YETI Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YETI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
YETI Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YETI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 9, 2023
YETI Holdings, Inc. beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.6, expectations were $0.54.
Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the YETI Holdings' Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over Tom Shaw, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Tom Shaw: Good morning and thanks for joining us to discuss YETI Holdings' third quarter 2023 results. Leading the call today will be Matt Reintjes, President and CEO; and Mike McMullen, CFO. Following our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for your questions. Before we begin, we'd like to remind you that some of the statements that we make today on this call may be considered forward-looking, and such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these statements. For more information, please refer to the risk factors detailed in our most recently filed Form 10-Q and the Form 8-K filed with the SEC today. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements made today as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Unless otherwise stated, our financial measures disclosed on this call will be on a non-GAAP basis. We use non-GAAP measures as we believe they more accurately represent the true operational performance and underlying results of our business. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the press release or in the presentation posted this morning to our Investor Relations section of our website at yeti.com. And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Matt.
Matt Reintjes: Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone. YETI posted another strong quarter and continues to build momentum with our brand and products, particularly when compared to a very strong year ago period that included the full benefit of our soft cooler lineup as well as strong wholesale replenishment, further highlighting our reported results. We also saw the strength of our brand and our point-of-sale data with consumer demand meaningfully outpacing our reported sales. While we expect consumers to continue to be more discerning with spend, we've seen the positive signs that they are highly receptive to new product. Leaning into this dynamic has been a key driver of our business year-to-date, in particular we’ve seen the success of category expansion in cargo and Drinkware reaching both new and existing customers.
Color, combined with the new product this quarter, showed well in our Power Pink, Camp Green and Cosmic Lilac colorways. Our data insights and analytics would indicate that these launches continued the positive trend we have seen in the growth of our acquisition and retention of female consumers across a range of age groups, complementing the balanced demographic makeup of YETI across genders, household incomes and regions. Beyond the top line, our gross margin was a clear positive story this quarter, showcasing the power of the brand. We delivered remarkably strong gross margin expansion of nearly 650 basis points, highlighted by the ongoing recovery of inbound freight costs and favorable product costs. This result further supports our efforts to stay on offense with brand and growth investment, while also taking care of the bottom line.
As we executed our financial plan during the quarter, we were focused on several key initiatives. To start, we successfully reintroduced our M Series soft coolers at the beginning of the fourth quarter. This included the return of the M20 backpack and M30 tote as well as the new smaller M12 backpack and M15 tote. The third product impacted by the voluntarily recall, the SideKick Dry, returned to our DTC channel the end of October. Importantly, these product families will continue to build in the quarters ahead, as we more fully position inventory across channels, expand colorways and add new sizes. For example, we introduced a limited release of black colorware across many of our coolers and bags in the current quarter, while two additional SideKick Dry sizes are planned early next year.
We also built upon our omni-channel capabilities and reach in the third quarter, including the debut of Drinkware customization in Australia through our e-commerce site, and more recently similar capabilities in Canada. These consumer-facing offerings have long been core to our U.S. business, and are now part of our global offering. We also opened three U.S.-based retail stores during the quarter, the most openings we have had in a single period, bringing our total stores to 17. Finally, starting at the end of October, we began a new partnership with Tractor Supply with an initial focus on their fusion doors. TSC's unique national reach and strong heritage in farm and ranch provide what we see as highly complementary distribution to our existing channel.
Now let me give a deeper look across our strategic growth priorities around brand, product channel and geography. Starting with brand, YETI's diverse reach around the globe continues to show the strength of the connections we are making. From fishing tournaments to Formula One races, golf courses to food festivals, prominent cameos on Netflix to concert tours, our brand and product are part of an integrated and global story in Q3, continuing the tradition of durability, performance, design and functionality that tie our product and our brand. These connections to broad and diverse global communities are the backbone of our customer acquisition and retention efforts, keeping YETI top of mind in the powerful word of mouth strong. Our 15 active enthusiast communities and 180 plus top tier ambassadors continue to grow our audiences in real, connected meaningful ways, while also deepening our ties.
