Crocs [CROX] Conference call transcript for 2023 q1
2023-04-27 12:23:05
Fiscal: 2023 q1
Operator: Good day, and welcome to the Crocs, Inc. First 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. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Cori Lin, VP of Corporate Finance. Please go ahead, Cori.
Cori Lin: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for the Crocs Inc First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Earlier this morning, we announced our latest quarterly results and a copy of the press release may be found on our website at crocs.com. We would like to remind you that, some of the information provided on this call is forward-looking and accordingly is subject to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Federal Securities Laws. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our supply chain challenges, cost inflation, the acquisition of HEYDUDE and the benefits thereof, Crocs' strategy, plans, objectives, expectations, financial or otherwise and intentions, future financial results and growth potential, anticipated product portfolio, our ability to create and deliver shareholder value and statements regarding potential impacts to our business related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Crocs' is not obligated to update these forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of future events, except as required by applicable law. We caution you that, all forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 10-K and our subsequent filings with the SEC. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially from those described on this call. Please refer to the Crocs Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as other documents filed with the SEC for more information relating to these risk factors. Certain financial metrics that we refer to as adjusted or non-GAAP are non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of these amounts to their GAAP counterparts is contained in the press release we issued earlier this morning. Joining us on the call today are Andrew Rees, Chief Executive Officer; and Anne Mehlman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will open the call for your questions. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Andrew.
Andrew Rees: Thank you, Cori, and good morning, everyone. I'm incredibly pleased with the strength of our brands, our first quarter results, and our outlook for 2023. The Crocs and HEYDUDE brands continued to be in high demand, which led to strong double-digit revenue growth. Our teams globally are focused on driving brand health, market share gains, and sustainable profitable growth. Looking at the first quarter of 2023, Anne will review our financial results in more detail shortly, but here are a few highlights. Revenues of $884 million grew 36% on a constant currency basis and grew in all brands, regions and channels. Crocs brand revenues grew 22% constant currency with growth in all regions, and DTC comparable sales grew 19%, Crocs brand North America revenues grew 10% with DTC comparable growth of 12% and wholesale growth of 5%. HEYDUDE brand revenues were $235 million, up 15% on a pro forma basis. Adjusted gross margins of 54% and adjusted operating margins of 28% were exceptional. Adjusted diluted EPS increased 27% to $2.61 per share. For the third year in a row, Crocs was named as one of the Top 10 most innovative brands by Fast Company. And earlier this week, we published our second annual ESG report, and the first report inclusive of the HEYDUDE brand. In summary, 2023 is off to a great start, and I would like to provide updates on the underlying health of our brands, long-term growth drivers for the Crocs brand and HEYDUDE expansion. Both of our brands are incredibly healthy as evidenced by our results and recent external studies. The Crocs brand ranked the number two casual footwear brand amongst women and number three among men in a recent L.E.K. study of footwear and apparel brand heat. The Crocs brand ranked as a number six favorite footwear brand among teens in Piper Sandler's Spring 2023 Taking Stock with Teen Survey. The brand strengthened the most amongst male teens increasing mind share significantly compared to prior year. The HEYDUDE brand is gaining momentum in the United States, ranking the number one casual footwear brand amongst women and men in the L.E.K. study. In the Piper Sandler survey, the HEYDUDE brand took the number eight spot up from the number nine spot last spring. With regards to product innovation, we recently focused on diversifying the clogged silhouette. The Echo franchise, which we launched last year, focused on a more male centric buy, but also inclusive of her has been an early global success. We are driving strong awareness with our typical marketing playbook. We have also innovated with height across many of our styles, such as a Mega Crush and the Classic platform flip and slide. Styles with height resonate particularly well in Asia and helping fuel our success in that region. Turning to sandals. This category is an important growth initiative for Crocs, allowing us to expand into the adjacent $30 billion global sandal category. We believe our molded technologies, accessible price points, strong go-to-market will allow us to compete effectively in a relatively fragmented market. We are excited by our incredible Q1 sandals performance where revenues grew 65% compared to last year. Growth was robust in all regions and was