Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ:COLM) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Laurent Vasilescu: And then maybe just last question, Jim. Obviously over the course of December and January, there’s a lot of questions around the Red Sea. I recognize probably right now it’s just the logistics challenge of a two-week delay. But just curious to know with spot rates recognize a lot of companies go through contracts, but spot rates going up 3x 4x versus November and potential surcharges. Can you maybe just kind of walk through maybe just the — what would be the impact if the rates hold over the course of the next two quarters at these levels? Thank you.

Jim Swanson : Well, we can speak to thus far is we’ve got long-term contracts in place with certain of our ocean carriers. And to date, we have not been incurring by and large those spot rates that are in the market, nor are we incurring the surcharges. So thus far, we don’t anticipate that having a meaningful impact on our business.

Laurent Vasilescu: Okay. Thanks so much for taking my questions.

Operator: The next question comes from Abbie Zvejnieks with Piper Sandler. Please proceed.

Abbie Zvejnieks : Just in terms of the gross margin expansion for the year, I understand the guidance for the first half. So, I guess what gives you confidence in the expansion in the second half, and is that this PAS issue that could drive more promotional cadence of that product, like implied in that guide already. And then just secondly how, I think you talked a lot about — but how are you thinking about the footwear business at Columbia for this year? Thank you.

Jim Swanson: Yeah, I’ll touch on the first part of that and then pass it over to Tim as it relates to the footwear part of the question. As it pertains to the gross margin, I think keep in mind the single biggest driver when you consider the year in its entirety in the gross margin expansion that we’ve got planned, we’re in much healthier shape in terms of the underlying quality of our inventory throughout 2023 and we are working through a fair amount of excess inventory, the overall assortment of what we will have within our business across our D2C business in our retail stores, themselves will be a better assortment. That gives us some of the gives us that confidence in terms of what you are seeing in the gross margin. [Technical Difficulty] are providing here today.

Operator: Okay. Andrew, can you hear us?

Tim Boyle : As it relates to the Columbia footwear, Columbia has got heavy presence in winter footwear as well. Although, we do have a new set of products launching in spring ’24 called Omni-Max, which is a full contingency of platforms including uppers and shared mid soles and outsoles, which has been very well received. And then as it relates to our international business, the footwear component of our international business is much larger. We have a lot of confidence that, we have got the right approach to the business and we will continue to invest in that area as well.

Operator: Our next question comes from Paul Lejuez with Citigroup. Please proceed.

Unidentified Analyst: Thanks. It’s Tracy Kogan filling in for Paul. I had two questions. The first, I was wondering if your first quarter guidance contemplates the improvement in performance, you have been seeing in January or if it’s more based on what you were seeing in fourth quarter? And then I was hoping you could talk more about the U.S. DTC channel and what You attribute the difference in performance in e-commerce and bricks-and-mortar to in the fourth quarter? Thank you.

Jim Swanson: Yes. Tracy, as it relates to the first quarter and the outlook that we provided, certainly January gotten off to a brisk start within our B2C business from a growth standpoint and we have seen the same thing as it relates to the wholesale sell through within our wholesale distribution. Those updates or that impact on the business has been updated in our Q1 outlook. We did build the overall trend for the quarter, based on what we were seeing in the fourth quarter. So, we have adjusted January, but we have been a bit conservative, as you think about the balance of the quarter, just knowing how challenging marketplace conditions were in Q4. As it relates to the other part of your question on Q4 and our retail business…

Tim Boyle : Yes. I think we are seeing in our business as well as our wholesale partners that, bricks-and-mortar businesses tend to do better today than the digital businesses. We see a move for the consumer to move closer to that. We see and feel it as a coach doing digital. And then as it relates to our own e-com business, a portion of the weakness is our structured move away from highly promotional events to have the brand be better representative full price in our own e-comm business. And we talked during the period remarks about how we’re planning to bankrupt the food showcase for the brand, but we would expect over time to have less promotional activity.

Operator: The next question comes from John Kernan with TD Cowen. Please proceed.

Krista Zuber: This is Krista Zuber on for John. Just sort of more of a big picture question, if I could, on the long-term operating margin target. I think, Tim, you said you’re now sort of targeting a low teens operating margin, kind of how do you see the pathway towards that over sort of a timeframe developing from here? And I have one follow-up.