“Once again, the Shoe Carnival team delivered another record-breaking quarter, achieving the highest sales, margin, and EPS results in our history. Tax refunds, stimulus payments, and our merchants’ ability to deliver the items and brands our customers desired fuelled positive traffic trends during the quarter. This resulted in a comparable store sales increase of 125.8% and all-time high store conversion rates”, commented Cliff Sifford, Shoe Carnival’s Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

First Quarter Results

Shoe Carnival reported net sales of 328.5 million US dollars for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, a 122.7% increase compared to net sales of 147.5 million US dollars for the first quarter of fiscal 2020. The increase resulted from “continued demand for strong product offerings, seasonal weather, increased vaccination rates and the positive impact of government stimulus”. The first quarter of 2021 compares to a low base, as substantially all of the company’s stores were closed for approximately half of the first quarter of fiscal 2020 due to the pandemic.

Gross profit margin for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 increased by 18.3% points to 39.6% compared to 21.3% in the prior year.

Net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 was 43.2 million US dollars, or 3.02 US dollars per diluted share. For the first quarter of fiscal 2020, Shoe Carnival reported net loss of 16.2 million US dollars, or a loss of 1.16 US dollars per diluted share.

Store Updates

No new stores were opened in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 and six stores were closed. The company expects to open one store and close two additional stores during the remainder of fiscal 2021 compared to a total of four store openings and 13 store closings in fiscal 2020. Shoe Carnival is currently in the process of modernizing its stores and plans to modernize approximately 100 stores by May 2022, with the goal of modernizing two-thirds of its store fleet in the next three-to-five years.

Fiscal 2021 Outlook

Based on second-quarter results to date and expected "continued strength in gross profit margin for the remainder of the quarter", the company currently anticipates record diluted net income per share in the range of 1.00 US dollars to 1.20 US dollars and net sales in the range of 268 million US dollars to 278 million US dollars for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. Given the continued uncertainty in the business environment, including consumer spending behaviours, ongoing supply chain disruptions, and the timing of in-person learning in the fall, Shoe Carnival is not providing guidance for the second half of fiscal 2021 at this time.