highest in EMEALA, where sandal penetration was also the greatest. Our sandal portfolio well diversified this year, particularly as compared to last year alike newness following the Vietnam factory closures in 2021. In our Classic franchise, the two straps on the slide continued to be top selling styles in addition to the newer introduction of the Classic Cozy. New introductions in the Brooklyn franchise including the Buckle and The Flip, as well as the new Mega Crush and Crush sandals, the all terrain sandal and the Echo Slide are also performing above expectations. We are also testing dozens of new styles this year and we will leverage our test of learn and speed capabilities to expand their opportunities in the future. To drive sandal awareness and acquisition, with a robust marketing calendar this year. During Q1, activations focused on the Classic sandal and the new opening price point/franchise. Recently, the Brooklyn sandal was featured on the Today Show in the best selling fashion finds for Spring Summer segment. Overall, we are pleased with the sandal trajectory. Over the past three quarters with the average growth of over 45% and we are confident the sandal revenues will grow to approximately $400 million this year. Asia is another important long term growth driver for the Cross brand, as the brand is currently under penetrated relative to the penetration here in the United States. In Q1, Asia revenues grew by 55% constant currency and growth was broad-based. We are particularly encouraged by the green shoots we are seeing in China, where we continue to invest in marketing, newness and digital during the pandemic. Q1 revenues grew over 110% constant currency in China. The Crush Clog was the only footwear brand to win the 2022 best new products launch award by Tmall. The Crocs brand had the best Q1 growth on Tmall in China, amongst leading footwear and apparel brands. Outside of China, we're pleased with the brand momentum throughout the region, including India, South Korea, and Australia. Turning to digital, another key Crocs brand growth driver. As the digital marketplace matures and our capabilities grow, we anticipate transitioning some of our retailers business that sits in our wholesale segment, to a direct digital sale, both across.com and our major marketplaces where we will sell directly to the consumer. Global retailers are also clearly attempting to manage their inventories more closely. The combination of these factors we believe will long term be very accretive for both brands as we have more brand control, higher ASP realization, and higher gross margins. Now to HEYDUDE, we're incredibly pleased with the first year of the acquisition. The financial contribution of HEYDUDE exceeded our expectations with brand revenues of nearly $1 billion, EPS accretion and significant debt pay down in the first year. The foundation is strong as we enter our second year with the brand. With respect to our go-to-market strategy, we've successfully penetrated Crocs’ strategic accounts, which currently represent approximately 50% of HEYDUDE's wholesale business. We quickly achieved top five casual brand status in North America family footwear accounts such as Rack Room and Famous Footwear. To focus our efforts, we will continue to prioritize these strategic accounts that can elevate the brand's position. We recently took steps to rationalize non-strategic accounts that we're not adequately supporting the brand. From a product perspective, we introduced several new styles as we test and learn what resonates with the consumer. As we seek to expand the brand beyond the iconic Wally and Wendy, several recent introductions have been in the casual sneaker category. The Karin for Women and the newly introduced Sirocco are top selling styles on heydude.com, and we have early signs of success for the Cody, Conway and Sunapee. The initial expansion into international is also on track. From a strategy perspective, we plan to go market in the same way as Crocs. Meaning, if we are directing a country with Crocs, we'll be direct with HEYDUDE. This year, we plan to test and learn in EMEALA with a few direct markets, UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, and a few distributor markets. Our efforts began earlier this month when we shipped our first HEYDUDE e-commerce orders out of our Netherlands distribution center and launched on Amazon. We'll continue to provide updates on our progress. Finally, with respect to the integration this year, we have two significant initiatives underway, namely implementing ERP and building a new distribution center in Las Vegas. We anticipate these to be complete towards the end of the year. Both are significant investments required to support the growth of a billion dollar plus brand. We're excited about the progress we have made and the bright future for the HEYDUDE brand. In summary, we have tremendous confidence in and clear evidence as to the underlying strength and growth potential of both the Crocs and HEYDUDE brands. We remain cautious relative to the consumer confidence in western markets and anticipate declining traffic patterns through the year. However our sell through for both of our brands continues to be robust and we believe we are benefiting from our democratic price points. Amidst the more challenging economic landscape, we believe we are well positioned to gain share. I will now turn the call over to Anne, who will review our first quarter financial results in more detail.