These relationships pave the way for continued product innovation and brand investment unique to YETI. This quarter, we added global ambassadors and partners from Europe to Canada to Japan and from fishing to culinary. Our diverse media coverage included names such as Fast Company, Food & Wine, Parade, Variety, GQ and Outside, showcasing the varied and connected ways in which products and brands seamlessly and naturally fit into culture without being forced upon the consumer. Last quarter, we discussed the debut of our Every Single Use campaign, showcasing our product or ability in contrasting YETI to single use disposable alternatives. The campaign was so well received we expanded across major metropolitan areas and across 18 college campuses, as well as internationally, providing a platform to reach new consumers both domestically and abroad.
This is one example of the impactful and nuanced way in which we walk consumers from awareness to consideration to purchase and repeat. Looking at our product pipeline, I mentioned earlier the heightened importance of meeting a more discerning consumer with a reason to engage. This is taking on even more importance in today's marketplace. In Drinkware, the diversity of our portfolio has been key to driving growth year-to-date. Response to our fall colorways, Rambler Bottles, Straw Cap offerings and new Yonder Water Bottle sizes and accessories were standouts in Q3. Continuing the health and wellness theme and awareness of the importance of hydration, our two strong mug products continue to outperform our expectations this year. Also, the addition of the highly successful beverage bucket remains a great example of how the brand continues to move beyond individual use Drinkware.
This trend of expansion has continued into Q4. We've launched three smaller capacities stackable Rambler, tumblers and mugs built to the YETI standards of durability and quality and providing more reasons to use YETI throughout the day. Additionally, we officially launched our YETI Cocktail Shaker packaged together with our classic 20-ounce Rambler were sold separately as a great accessory that fits on top of millions of YETI Ramblers in use since 2014. We also debut our insulated Wine Chiller last week, providing another example of the evolution of our drink core family. In the weeks ahead, we have a number of product offerings in the works with the intention to keep YETI top of mind with the consumer, particularly as we go into the crowded time of year for messaging in mind.
This will include the return of our annual Gear Garage specials later in the quarter, and the introduction this week of the next size in our Straw Mug family. In our cooler business, I would underscore three points. First, we saw strong consumer demand with double digit increases in both hard coolers and in our soft coolers not impacted by the recall. Second, the successful introduction of our redesigned soft coolers last month. And third, our ongoing focus of adding size and portability options to expand our global use cases and audiences. With an unmatched product portfolio, we are well positioned for what we believe will be a competitive holiday period for consumer attention and spend. Beyond coolers, the equipment side of the business was highlighted by our extended family of Go Box storage and protective cases, which launched earlier this year.
This remains a highly productive product family with a tight assortment and tons of potential. Similar to our cargo products, our discrete range of waterproof and everyday carry bags continues to deliver with reintroduction of the SideKick Dry energizing or waterproof lineup. As we look at the strength of our omni-channel go-to market, we're increasingly focused on driving impactful and differentiated experiences. Starting with DTC, the quarter was highlighted by sequentially higher growth, achieving 60% of total sales and our largest third quarter ever in terms of customer acquisition retention. While we continue to see weaker order values against our strong customer acquisition and retention, we believe this is partially due to new consumers we are gaining across very attractive demographics, and earning through Drinkware at lower UPT in order value.
As previously indicated, the Amazon channel was strong in the quarter with a particularly successful Prime Day in July, focused on a range of older seasonal colors and end of life products. In our e-commerce business, we saw outstanding Drinkware performance supported by new product and color execution. We also took continued steps to elevate yeti.com to enhance the premium, distinct site experience. Using a category approach, we've effectively reengineered the buy flow on yeti.com to align with consumer use cases, showcase the value of our products, and simplify the buying decisions. We launched this enhanced experience with all-day Drinkware in the first quarter, and it more recently expanded to adventure packed and bags and the cold standard in coolers.
We've seen positive results from these efforts and are now carrying these enhancements to our suite of global e-commerce sites. Moreover, we plan to build upon these enhancements in 2024. Corporate sales improved quarter-over-quarter. The performance is expected to remain inconsistent following the tremendous success we experienced last year and some signs of more conservative corporate spending. We are focused on some exciting new partnerships in the pipeline for 2024, as we continue to grow and diversify our global customer base. YETI stores remain an impactful and unique opportunity for the brand. We're focused on the product and brand experience across all of our 17 stores. In our San Jose, California location we debuted and evolved store design, creating what we believe is a strong balance of commerce and brand.
