks or quarters? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:23:52Mark, I'm very comfortable with the inventory position as we sit here today. We saw the slowdown in spring merchandise and goods early in the season. Like we've been doing for the last year, we made the necessary choices and reactions in order to ensure that we do not have too much inventory at the end of the season. You're gonna see us move through our in-stocks in a normal promotional cadence through the spring, through the summer season, into the fall season. At this point, if I look at the overall health of my inventory, I'm not worried about having to do any flash sales or fire sales in order to rightsize my assortment. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:24:32Okay, last one from me. Just, can you talk big picture just about kind of your comfort with leverage, where you think that maybe could go, where you're comfortable? Then maybe big picture, your desire to kind of keep the foot on the accelerator for store growth and what kind of gives you the comfort to continue growing at this rapid rate? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:24:53Yeah, on the leverage front, Mark, you know, if we look at the leverage at the end of the quarter, and our inventory position, as I stated on the call, we're kind of at the high point for inventory for the entire year. If you think about the flow of inventory, total dollars reducing through the end of the year, that money is obviously will go to the leverage, or to my line of credit. I'm still very comfortable with our liquidity, with the position the company's in to weather these downturns. This is why we openly communicated that we do not want to over-lever the company in order to weather any of these macroeconomic headwinds, like the one that we're currently in. Very comfortable there. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:25:34In terms of the store growth, there's a lot of white space opportunities still in the market for us to explore. I will tell you, Mark, that as we are looking at markets and with retail real estate inventory at the lowest level it's been at for decades, the ability for us to find markets where we can meet our financial hurdles, is getting a bit challenging. I will not open up stores just to hit a number. If it does not meet my financial hurdles of 10% for all EBITDA and 20% ROIC, I'm not going to sign a lease. That's something that we're going to continue to monitor as we move forward into the store expansion. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:26:20Excellent. Thank you. Operator00:26:26Our next question comes from the line of Mark Herrmann with R5 Capital. Please proceed with your question. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:26:33Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. I think you just answered, part of my question, but I'm kind of looking out to next year's, you know, store growth plan. You know, are there any thoughts on changes to, you know, location selection, especially box size, CapEx changes, and like, anything that's you're thinking differently for next year based on how things have been going the last couple of months? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:26:58Yeah, Mark, I'd go back to the statement of the retail real estate inventory is at the lowest level than it's been for decades. A real estate is still A real estate, you have a long line of retailers lining up to sign a lease on any of the boxes that we're looking at. As we think about further expansion, we're gonna continue to target, you know, the right MSAs. We go into any market targeting that 30,000 sq ft box as our starting point, we adjust up and down accordingly, based on market conditions, the right real estate, the size of the box that we can find, consumer trends and demand. We're gonna continue to monitor those trends as we look at real estate expansion. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:27:43For me, my primary focus right now is ensuring that any box we do go into, I am confident that it can hit our financial metrics that we've laid out. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:27:53Have you seen that those hurdles are more easily met with a smaller size box yet, or is that not the case? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:28:01I would say that it goes back to we target a 30,000 sq ft box because that's really the right space for us to make a nice presentment of SKU assortment. In those smaller boxes, we really have to know the SKU assortment well. It has to be in markets that we understand intently, so we can just put the A SKUs in there. The 30,000 sq ft box allows me to have a broad assortment with a variety of products, and allows me to hit those financial hurdles easier. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:28:33Okay, thanks. Then maybe a follow-up to that, just on the e-commerce side, can you quantify what happened this quarter in e-com? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:28:42As we stated on the call, e-commerce for us is a continually growing highlight of the business. You know, where other retailers, and I'm sure you've seen them come out, are pointing to declines in their e-commerce sales, that's an area for us that continues to comp positive year-over-year. We're really happy with what our e-com team has done to the business. We continue to penetrate into new geographies and acquire new customers, and we're excited about the opportunity that, you know, gives to the business on a go forward. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:29:17Thank you. Operator00:29:22Our next question is a follow-up from the line of Eric Wold with B. Riley. Please proceed with your question. