Upcoming AWS Coverage on Express, Inc. Post-Earnings Results

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / November 30, 2016 / Active Wall St. announces its post-earnings coverage on The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE: BKE). The company posted its third quarter fiscal 2016 financial results on November 18, 2016. The teen clothing retailer's earnings results fell below market expectations, while revenue matched forecasts. Register with us now for your free membership at: http://www.activewallst.com/register/.

One of Buckle's competitors within the Apparel Stores space, Express, Inc. (NYSE: EXPR), announced that IT will conduct a conference call to discuss Q3 2016 results on Thursday, December 1, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. ET. AWS will be initiating a research report on Express in the coming days.

Today, AWS is promoting its earnings coverage on BKE; touching on EXPR. Get our free coverage by signing up to:

http://www.activewallst.com/registration-3/?symbol=BKE

http://www.activewallst.com/registration-3/?symbol=EXPR

Earnings Reviewed

For the three months ended on October 29th, 2016, Buckle reported net income of $23.4 million, or $0.49 per share ($0.48 per share on a diluted basis), compared to $35.9 million, or $0.75 per share ($0.74 per share on a diluted basis), for Q3 2015. The results fell short of Wall Street's expectations for earnings of $0.51 per share.

During Q3 2016, the company's net sales for Q3 2016 fell 14.6% to $239.2 million from net sales of $280.2 million for the prior year's comparable quarter. Comparable store net sales for the reported quarter dropped 15.3% on a y-o-y basis. Buckle's online sales declined 8.5% to $23.7 million for Q3 2016 compared to net sales of $25.9 million for Q3 2015. Net sales for Q3 2016 were reported net of the impact of both the reward redemptions and accruals for estimated feature rewards related to the Company's new guest loyalty program, which launched during Q1 2016. Absent the impact of the new loyalty program, total net sales for Q3 2016 were down 13.2% and comparable store sales were down 13.9%. The company's sales numbers managed to meet analysts' expectations of $239.2 million.

Margin Matters

During Q3 2016, Buckle's gross margin came in at 40.5%, down approximately 140 basis points from 41.9% for Q3 2015. The decrease was attributed to deleveraged occupancy, buying and distribution expenses resulting from the comparable store sales decline, which had about a 270 basis point impact and was partially offset by 130 basis point improvement in merchandise margins. Factoring out the impact of the new loyalty program, merchandise margins for the reported quarter would have been up approximately 30 basis points. The company's operating margin for Q3 2016 was 15.4% compared to 20.1% for Q3 2015. Other income for Q3 2016 was $497,000 compared to $951,000 for Q3 2015.

Balance Sheet

As of October 29, 2016, Buckle had an inventory of $148.2 million, which was down approximately 16% from inventory of $175.9 million at the end of Q3 2015, and total cash and investments of $232.8 million compared to $192 million at the same time a year ago. The company ended Q3 2016 with $175 million in fixed assets, net of accumulated depreciation. During Q3 2016, Buckle's capital expenditures for the quarter were $10 million and depreciation expense was $7.9 million. For the year-to-date period, capital expenditures were $27 million and depreciation expense was $24.1 million. The company expects Q4 2016 the capital expenditures to be in the range of $28 million to $32 million, which includes primarily new store and store remodeling projects and certain IT investments. The company ended Q3 2016 with $175 million in fixed assets, net of accumulated depreciation.

Stores Update

For the reported quarter, Buckle's average unit retail decreased approximately 5.5%, while average transaction value decreased 4.0%. Buckle ended Q3 2016 with 470 retail stores in 44 states, compared to 468 stores in 44 states at the end of Q3 2015. Additionally, the company's total square footage was 2.403 million square feet as of the end of Q3 2016 compared to 2.372 million square feet at the same time a year ago.

Stock Performance

At the closing bell, on Tuesday, November 29, 2016, Buckle's stock was marginally up 0.39%, ending the trading session at $25.45. A total volume of 412.58 thousand shares were traded at the end of the day. In the last month and previous six months, shares of the company have advanced 21.48% and 4.58%, respectively. The company's shares are trading at a PE ratio of 10.55 and have a dividend yield of 3.93%.

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SOURCE: Active Wall Street