Leveraging a similar format, our new store in Honolulu set a first day sales record in just the first two hours of operation. We also piloted in-store Drinkware customization in our original Austin, Texas store, which we are actively looking to expand to several additional store locations. With opportunities to drive customer acquisition awareness, we will continue to look to accelerate store efforts in the years ahead. These stores continue to showcase the range and diversity of our evolving product portfolio and play a unique role for our entire omni-channel. YETI stores not only drive purchase, but as importantly our data would suggest drive awareness, education and consideration that benefits all of our channels. Shifting to wholesale, results remain varied across the channel.
We saw some continued tight inventory management going into the second half of the year. However, our strong execution on demand creation and innovation supported goods sell-through overall. As we continue to build our existing wholesale partners, we also began late last month the previously announced paced launch with Tractor Supply. YETI has a strong heritage in the farm and ranch space, and we see this as a great fit given Tractor Supply's unique scale and Life Out Here strategy. TSC delivers on all three of our longstanding criteria when considering new dealers; reach new customers, create new buying occasions and enhance our existing portfolio of dealers. A mix of coolers and equipment and Drinkware will be available over time in approximately 800 of their remodeled fusion doors and on their website.
We will work closely with the TSC team as we look at further opportunities in 2024 and beyond. International once again reached approximately 16% of our sales as our team and the brand performed very well. We were very pleased to deliver double digit sales gains in all regions while also building our localized awareness and scale. Australia, New Zealand had a tremendous performance this quarter. As mentioned, Australia became the first international market to offer e-commerce Drinkware customization. We also drove a number of diverse brand activations across professional rugby, on mountain snow sports and fishing. In addition, our team executed a successful transition to a new distribution center in August, which will provide more flexibility for growth and our customization efforts.
In Europe, I had the opportunity to travel with our team and market during the quarter, meet with our local partners and dealers. And as importantly, see the brand come to life. Even with relatively early stage brand awareness, we are seeing highly encouraging signs and are actively accelerating a range of awareness efforts, particularly as we look at the UK, Germany and the broader DACH region. Operationally, we ramped our new distribution center in the Netherlands this quarter to support growth and efficiency. In Canada, our wholesale business continues to see strength in our larger accounts offset by softer, independent trends. Our DTC channel remains strong and is increasingly leveraging many of the same tools as the U.S. to drive experience and reach across e-commerce and corporate sales.
This included last week's debut of Drinkware customization on yeti.ca, and we expect added functionality in the quarters ahead. Overall, YETI performed well in the third quarter and is positioned to execute on Q4 while building for long-term growth. For the fourth quarter and beyond, we will continue to focus on growing our global brand audience at an elevated cadence of innovation as we further extend our portfolio. The strength of our financial flexibility also means we will remain on offense in this environment, investing in global capabilities, driving our product roadmap, building brand and thoughtfully allocating capital. Finally, with the holidays and year end fast approaching, I want to acknowledge and thank our amazing team and all our global partners for their ongoing support, execution and commitment throughout the year.
I'll now turn the call over to Mike to discuss our results and outlook in more detail.
Mike McMullen: Thanks, Matt. I'll begin with a review of our third quarter performance, followed by an updated outlook for the full year. Our GAAP results reported in today's press release are inclusive of some minor charges and adjustments associated with the voluntary product recall. This primarily includes slightly lower recall-related costs versus what was assumed in our reserve. We did not make any further adjustments to our recall reserve during the quarter as actual recall claim trends are generally in line with our assumptions, which we updated in the second quarter. As is our normal practice, all of the financial details that I will discuss on today's call are adjusted non-GAAP metrics. Now onto our results. Third quarter sales were flat year-over-year at 434 million.
The quarter included 6.3 million of gift card redemptions related to remedies we are offering customers impacted by the product recall. Excluding these gift card redemptions, top line results for the period were in line with our outlook of a low single digit decline versus the prior year. But similar to last quarter, a portion of these gift card redemptions were used to purchase products with constrained supply, which impacted our ability to fulfill orders from customers and other channels. Thus, we do not believe that the full amount of gift card redemptions are incremental to our results. Overall, we were pleased with our sales performance in Q3 given several factors that impacted our top line growth. First, due to the product recall, we were without several of our top selling soft cooler products for most of the quarter, including during the key summer months.