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:29:28Thanks. Hey, Jeff, just a quick pause. Let me make sure I understand one of the previous questions on gross margin. I understand the decline year-over-year was, you know, ammo margins coming in and then the mix with lower camping and fishing. If you could, if we take ammo out of it and take mix out of it, on an apples-to-apples basis, kind of how are the categories comparing to last year? You know, are camping margins, apples-to-apples, up, down versus last year? You don't have to get into specific categories, but just I'm trying to understand ex mix, what margins are doing besides ammo. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:30:02Yeah, outside of ammo, Eric, the margins within our categories are very similar to the prior year. We have not seen a lot of pressure from the margin front in those categories. Obviously, we keep a very close eye on the competitive landscape and make sure our pricing is in line to match with our low price guarantee that we have. We have not seen much pressure in the other areas of the business outside of ammo. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:30:30Perfect. Thanks, Jeff. Operator00:30:34There are no further questions in the queue. This does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesJeff WhiteCFOJoseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the BoardRiley TimmerVice President of Investor Relations and Corporate DevelopmentAnalystsEric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley SecuritiesJustin KleberSenior Research Analyst at BairdMark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 CapitalMark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital MarketsPowered by Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Sportsman's Warehouse Earnings HeadlinesSportsman's Warehouse Holdings, Inc. Schedules First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference CallMay 19 at 4:05 PM | globenewswire.comUrban Outfitters and Sportsman's Warehouse stocks trade down, what you need to knowMay 11, 2026 | msn.comALERT: Drop these 5 stocks before the market opens tomorrow!The Wall Street Journal is already raising the alarm about a potential market crash, and Weiss Ratings research points to the first half of 2026 as a particularly rough stretch for certain holdings. Some of America's most popular stocks could take serious damage as a radical market shift plays out. Analysts at Weiss Ratings have identified five names you may want to remove from your portfolio before this unfolds. If any of these are in your portfolio, now is the time to review your positions.May 19 at 1:00 AM | Weiss Ratings (Ad)Unpacking Q4 earnings: Sportsman's Warehouse (NASDAQ:SPWH) in the context of other specialty retail stocksApril 15, 2026 | msn.comWhy The Story Around Sportsman's Warehouse (SPWH) Is Shifting After Recalibrated Valuation TargetsApril 15, 2026 | finance.yahoo.com5 revealing analyst questions from Sportsman's Warehouse’s Q4 earnings callApril 7, 2026 | msn.comSee More Sportsman's Warehouse Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Sportsman's Warehouse? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Sportsman's Warehouse and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Sportsman's WarehouseSportsman’s Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPWH) operates as a specialty retailer of hunting, shooting, fishing, camping and related outdoor sports equipment in the United States. The company’s brick-and-mortar footprint comprises over 100 retail locations across more than 20 states, complemented by an e-commerce platform that serves anglers and outdoorsmen nationwide. By focusing on core outdoor activities, Sportsman’s Warehouse delivers a comprehensive shopping experience for enthusiasts of all skill levels. The retailer’s product assortment includes firearms and ammunition, archery gear, fishing tackle and boats, camping supplies, outdoor apparel and footwear, water sports equipment and pet supplies. In addition to merchandise offerings, the company provides services such as gunsmithing, bow tuning, firearm safety courses and customer clinics. These services aim to enhance customer loyalty and drive repeat visits by fostering a hands-on, educational environment. Headquartered in Midvale, Utah, Sportsman’s Warehouse was founded in 1986 and has grown steadily through organic expansion and selective acquisitions. The company went public in 2013, trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPWH, and emphasizes omnichannel integration to blend in-store experiences with online convenience. Its distribution network and e-commerce operations enable timely fulfillment of orders both to distribution centers and directly to consumers. Sportsman’s Warehouse is guided by a management team with deep expertise in retail and outdoor sporting goods. The company’s leadership continues to invest in merchandise innovation, digital tools and customer engagement initiatives, aiming to strengthen its market position and capture a growing base of outdoor enthusiasts. Through community events, sponsored hunts, fishing derbies and partnerships with conservation groups, Sportsman’s Warehouse reinforces its commitment to the outdoor sports lifestyle.View Sportsman's Warehouse ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Latest Articles Why Home Depot’s Sell-Off Could Become a Huge OpportunityBrady Corp Wires Up a Massive AI-Powered BreakoutDillard’s Posted a Huge Earnings Beat—So Why Did the Rally Fade?Why Applied Optoelectronics Stock May Be Near a Turning PointIs Everspin Technologies the Next AI Edge Breakout?Peloton Stock Gives Back Gains After Upbeat Earnings ReportDatavault Gains Traction: 5 Reasons to Sell Now Upcoming Earnings Analog Devices (5/20/2026)Intuit (5/20/2026)NVIDIA (5/20/2026)Lowe's Companies (5/20/2026)Medtronic (5/20/2026)Target (5/20/2026)TJX Companies (5/20/2026)NetEase (5/21/2026)Ross Stores (5/21/2026)Walmart (5/21/2026) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In Email Me a Login Link or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Greetings, welcome to Sportsman's Warehouse first quarter 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Riley Timmer, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Thank you. You may begin. Riley TimmerVice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development at Sportsman's Warehouse00:00:29Thank you, operator. Participating with me on the call today is Joseph Schneider, our Interim CEO and Chair of the Board, and Jeff White, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now remind everyone of the company's safe harbor language. The statements we make today contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which includes statements regarding expectations about our future results of operations, demand for our products, and growth of our industry. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested in such statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those described in the company's most recent Form 10-K and the company's other filings made with the SEC. We will also disclose non-GAAP financial measures during today's call. Riley TimmerVice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development at Sportsman's Warehouse00:01:23Definitions of such non-GAAP measures, as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, are provided as supplemental financial information in our press release, included as Exhibit 99.1 to the Form 8-K we furnished to the SEC today, which is also available on the investor relations section of our website at sportsmans.com. I will now turn the call over to Joe. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:01:51Thank you, Riley. Good afternoon, everyone. As a member of the Sportsman's Warehouse Board of Directors for nine years now, I have been deeply involved in the oversight of the company's strategy and execution. Now, as interim CEO, I have gained additional insights into the day-to-day operations of the business over the last several weeks. These additional insights will benefit me as the chairman and the rest of the board together in the long term. With those insights, I'm even more confident that we have a clear path to achieving our strategic objectives that we have previously outlined for 2023. Those key strategies are growing our store footprint, further developing our omni-channel capabilities, and growing sales from sportsmans.com, leveraging our customer databases and engaging our customers. The leadership team at Sportsman's are talented individuals with extensive experience in their respective areas of expertise. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:03:16This allows them to execute at the highest level to further the success of the business. As I've gotten involved in the day-to-day of the business, it's been exciting to work with each and every one of them personally as we carefully navigate the current environment and execute on our key initiatives for the year. While we have been faced with weather-related short-term headwinds and tough macroeconomic conditions, which Jeff will address in a few moments, the underlying foundation of the business remains strong. Our real estate funnel is strong, with 15 planned new stores opening this year. We have a robust omni-channel platform, allowing us to leverage our inventory and provide excellent service to our customers. Our industry-leading assortment and in-store expertise gives us confidence in our competitive position within our hunting, shooting, sports department, as well as the other key categories we offer outdoor enthusiasts. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:04:34We stand firmly committed to our right to win as a consumer's first choice for their outdoor needs. Before I turn the call over to Jeff, I want to reiterate both my and the board's focus on finding a permanent long-term CEO to lead Sportsman's Warehouse. We are working expeditiously but prudently to find the right person with deep retail and omni-channel experience, a passion for the outdoors, and a proven ability to return value to our shareholders. Egon Zehnder has helped the board create a strong pipeline of qualified candidates. We are energized by the enthusiasm for leading this company that we hear from many of the candidates we have spoken to. I'll now turn the call over to Jeff to go through the first quarter's results and discuss our view on the second quarter. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:05:41Thank you, Joe, and good afternoon, everyone. Over the past three years, our business has grown tremendously, nearly doubling in size. We knew that eventually the business would begin to normalize, and we have been experiencing a moderation of demand over the last few quarters. Much of this, we believe, has been due to significant inflation and its impacts on our consumer. Our sales in the first quarter were also impacted by the unfavorable weather conditions in the Western United States, as record levels of rain and snow pressured the spring camping and fishing seasons, causing demand for products in those categories to be softer than expected. If we look beyond weather, the business continues to experience pressure from the difficult macroeconomic conditions, and we are not seeing the increase in store traffic we had expected, with softness throughout our spring-related merchandising categories. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:06:36Because of these trends, we are closely managing our spring assortment and merchandising efforts while making the necessary adjustments to ensure our inventory stays seasonally relevant and our in-stocks for turning merchandise remain healthy. During Q1, our hunting department outperformed most of our other categories, driven by strong firearm sales during the quarter. Our industry-leading firearms assortment, coupled with best-in-class omni-channel capabilities, allowed us to better service our customers and win at the point of sale. Within the hunting department, we did see reduced ammunition sales and lower margins on ammunition compared with last year. We expected the comps to be tough during Q1 2023, as we lapped the industry, returning to an in-stock position in Q1 2022, driving customers to pull forward purchases. During the quarter, the team continued their execution on organic growth and opened five new stores as we continue to expand our store footprint. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:07:41We have six stores slated to grand open in the second quarter and four stores on track to open early in the third quarter as we enter the hunting and the holiday seasons. It's critical that we continue to stay diverse and flexible in our approach, but disciplined in our financial hurdles of 10% for four wall EBITDA and 20% ROIC as we navigate through the macroeconomic pressures we are seeing in the business. As the primary vehicle for deploying capital, new store openings have proven to be a strong way to generate positive return by generating over 110% ROIC over the last five years when compared to the total capital invested. These returns are achieved through our new stores reaching profitability on average in 5-6 months, even with including the pre and grand opening costs associated with that store. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:08:35We continue to believe in new store growth due to the considerable white space opportunities driven by increased firearm ownership, outdoor participation, and a reduction in the competitive landscape. We also continue to invest in our omni-channel platform, adding incremental functionalities as a way to drive additional sales through reaching new consumers outside our geographic area and making the experience for customers as seamless as possible. This allows us to leverage our fleet-wide inventory and increase assortment through introduction of new relevant products to our website. We will continue to use enhanced digital marketing efforts to reach new customers and entice existing customers to shop our website. The website now penetrates in the mid to high teens and is one part of the business that is comping positive year-over-year on both a quarterly and annual basis. Turning now to our Q1 results. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:09:35Our first quarter results were in line with our guidance range for both sales and earnings per share. We achieved net sales of $267.5 million, compared to $309.5 million in Q1 of 2022. The decrease was primarily driven by the unusually wet weather and extended winter in the Western United States and lower overall sales demand from consumer inflationary pressures. These declines were partially offset by the opening of 11 new stores over the last year. Same-store sales decreased 17.8% in the quarter compared with the same quarter of fiscal year 2022. Gross margin was 29.9% for the quarter, a decrease of 210 basis points versus the prior year first quarter period. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:10:24The decrease in gross margins was primarily due to a reduction in sales mix in our camping and fishing departments, which carry a higher margin profile and lower comparable product margins, mainly in ammunition. Selling, general, and administrative expenses in the first quarter were $99 million, compared to $96.1 million in Q1 of 2022. As a percentage of net sales, SG&A expense increased to 37%, compared to 31% in the first quarter of the prior year. This increase was primarily due to higher rent, depreciation, and pre-opening expenses from the addition of 11 new stores opened over the last year. Looking now at earnings per share, we reported a $0.39 per share loss in the quarter. In adding some additional color to this loss, I want to highlight some significant drivers. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:11:20First, the reduction in sales due to weather and lower penetration in our camp and fish departments contributed $0.18 to this reduction of EPS. Next, the expense burden of new store openings reduced EPS by an additional $0.03 per share during the quarter on a year-over-year basis. Finally, the increase in our interest expense reduced EPS by $0.04 on a year-over-year basis. I will now take a minute and review our balance sheet and liquidity. First quarter ending inventory was $469.5 million. We expect this to be the high point for inventory for the year, as this includes most of the buildup needed for the balance of our new stores to be open this year and much of the seasonal products for the summer and early fall selling season. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:12:12Although we will be adding 15 new stores during 2023, we expect year-end inventory to be approximately $400 million as we improve our terms and gain efficiency with better regional and seasonal assortments. This equates to a per store reduction of inventory of approximately 10%. Our liquidity continues to be a strength as we ended Q1 with $150.3 million on our line of credit. Our total liquidity, including cash on hand at the end of Q1, was $153.5 million. Turning now to our view on the second quarter. Starting with our net sales outlook. We estimate second quarter net sales to be in the range of $310 million-$340 million. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:13:00Same-store sales in the second quarter of 2023 are anticipated to be in the range of down 17% to down 9%. This guidance takes into consideration a 3%-4% same-store sales headwind versus Q2 of last year, driven by the political rhetoric due to the unfortunate event in Uvalde. EPS for the second quarter of 2023 is expected to be in the range of $0.02-$0.15. To add some color to our Q2 outlook. Over the last year, we've started reducing our costs in many of our stores, particularly focused on store labor. This effort resulted in a year-over-year cost reduction of 6% on a per store basis. We continue to see pressures on the business from the macroeconomic environment and a demand slowdown in our camping and fishing categories, reducing the amount of traffic to our stores. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:13:59In response to this continued softening, during the second quarter, we will further implement a company-wide cost reduction effort to align our expenses with the current sales trends. It is critical that we maintain financial discipline and rigor as we navigate the current consumer headwinds. That concludes our prepared remarks today, I will now turn the call back to the operator to facilitate any questions. Operator00:14:25Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, you may press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Eric Wold with B. Riley. Please proceed with your question. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:15:01Thank you. Good afternoon, guys. A couple questions, I guess. Jeff, you noted that, you know, firearm sales, were a strong point in the quarter. Can you maybe talk about, you know, kind of the attach rates you're seeing with those purchases, people coming in, if they're buying a similar level of kind of accessories, and ammo, that they may have previously purchased? I know you said the ammo sales are down, but in terms of the people buying firearms at that time, you're seeing similar levels of attach rates. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:15:32Same kind of question along that line, you know, as they kind of make their way through the store, you know, twice, you know, once for the background check and once to pick up the firearm, are you seeing them kind of, you know, buy a similar level of other basket items as they make their way back, or is that being impacted as well? Bit of a follow-up. Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:15:48Yeah, Eric, great question. In terms of firearm sales and the attachment of accessories onto the firearm, we're still seeing a very good attachment rate for items specifically relating to the firearm purchase. A holster, a security product, ammunition, to the extent that they need it to go use. Where we're seeing the customer back off from purchases is the attachment rate to other items within the store. The consumers coming in, they're purchasing the firearm, they're purchasing the associated accessory with that firearm, they are not shopping other areas of the store, such as camping, fishing, apparel, footwear, places like that, where we used to see a higher attachment rate. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:16:32Got it. Okay. My second question, obviously, you noted the kind of the weather impact you saw in Q1 have kind of lingered in, into Q2. What does the guidance imply the down 9%, the down 17%? I mean, have you, I guess, have you seen any turn so far in those regions of demand coming back? Are you getting a sense that kind of pent-up demand is coming back in the stores, or do you think those sales may be lost, showing us that wide range? Are you assuming, you know, that you're starting to see some turnaround, are you assuming it continues, or is it one end assuming no turnaround, the other end assumes the turnaround? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:17:11That's a great question. In terms of the guidance, the guidance figures in that the pattern continues with our current business trends. We gave a large range on the guidance just because we have seen some areas start to turn in camping and fishing penetration, but not at the rate that we were hoping or expecting them to turn. With the guidance that we gave, we've kind of figured in the downside risk and then the upside opportunity if those trends start to change in the business and we get further penetration into fishing and camping and other seasonal merchandise. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:17:51Just to clarify, the low end of the range is assuming current trends continue, the better end of the range is assuming an improvement, or is the low end of the range assuming a further downturn from here? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:18:04I think the low end of the range assumes a further downtrend from our current business patterns. The midpoint right now is in line with what we're seeing in current business trends. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:18:15Got it. Perfect. Thanks, Jeff. Operator00:18:20Our next question comes from the line of Justin Kleber with Robert W. Baird. Please proceed with your question. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:18:28Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking the question. Just a first follow-up there on firearms, specifically. Jeff, did that business comp positive in the first quarter or not? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:18:41It did not comp positive, Justin, but it outperformed the rest of the company in terms of comps for the quarter. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:18:49Got it. Okay, thank you for that. Then just maybe help us disentangle the gross margin in the first quarter a bit more. Like, can you frame the mix impact versus the headwind from lower margins in ammo? Then specifically on the ammo piece, I guess, where are we in the process of margins on ammunition normalizing? I know we were overearning on those categories during the pandemic, but where are we in that kind of mean reversion from a margin perspective, specifically within ammo? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:19:19That's a great question, Justin Kleber. In terms of the gross margin for the quarter, if you look at the degradation year-over-year, I'm down about 200 basis points in totality. I will tell you that mix accounts for roughly half of that, the margin impact in the quarter equates about the other half of that. The big driver on the margin degradation is going to be in terms of ammunition. You know, we knew eventually we were going to see some degradation in ammunition margin, that it was not going to stay at the levels that it was at during COVID. We are now seeing that in the market, we're still seeing a margin that is much higher than what it was pre-COVID. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:20:01This is an expected change in the margin profile on ammunition, and that took a larger, basis point decline in overall gross margin in Q1, just given softness in some of the other categories like fishing and camping, which tend to carry higher gross margins. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:20:24Yep. Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for that color. Just one follow-up, kind of on margin. What is? Can you help us just think about how or what you're embedding in your earnings guidance for 2Q from a gross margin rate perspective? Do we anticipate the year-over-year declines? Do they ease from what we just seen in the first quarter? Do they get worse? Just any color that would be helpful. Thanks so much. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:20:52On Q2, we're really looking at the penetration into some of the other categories. back to Eric Wold's question, you know, the middle point of the guidance assumes that our current penetration trends in areas like camp and fish continue for the rest of the quarter. If we start to penetrate higher in those categories, those carry overall accretive margins to the overall gross margin. we will see better profitability from a gross margin perspective. If the current trend continues, where we penetrate heavily into firearms, we're going to see a continuation of some of the margin difficulties we saw in Q1. Justin KleberSenior Research Analyst at Baird00:21:33All right. Thanks, guys. Best of luck. Operator00:21:38Our next question comes from the line of Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:21:45Hi, guys. First off, Jeff, just can we dig into the ammo business just a little bit more? You've talked a bit about the profitability. Just any changes that you're seeing fundamentally in that business as far as, you know, competition, kind of where your inventories are today? As we think about competition and kind of your initiatives to online, are you seeing more consumers move to online purchases of ammunition? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:22:12Yeah, Mark, in terms of ammunition, let's talk about industry and where we're at as we sit here today. The industry is very full and robust in terms of in-stocks in ammunition. The consumer is no longer buying excess boxes of ammo. They're coming in and buying what they use. They're able to find anything that they want at this point, and they're able to find, you know, copious quantities of it on the shelf. There's really no reactionary behavior from the consumer. In terms of the competitive landscape, you know, we, as noted, we've seen some declines in the margin profile, I'm not seeing any aggressive promotional activity in the market like we saw pre-COVID when there was, you know, a ripe in-stock position or an overstock position. I have yet to seen aggressive promotional items. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:23:02I think in terms of what we'll see going forward, it's back to a normal promotional cadence where you'll see good deals as some of the holiday seasons, Father's Day, you know, hunting seasons, holiday, those types of things. As we progress through those, I think we'll go back to a very normalized promotional cadence in the ammo business. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:23:25Perfect. Then as we think about the rest of the business, as far as inventory, you know, some of these categories that are fairly spring-based, some of the camping and fishing, you know, do you feel like you're gonna have to clear out some of this inventory? Will we see some bigger markdowns? You know, what kind of hits, you know, do you think you could take, or do you feel pretty comfortable with where the inventory is and your ability to move that over the next few weeks or quarters? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:23:52Mark, I'm very comfortable with the inventory position as we sit here today. We saw the slowdown in spring merchandise and goods early in the season. Like we've been doing for the last year, we made the necessary choices and reactions in order to ensure that we do not have too much inventory at the end of the season. You're gonna see us move through our in-stocks in a normal promotional cadence through the spring, through the summer season, into the fall season. At this point, if I look at the overall health of my inventory, I'm not worried about having to do any flash sales or fire sales in order to rightsize my assortment. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:24:32Okay, last one from me. Just, can you talk big picture just about kind of your comfort with leverage, where you think that maybe could go, where you're comfortable? Then maybe big picture, your desire to kind of keep the foot on the accelerator for store growth and what kind of gives you the comfort to continue growing at this rapid rate? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:24:53Yeah, on the leverage front, Mark, you know, if we look at the leverage at the end of the quarter, and our inventory position, as I stated on the call, we're kind of at the high point for inventory for the entire year. If you think about the flow of inventory, total dollars reducing through the end of the year, that money is obviously will go to the leverage, or to my line of credit. I'm still very comfortable with our liquidity, with the position the company's in to weather these downturns. This is why we openly communicated that we do not want to over-lever the company in order to weather any of these macroeconomic headwinds, like the one that we're currently in. Very comfortable there. