Shoe Carnival reports jump is Q3 sales and earnings

Shoe Carnival reported net sales of 356.3 million dollars for the third quarter of fiscal 2021, a 29.8 percent increase compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2020. The company attributed this increase to continued broad-based demand for the company’s merchandise, with every major category increasing compared to the prior year quarter.

Net sales for the first nine months reached 1,017 million dollars compared to 722.9 million dollars in the first nine months of fiscal 2020, while comparable store sales increased 41.6 percent.

Commenting on the results, Mark Worden, Shoe Carnival’s president and chief executive officer said: “This was by every measure that matters, our best quarter, of our best year, in our 43-year history. We achieved our highest quarterly earnings ever. Net income per share and operating income were both three times higher than the results of any prior third quarter. Store traffic was up over 40 percent and all of our comparable stores generated positive cash flow year to date.”

Shoe Carnival posts jump in net income in the third quarter and nine-month results

The company’s gross profit margin increased 8.4 percentage points to 40.4 percent compared to 32 percent in the prior year. Net income reached 46.8 million dollars or 1.64 dollars per diluted share compared to 14.7 million dollars or 51 cents per diluted share last year.

The gross profit margin for the first nine months of fiscal 2021 was 40.3 percent compared to 27.9 percent in the same period last year. Net income was 134.3 million dollars or 4.69 dollars per diluted share, compared to 8.5 million dollars or 30 cents per diluted share, for the first nine months of fiscal 2020.

Based on continued strength in the underlying business, the company has raised its outlook for full year fiscal 2021 and currently anticipates diluted net income per share in the range of 5 dollars to 5.10 dollars and net sales in the range of 1.285 billion dollars to 1.290 billion dollars.

Mark Worden takes over as Shoe Carnival’s CEO

As previously announced, effective September 30, 2021, Worden was appointed the company’s president and chief executive officer and to the board of directors.

Effective September 16, 2021, the company also appointed Diane Randolph, former chief information officer of Ulta Beauty, Inc., to its board of directors. Following the appointments of Worden and Randolph, the board is composed of eight directors, and five are independent.

For the first nine months of fiscal 2021, the company has opened one store and closed seven stores. The company expects to close three additional stores during the remainder of fiscal 2021 compared to a total of four store openings and 13 store closings in fiscal 2020.

The company is currently in the process of modernizing its stores and plans to complete approximately 100 stores by the spring of 2022. The company expects to modernize 90 percent of its store fleet by 2025.