Boot Barn sales rise in fiscal Q4, still misses Street

Even with a jump in sales, unanticipated operating expenses and e-commerce snafus took a toll on Boot Barn’s fourth quarter for fiscal 2017.



For the quarter ended April 1, the Western-influenced specialty retailer reported net sales of $163.0 million. This was a 9.1% jump from $149.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016 (13 weeks). It also reported an adjusted net income of $3.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, compared to $2.5 million, or $0.09 per diluted share in the prior-year period. However, this still fell short of analysts’ expectations of adjusted earnings of $0.18 a share on sales of $165.9 million.



Same-store sales declined slightly by 0.9%. This was due to the closure of one store in the fourth quarter, as well as a sales decline at Sheplers.com in February and March due to a disruption from the conversion to a new e-commerce platform, Boot Barn reported.



“Unfortunately, our fourth quarter earnings per share fell short of our expectations due to lower than expected retail store sales, unanticipated operating expenses, and disruption in sales at sheplers.com arising from the transition of the e-commerce site to a new software platform,” Jim Conroy, Boot Barn’s CEO said. “We are continuing to work to improve the site performance and return sheplers.com to positive sales growth.”



For the fiscal year, the retailer’s net sales hit $629.8 million. This was a 10.7% jump from $569.0 million in fiscal year 2016 (52 weeks). Boot Barn said 12 months of sales contributions from Sheplers (compared to nine months in the prior-year period), additional sales from the 53rd week, the opening of 12 new stores over the last 12 months, and a 0.3% increase in consolidated same store sales all contributed to this increase.



Looking ahead to the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, the chain expects flat to slightly positive consolidated same-store sales growth, and is predicting net income of $14.0 million to $15.4 million. It also plans to open 12 new stores.



“We are encouraged that same store sales at our physical stores are improving and are positive fiscal year-to-date partly driven by a recovery in the oil and gas markets,” Conroy added. “We remain confident that our industry-leading position, advanced omnichannel capabilities and ongoing merchandising opportunities will allow us to continue to capture market share and drive profitable growth over the long-term.”