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:25:34In terms of the store growth, there's a lot of white space opportunities still in the market for us to explore. I will tell you, Mark, that as we are looking at markets and with retail real estate inventory at the lowest level it's been at for decades, the ability for us to find markets where we can meet our financial hurdles, is getting a bit challenging. I will not open up stores just to hit a number. If it does not meet my financial hurdles of 10% for all EBITDA and 20% ROIC, I'm not going to sign a lease. That's something that we're going to continue to monitor as we move forward into the store expansion. Mark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets00:26:20Excellent. Thank you. Operator00:26:26Our next question comes from the line of Mark Herrmann with R5 Capital. Please proceed with your question. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:26:33Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. I think you just answered, part of my question, but I'm kind of looking out to next year's, you know, store growth plan. You know, are there any thoughts on changes to, you know, location selection, especially box size, CapEx changes, and like, anything that's you're thinking differently for next year based on how things have been going the last couple of months? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:26:58Yeah, Mark, I'd go back to the statement of the retail real estate inventory is at the lowest level than it's been for decades. A real estate is still A real estate, you have a long line of retailers lining up to sign a lease on any of the boxes that we're looking at. As we think about further expansion, we're gonna continue to target, you know, the right MSAs. We go into any market targeting that 30,000 sq ft box as our starting point, we adjust up and down accordingly, based on market conditions, the right real estate, the size of the box that we can find, consumer trends and demand. We're gonna continue to monitor those trends as we look at real estate expansion. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:27:43For me, my primary focus right now is ensuring that any box we do go into, I am confident that it can hit our financial metrics that we've laid out. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:27:53Have you seen that those hurdles are more easily met with a smaller size box yet, or is that not the case? Jeff WhiteCFO at Sportsman's Warehouse00:28:01I would say that it goes back to we target a 30,000 sq ft box because that's really the right space for us to make a nice presentment of SKU assortment. In those smaller boxes, we really have to know the SKU assortment well. It has to be in markets that we understand intently, so we can just put the A SKUs in there. The 30,000 sq ft box allows me to have a broad assortment with a variety of products, and allows me to hit those financial hurdles easier. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:28:33Okay, thanks. Then maybe a follow-up to that, just on the e-commerce side, can you quantify what happened this quarter in e-com? Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:28:42As we stated on the call, e-commerce for us is a continually growing highlight of the business. You know, where other retailers, and I'm sure you've seen them come out, are pointing to declines in their e-commerce sales, that's an area for us that continues to comp positive year-over-year. We're really happy with what our e-com team has done to the business. We continue to penetrate into new geographies and acquire new customers, and we're excited about the opportunity that, you know, gives to the business on a go forward. Mark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 Capital00:29:17Thank you. Operator00:29:22Our next question is a follow-up from the line of Eric Wold with B. Riley. Please proceed with your question. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:29:28Thanks. Hey, Jeff, just a quick pause. Let me make sure I understand one of the previous questions on gross margin. I understand the decline year-over-year was, you know, ammo margins coming in and then the mix with lower camping and fishing. If you could, if we take ammo out of it and take mix out of it, on an apples-to-apples basis, kind of how are the categories comparing to last year? You know, are camping margins, apples-to-apples, up, down versus last year? You don't have to get into specific categories, but just I'm trying to understand ex mix, what margins are doing besides ammo. Joseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the Board at Sportsman's Warehouse00:30:02Yeah, outside of ammo, Eric, the margins within our categories are very similar to the prior year. We have not seen a lot of pressure from the margin front in those categories. Obviously, we keep a very close eye on the competitive landscape and make sure our pricing is in line to match with our low price guarantee that we have. We have not seen much pressure in the other areas of the business outside of ammo. Eric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley Securities00:30:30Perfect. Thanks, Jeff. Operator00:30:34There are no further questions in the queue. This does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesJeff WhiteCFOJoseph SchneiderInterim CEO and Chair of the BoardRiley TimmerVice President of Investor Relations and Corporate DevelopmentAnalystsEric WoldSenior Analyst at B. Riley SecuritiesJustin KleberSenior Research Analyst at BairdMark HerrmannEquity Research Analyst of Specialty Retail at R5 CapitalMark SmithSenior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital MarketsPowered by