Shoe Carnival puts best foot forward in Q2

Despite challenges in the overall consumer discretionary spending environment, Shoe Carnival saw sales increases for the second quarter ended Aug. 3, which coincided with the back-to-school season, driven primarily by its selection of women’s seasonal and children’s footwear.

The leading retailer of value-priced footwear and accessories reported net sales of $216.4 million for the quarter, an 18.8% increase from $182.2 million for the year-ago quarter. Comparable-store sales for the quarter increased 2.6%.

The gross profit margin for the quarter increased to 29%. Net earnings for the second quarter were $5.8 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, as compared to net earnings of $2.9 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, in the second quarter last year.

“We are pleased our sales increase, when combined with our team’s focus on managing the controllable aspects of our business, enabled us to achieve earnings towards the high-end of our guidance,” said Cliff Sifford, president and CEO. “The overall consumer discretionary spending environment remains challenging and we believe it is prudent to have a conservative outlook on our business for the third quarter. With the back-to-school selling period winding down, we expect a comparable store sales increase of approximately 1% for the fiscal month of August. This is on top of a high single-digit comparable store sales increase during the fiscal month of August last year. We remain confident that our broad selection and value proposition will continue to make Shoe Carnival a destination store for family footwear as our customers transition to fall and winter product.”

The company expects to open 32 new stores and close five stores in fiscal 2013.