“The Caleres team delivered another strong operational performance in the fourth quarter, culminating in a third consecutive year of adjusted earnings per share in excess of our $4.00 baseline and underscoring the durability of our earnings power”, commented Jay Schmidt, president, and chief executive officer of Caleres. “I am proud of the Caleres team and the tremendous progress we have made across a wide range of strategic objectives”, he continued. “The transformation in earnings power that we have achieved in recent years – combined with our value-driving organisational structure, powerful brands, and best-in-class capabilities – positions us exceptionally well for growth in 2024 and beyond”.

In the three months to the 3^rd of February, Caleres’ net sales increased by 0.1%, on a comparable basis to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022, reaching 697.1 million US dollars.

The Famous Footwear segment contributed 396.2 million US dollars to the total, down by 1.5% year-over-year, while net sales in the company’s brand portfolio segment totalled 323.7 million US dollars, up by 4.5% year-over-year. In the last quarter of fiscal 2023, direct-to-consumer sales accounted for approximately 74% of total net sales.

The company’s gross profit was 305.7 million US dollars in the fourth quarter of last year, as compared to 281.2 million US dollars in the same period of the previous year, with the gross margin improving accordingly from 40.4% to 43.9%.

In the last quarter of fiscal 2023, Caleres achieved net earnings of 55.8 million US dollars, or earnings per diluted share of 1.57 US dollars, on a comparable basis to net earnings of 40.8 million US dollars, or earnings per diluted share of 1.13 US dollars in a similar period of the prior year.

Additionally, the company’s adjusted net earnings amounted to 30.8 million US dollars, or adjusted earnings per diluted share of 0.86 US dollars, as compared to adjusted net earnings of 23.4 million US dollars, or adjusted earnings per diluted share of 0.65 US dollars in the last quarter of 2022.  

Full Year Results

The US-based footwear company reported net sales of 2.82 billion US dollars over fiscal 2023, down by 5.1% on the previous year, with net sales in the Famous Footwear segment declining by 5.6% year-over-year and net sales in the brand portfolio segment declining by 3.9% year-over-year.

In the last financial year, Caleres net earnings totalled 171.4 million US dollars, or earnings per diluted share of 4.80 US dollars, as compared to net earnings of 181.7 million US dollars, or earnings per diluted share of 4.92 US dollars in fiscal 2022.

Fiscal 2024 Outlook

For the 2024 fiscal year, the company expects consolidated net sales to be flat to up 2% and earnings per diluted share to be in the range of 4.30 to 4.60 US dollars.

“This outlook considers and balances the positive momentum in our Brand Portfolio segment and ongoing company-wide cost reduction initiatives against anticipated headwinds that include a forecasted decline in the footwear market, inflationary pressures that could affect consumer demand at Famous Footwear, and higher freight costs”, reads the statement from the company.