Anne Mehlman: Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. I will begin with a short recap of our first quarter results. All revenue growth rates will be cited on a constant currency basis unless otherwise stated. For a reconciliation of the non-GAAP amounts mentioned to their equivalent GAAP amounts, please refer to this morning's press release. As Andrew outlined, we had an exceptional first quarter with $884 million in consolidated revenues, representing 36.2% growth. We delivered another quarter of top tier profitability with adjusted gross margin of 54.2%, adjusted operating margin of 27.9% and adjusted diluted EPS growth of 27.3%. I will now detail our revenue highlights beginning with the Crocs brand. During the first quarter, we sold 30.7 million pairs of shoes, an increase of 19.7% over last year. The Crocs brand average selling price during Q1 was $21, which was up 2.1% on a constant currency basis, driven by fewer discounts in Asia and improved pricing in EMEALA. ASP declined 0.5% on a reported basis due to unfavorable effects. The addition of HEYDUDE has diversified our product portfolio. For Q1 Clog’s penetration was just over half of our total revenues. The casual silhouettes of HEYDUDE constituted 27% of total revenues and Crocs brand sandals were approximately 12% of total revenues. From a Crocs brand perspective, Clog continued to exhibit double digit growth this quarter. As Andrew mentioned, sandals an important growth pillar for the future increased 65% in Q1 with growth in all regions. Finally, Jibbitz continues to create excitement and engagement with consumers globally, growing strong double digits from last year. Now, let's review a few Crocs brand highlights by regions. In North America, the Crocs brand remains very healthy. First quarter revenues increased 10.3% to $351 million. The North America DTC channel for the Crocs brand, an indicator of underlying consumer demand was the key growth driver with DTC comparable sales of 12% on top of 18% comparable sales growth in the first quarter of 2022. Wholesale revenues increased 6%. The wholesale revenue increase is also evidence that sell-in and sell-out are beginning to normalize, as we had anticipated to occur during the first half. International was again the largest growth driver for the Crocs brand in Q1. As we execute on our long-term growth plan to ignite the brand in Asia and EMEALA. International represented 46% of Crocs brand revenues in the quarter. Crocs brand revenues in Asia grew 54.8% to $140 million during the first quarter. Growth was broad-based across countries and channels. China and Australia led the growth with revenues growing in excess of 110%, while Southeast Asia markets and South Korea also had exceptional growth. Crocs brand revenues for EMEALA were $157 million, growing 25.1% with broad-based growth. Momentum has been building in several important markets with Q1 revenues increasing strong double digits driven by the UK, France, and Germany admits a very uncertain consumer backdrop. Turning to HEYDUDE, revenues were $235 million, increasing 106% compared to the partial period in Q1 2022 and 15% on a pro forma basis. The DTC channel, which is predominantly e-commerce, led the growth with revenues increasing 141.1% versus last year. Digital penetration increased 420 basis points to 30.1%. As Andrew noted, the consumer love for the HEYDUDE brand is exceptional and we remain confident about realizing the full potential the Crocs playbook will have on the brand. Consolidated adjusted gross margins for the first quarter were 54.2%, increasing 30 basis points from last year. Favorability and freight rates were partly offset by higher product costs, higher end of season clearance, and the addition of the HEYDUDE brand, currency negatively impacted consolidated gross margins by approximately 85 basis points. End of season clearance was more normalized this year, as last year inventory was extremely lean following the Vietnam shutdown. Before I provide gross margin detail by brand, we will now disclose distribution and logistics costs that are reported within our cost of goods sold. This is to provide greater transparency enabled better comparison of our gross margins to many peers who report these costs in SG&A. For the first quarter, distribution and logistics costs totaled $105.1 million or 12% of total revenues. Excluding these costs, our gross margins are exceptional and are one of the structural advantages of our business model that contribute to our industry leading operating margins. Turning to the brands. Adjusted gross margin for the Cross brand was 56.3% or 140 basis points higher than prior year. The significant improvement in freight of nearly 600 basis points included reduced airfreight of approximately 450 basis points was partly offset by the impact of higher