Second, as we discussed with you all last quarter, we did accelerate the launch of our fall seasonal colors in Q3, which drove a need to start shipping the product into wholesale in Q2. And third, we faced a challenging compare, as we posted a strong 20% total growth rate and a 25% growth rate for our wholesale channel in the prior year quarter. As a reminder, last year, we benefited from a restocking of our product by the wholesale channel, as the channel was able to get back to optimal stock levels after a number of periods of constrained supply. This had an impact across both Drinkware and coolers and equipment with the most significant impact to hard coolers. There are clearly a number of dynamics that have impacted our reported growth rate on a quarter-to-quarter basis this year.
But one aspect of our business that we continue to be pleased with is the strong consumer demand that we have consistently seen across our major channels and product categories. In the third quarter, we saw positive sell-through growth in our U.S. wholesale channel across both Drinkware and coolers and equipment. From a channel perspective, direct-to-consumer sales grew 14% to 259 million, representing 60% of total sales. Growth within DTC was led by our Amazon business, including a highly successful Prime Day, though we also saw sequentially higher growth rates in each of our other DTC businesses. In our e-commerce business, as Matt said, we saw exceptional growth in new and returning customers, as well as strong growth in the overall number of transactions.
However, this was partially offset by a lower average order value in Q3 versus the prior year quarter. At a product category level in DTC, we saw strong performance in cargo, Drinkware and hard coolers, which more than offset the impact of the recall in soft coolers. Wholesale sales decreased 16% to 174 million with declines in both coolers and equipment and Drinkware. As discussed, the decline was driven by the impact of the recall in soft coolers and a significant sell-in comparison versus the prior year. However, as I mentioned, we were very pleased with our growth on a sell-through basis. By category, coolers and equipment sales decreased 8% to 172 million driven by the factors that I have outlined that impacted hard cooler and soft cooler sales.
Our line of Go Boxes have outperformed expectations since their first quarter launch, and we were excited to see both color and distribution expansion during the quarter. Bags were also supported by color with Camp Green and Cosmic Lilac, both contributing to growth across our Crossroads Collection. In soft coolers, as Matt mentioned, we reintroduced our newly designed M Series soft coolers to the market in early Q4. In order to help support the launch, we did begin the initial shipments of these products into a portion of our wholesale channel in late Q3. This was contemplated in the outlook that we communicated to you all last quarter. Despite not having a full assortment yet, we are pleased with the early results from the launch of these important products.
Drinkware sales increased 6% to 253 million with growth in DTC offsetting a decline in wholesale. We continue to see our innovation in Drinkware resonate with consumers and put us in a position to capitalize on trends in the market. For instance, we expanded our Yonder product lines with new sizes and lid offerings and launched new color match lids in our Rambler stainless bottle line. In addition, we had incredibly successful fall color launches in Camp Green, Cosmic Lilac, and Power Pink. We also remain encouraged by some of the initial success we are seeing as we look to move beyond individual use drinking vessels into more group sharing and entertaining options. As Matt outlined earlier, we think we can further capitalize on these trends in Q4 with our extensive lineup of new innovation.
This includes an expanded range of products designed for coffee occasions with three smaller size cups and mug, a great new hydration solution with the Rambler 42-ounce Straw Mug and the introductions of new entertaining options with the YETI Cocktail Shaker and Wine Cellar. Internationally, sales grew 20% to 68 million representing nearly 16% of total sales with double digit gains across all three regions; Europe, Australia and Canada. Gross profit increased 13% to 250 million or 57.8% of sales compared to 51.3% in the same period last year. Positive drivers this quarter included 480 basis points from lower inbound freight, 150 basis points from lower product costs, 110 basis points from favorable channel mix, and 20 basis points from all other impacts.
