Back-to-School Boom Leads Shoe Carnival to Strong Q2

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Shoe Carnival is increasing its full year earnings guidance after reporting a “very strong” back-to-school season.

The Evansville, Ind.-based footwear retailer reported net sales in the second quarter of $332.7 million, which increased 12.9 percent from $294.6 million during the same time last year. Net income was $22.6 million, or $0.82 per diluted share, compared to net income of $19.4 million, or $0.71 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2023.

The company said that its total net sales performance in Q2 exceeded its expectation, with double-digit growth in Shoe Station, continued strengthening trends in Shoe Carnival and increases in e-commerce.

The company added that sales accelerated during the peak back-to-school season and continued through the month of August. This led the company to achieve low-single digit comparable store sales growth for fiscal August 2024, driven by growth of the children’s and athletics categories.

Sales from its $45 million February acquisition of Rogan Shoes were also in line with the company’s expectation for the quarter and continue to be in line with its full year sales expectation.

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As of Sept. 5, the company operated 430 stores, with 368 Shoe Carnival stores, 34 Shoe Station stores and 28 Rogan’s locations. Shoe Carnival reiterated that it plans to grow its fleet to more than 500 stores by 2028 via “organic growth and strategic M&A activity.”

Mark Worden , president and chief executive officer of Shoe Station, said on Thursday that the company continued to see customer engagement that exceeded its expectations as sales momentum accelerated rapidly during the back-to-school selling season.

“Gross profit margin expanded versus prior year, we gained significant market share, and we delivered earnings above our guidance in the quarter,” Worden said. “Our back-to-school results were very strong with comparable sales growth achieved in August, driven by the children’s and athletic categories.”

Looking ahead, the company expects third quarter 2024 net sales to be approximately $320 million. Shoe Station said that this expectation includes the impact of the retail calendar shift, which resulted in approximately $20 million in net sales moving out of third quarter 2024 and into second quarter 2024 as compared to prior year.

But based on year-to-date results and the comparable store sales growth achieved during back-to-school, the company is increasing guidance ranges for the full fiscal year 2024. Shoe Station now expects nets sales for the year of $1.23 billion to $1.25 billion, representing growth of 5 percent to 6 percent versus fiscal 2023. This is up from the prior guidance range of $1.21 billion to $1.25 billion in total sales for the year. And adjusted earnings per share is now expected to be in a range of Increased range to $2.60 to $2.75 versus the prior guidance range of $2.55 to $2.75.

“Our long-term strategies to increase sales and drive profitability are working, and we are well positioned to further increase shareholder value and execute on our vision to be the nation’s leading family footwear retailer,” Worden added.

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