end of season clearance of approximately 140 basis points, and inflationary cost pressures of approximately 70 basis points, currency negatively impacted margins by 115 basis points. HEYDUDE adjusted gross margins were 49.6% as we start to a reduction in inbound freight rates. As we noted at year end, we expect HEYDUDE gross margins to sequentially improve over the course of the year, as the effective cost from legacy freight contract that take time to roll through the P&L and higher inventory storage costs in the short-term subside. During the first quarter of 2023, we leveraged consolidated adjusted SG&A 100 basis points, improving to 26.3% of revenues versus 27.3% last year. This improvement was achieved while still investing in talent and marketing for both brands. Our first quarter adjusted operating income increased 40.8% to $247 million from last year. Consolidated adjusted operating margin increased 130 basis points to 27.9%. Our first quarter non-GAAP diluted earnings per share increased 27.3% to $2.61. Our liquidity position remains strong, as we ended the first quarter with $126 million with cash and cash equivalents and ample capacity on our revolving credit facility. We repaid $41 million of debt in the quarter, reducing borrowings to $2.28 billion. At the end of Q1, adjusted gross leverage was approximately 2.1x and net leverage was approximately 2x. We are confident in our ability to achieve gross leverage under 2x by the middle of this year. Our inventory balance at March 31, 2023 was $476 million, an increase of 16.8% versus Q1 last year. Crocs brand inventory was $318 million up 10.3% and HEYDUDE inventory was $158 million up 32.6%. Our higher inventory balance reflects higher revenue growth and higher costs within inventory. As we look forward, I would like to share our current outlook for the second quarter and the balance of 2023. All numbers will be on a reported basis unless otherwise stated. For Q2, we expect consolidated revenues to grow approximately 6% to 9% at current currency rates as we lap a high Q2 wholesale growth rate 2022, related to the Vietnam shutdowns in the prior year. We expect Q2 adjusted operating margin to be approximately 26% and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.83 to $2.98. With our Q1 performance, we are raising our full year 2023 revenue outlook and expect growth of 11% to 14% on a reported basis, compared to 2022, resulting in full year revenues of approximately $3.95 billion to $4.05 billion at current currency rates. Revenue for the Crocs brand, we now expect to grow 7% to 9% on a reported basis. We expect the highest growth internationally driven by robust consumer demand. For HEYDUDE, we are maintaining our full year outlook of mid 20% revenue growth on a reported basis. As always, we are focused on best-in-class profitability and now see our adjusted operating margin to be between 26% to 27% for the full year. We are raising our adjusted diluted earnings per share outlook to be between approximately $11.17 to $11.73. In summary, 2023 is off to an excellent start and we look forward to another record setting year. At this time, I'll turn the call back over to Andrew for his final thoughts.
Andrew Rees: Thank you, Anne. As we look forward, we're incredibly confident in the strengths of the Crocs and HEYDUDE brands, and our ability to drive market share gains and sustainable profitable growth. Our focus remains squarely on navigating current uncertainties and creating long-term shareholder value. Operator, please open the call for questions.
Operator: We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Abbie Zvejnieks from Piper Sandler. Abbie, please go ahead.
Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from Jonathan Komp from Baird. Jonathan, please go ahead.
Operator: Our next question comes from Tom Nikic from Wedbush Securities. Tom, please go ahead.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Jeff Lick from B. Riley Financial. Jeff, please go ahead.
Operator: We now have a question from Jay Sole from UBS. Jay, please go ahead.
Operator: Our next question comes from Laura Champine from LOOP. Laura, please go ahead.
Operator: Our next question comes from Jim Duffy from Stifel. Jim, please go ahead.
Operator: We have a question from Mitch Kummetz from Seaport. Mitch, please go ahead.
Operator: Our next question is coming from Aubrey Tianello from BNP Paribas. Aubrey, please go ahead.
Operator: We have a question from Hale Holden from Barclays. Hale, please go ahead.
Operator: And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Andrew Rees for any closing remarks.
Andrew Rees: Yes, thank you. I just want to thank everybody for listening in this morning and their interest in our company. We appreciate the questions. Thank you.
Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