These gains were partially offset by 110 basis points from higher promotions associated with our successful Amazon Prime Day. SG&A expenses for the quarter increased 20% to 179 million or 41.3% of sales compared to 34.4% in the same period last year. Non-variable expenses increased 370 basis points as a percent of sales driven by a rebuild of incentive compensation costs for our employees, sustained investments in areas such as headcount and demand creation to support our future growth and the impact of the recall on our top line. Variable expenses increased 320 basis points as a percent of sales, primarily driven by two factors. One, we had higher Amazon marketplace fees given the higher growth in this channel. Second, we had higher outbound freight expenses in Q3 given the growth and the corresponding increase in sales mix of our overall DTC business.
In addition, outbound freight costs were also driven higher in the quarter by the dynamic of smaller average order sizes in e-commerce, which I mentioned earlier. Operating income decreased 3% to 71 million or 16.5% of sales compared to 16.9% during the same period last year. Net income also decreased 3% to 53 million or $0.60 per diluted share compared to $0.63 in the prior year period. Turning to our balance sheet. We ended the third quarter with 281 million in cash compared to 78 million in the year ago period. Inventory decreased 22% year-over-year to 341 million. After four straight quarters of sequential declines, inventory did increase from Q2 to Q3 by 19 million as we enter our seasonally highest sales quarter. Total debt, excluding unamortized deferred financing fees and finance leases, was 83 million compared to 96 million at the end of last year's third quarter.
During the quarter, we made a principal payment of 1 million on our recently amended term loan. Now turning to our updated fiscal 2023 outlook. We now expect full year sales of approximately 1.7 billion, representing growth of approximately 4% compared to fiscal 2022’s adjusted net sales. While remaining in the range of our prior outlook, our updated estimate reflects a number of factors. First, it reflects the benefits of strong overall demand across our channels. At the same time, we do expect to see the continuation of several recent trends, cautious ordering patterns in the wholesale channel, somewhat tempered growth in corporate sales following a very strong 2022 and lower average order values in e-commerce. Notably, our work to establish our Tractor Supply partnership has been in process since earlier in the year and was thus contemplated in our prior outlook.
Looking specifically at the fourth quarter, this updated outlook implies approximately 10% sales growth which puts us back in the range of our long-term growth algorithm. This includes more balanced category growth between Drinkware and coolers and equipment supported by new innovation in Drinkware and the launch of our soft cooler products impacted by the recall back into the market. By channel, we expect to maintain double digit growth in DTC while returning to growth at wholesale. From a mix perspective, we still expect DTC sales mix of approximately 60% for the year. As a final point on our sales outlook, consistent with last quarter, this outlook does not include the impact of any gift card redemptions in the fourth quarter. Our gross margins continue to improve, and thus we are increasing our full year gross margin outlook to approximately 56.5% compared to 52.7% in fiscal 2022.
This is driven by the combined impact of lower inbound freight costs and favorable product costs. Year-over-year gross margin expansion is expected to moderate somewhat from the third quarter to the fourth quarter due to more normalized mix benefits as well as the overall strength of Q3 gross margins. On the SG&A line, we expect full year SG&A dollar growth to approach the high-teens level. As we have outlined throughout the year, our SG&A growth in fiscal 2023 is being driven by investments to support our future growth, incentive compensation and variable expenses to support our DTC businesses. Our fourth quarter growth rate in SG&A is expected to be in the range of our year-to-date results. With these updates, we now expect an operating margin of approximately 16% for the year at the high end of our prior range.
For the fourth quarter, we continue to expect a return to over 20% operating margin. Inclusive of approximately 2 million in interest expense and an effective tax rate of 25.1%, our full year earnings per diluted share is now expected to be approximately $2.32, which is the high end of our prior outlook. For cash, we now expect free cash flow of approximately 200 million at the high end of our prior outlook, with capital expenditures of approximately 55 million, down 5 million from our prior outlook. Overall, as we enter the fourth quarter, we are pleased with our execution thus far this year. While our growth rate this year is not where we expect it to be going forward, it is in the range of what we set out to do at the beginning of the year given the impact of the recall.
Our gross margins continue to recover to the levels we saw before the run up in inbound freight costs, and our balance sheet along with our ability to generate good cash flow continues to be a strength. While we are certainly mindful of the ongoing uncertainties with the consumer and macro environment, we remain optimistic as we move closer to the holidays. We believe we have an incredibly exciting lineup of new products in the market. And we believe the YETI brand is as powerful as ever. Now I would like to turn the call back over to the operator to take your questions.
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