Buckle (BKE) Shares Up 35% YTD on Robust Sales Performance
Shares of The Buckle, Inc. BKE have increased 35.2% year to date, thanks to the company’s impressive sales numbers for quite some time now. Immense strength in its online business amid the pandemic is also consistently contributing to its performance. Again, the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company’s women’s and men’s merchandise categories are making a solid progress. We note that the industry has rallied 24.3% so far this year. Let’s find out more.
Solid Sales Continue in May
Despite a tough retail landscape, Buckle’s net sales for the four-week fiscal month ended May 29, 2021 rose 75.4% to $89.7 million from $51.2 million recorded in the four-week fiscal month ended May 30, 2020. Markedly, the top line also grew 45.9% from $61.5 million reported in the four-week fiscal month ended Jun 1, 2019. We note that this apparel, footwear and accessories retailer registered a sales increase of 718%, 240.2%, 5% and 33.6%, respectively, in the preceding four months.
For the fiscal month under review, total sales at the men’s unit soared 49.5% from the four-week period ended May 29, 2019 while the metric at the women’s business jumped 41%. While the men’s category contributed 53% to the company’s overall monthly sales, the women’s unit accounted for nearly 47%.
On combining the men’s and women’s categories, accessory sales for the fiscal month climbed 51% while footwear sales surged 39% from the comparable May of fiscal 2019. Both the accessory and footwear categories accounted for 9.5% and 7.5%, respectively, of the overall sales. For the comparable period in fiscal 2019, sales constituted 9.5% and 8%, respectively, for both these categories.
Incidentally, net sales for the 17-week fiscal period ended May 29, 2021 skyrocketed 133.4% to $388.9 million from $166.6 million delivered in the last fiscal year’s 17-week period ended May 30, 2020. Also, net sales increased 48% from $262.8 million generated in the comparable fiscal period ended Jun 1, 2019.
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Wrapping Up
In the wake of the coronavirus scare, sales in fiscal 2020 were marred by the closure of all the company’s brick-and-mortar stores on Mar 18, 2020. Accordingly, management plans to report total net sales per month compared with the past two years. It further decided not to separately release comparable store sale figures for the months mostly affected by store shutdowns. However, it expects to resume monthly reporting with August results.
Last month, the company delivered a stellar performance for first-quarter fiscal 2021 wherein both the top and the bottom line significantly improved year over year. Earnings also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Further, margins were impressive in the quarter. Online sales too surged 67.3% to $53.7 million in the reported quarter.
We note that Buckle presently operates 441 retail outlets across 42 states compared with 446 as of Apr 8, 2020 and 444 as of Jun 3, 2020. The company shuttered one store in May this fiscal year. On its last earnings call, management shared plans to open a youth store completing six additional full remodel projects for fiscal 2021.
More Key Picks in Retail
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