Good morning and welcome to the CALERES Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Melissa, and I'll be your conference coordinator. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Logan Bonacorsi, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, miss.
Good morning. I would like to thank you for joining our third quarter of 2022 earnings call and webcast. A press release with detailed financial tables as well as our quarterly slide presentation are available at caleres.com. Please be aware today's discussion contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially due to various risk factors, including, but not limited to, the factors disclosed in the company's Form 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Please refer to today's press release and our SEC filings for more information on risk factors and other factors which could impact forward-looking statements. Copies of these reports are available online. In discussing the results of our operations, we'll be providing and referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures.
You can find additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures as well as others used in today's earnings release in our presentation on the Investor section of our website. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed in this call at any time. Joining me on the call today is Diane Sullivan; Chairman and CEO, Jay Schmidt; President, and Jack Calandra; Senior Vice President and CFO. We'll begin this morning's call with our prepared remarks, and thereafter, we'll be happy to take your questions. I would now like to turn the call over to Diane. Diane?
Thank you Logan. Good morning everyone. It's an exciting time at CALERES with our team's energy running high as our momentum continues. Today, I'm very happy to report that CALERES continued its strong performance in the third quarter of 2022. We built on our excellent first half results, which were driven by another period of outstanding operational and financial execution. These results are further proof of the strength of our brands, of our compelling product and product creation power, of our disciplined inventory management, and of course, the agility and resiliency of our operating model that is showing strength.
For the third quarter, even with as the consumer navigates this challenging macroeconomic environment, we achieved record quarterly sales of $798 million, nearly 2% higher than the third quarter of 2021, with improvement once again driven by a 7.6% year-over-year increase from the brand portfolio segment. We delivered another strong return on sales, reaching more than 7% as the brand portfolio recorded robust third quarter earnings. Famous held its operating margin in the double digits, achieving 12.3%. All in, this generated operating earnings of $57 million and earnings per share of $1.15. I will note that at $1.15, we've ended the first nine months of 2022 with $3.86 of earnings per share or $1.66 above our pre-pandemic record.
In addition, during the period we also grew total CALERES market share. We continued to manage our inventory well and ultimately ended the period nearly 16% lower than the second quarter of 2022. We returned $24 million to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. All in, excellent results with a team that is determined to continue to drive this momentum. Now, as you know, this will be the last time that I speak with all of you as CEO, as I will transition to Executive Chairman in mid-January. I cannot express how much of an honor serving as CEO of CALERES has been for me. I'm proud of what we've accomplished and proud of the diversified portfolio, the consumer and product-driven organization, and the inclusive culture that we've built during that time.
You can absolutely count on the fact that the strategic focus areas of delighting consumers, building product that fits and is relevant, creating inspiring experience and engaged teams are well embedded into the fabric of who we are. That will never change. I want to thank my leadership team for their collaboration, creativity, and drive for results and of course, their commitment to all of our colleagues, consumers, and our partners. I want to thank all of you in the investment community for your interest and support of me and our organization. To say that I'm excited about the future of CALERES would be an understatement. I see tremendous potential for the earnings power of the company. In fact, with the record earnings performance in 2021 and our expectations for another record this year, I am confident our pre-pandemic earnings level is firmly in the rear view.
Furthermore, I believe in the resiliency in the portfolio, and I'm completely confident in our ability to create long-term value for our many stakeholders. I believe our expertise and capabilities in brand building and product creation, marketing, digital commerce, and our supply chain management provide a unique foundation from which to continue to build. I'm also confident that this will be a successful executive transition. As you well know, Jay and I have been working side by side for many years, and I can say that without reservation, he has an unending commitment to excellence. He knows the footwear category, our business, and our consumers very well, and he is ideally suited to lead the organization through its next chapter. His leadership roles, numerous ones at CALERES, and his distinctive merchant mind have prepared him well to steer the company into the future.
Although many of you may have met him by now, I would like to take a moment to introduce Jack as well, who joined us in September as CFO and is joining his first CALERES quarterly earnings call today. As you get to know Jack in this role, I'm confident that you'll be impressed by his strong financial background and his consumer goods expertise. As you can imagine, this next step in my personal career is as exciting as it is bittersweet. That said, I'm thrilled to move to my new role as Executive Chairman, and I look forward to supporting Jay, Jack, and the rest of the CALERES leadership team as they build on what we've accomplished together.
I also look forward to focusing on continuing to enhance the CALERES culture, drive strategic initiatives to unlock growth, and assist in ensuring we have a value-enhancing pipeline of growth opportunities ready for when the timing is right. Now I'll turn the call over to Jay to share more detail about our third quarter results. Jay?
Thank you Diane, for your kind words, your confidence, and your support. We've worked together for a long time, and I feel so fortunate for that opportunity. In the past 12 years as our CEO, you have led the transformation of our financial performance, our portfolio of brands, our digital business, and our employee culture. I want to thank you for your leadership and mentorship, and I look forward to your ongoing counsel as Executive Chairman. Now let's talk about our third quarter performance. CALERES did deliver another period of strong results. We leaned into our diversified brand portfolio and our advantaged inventory position to meet the robust demand in key trending segments of the footwear market. At the same time, we continued to prioritize investment areas, namely consumer marketing and experience that is value-driving and essential for future growth. I'll begin with our Famous Footwear segment.
Famous continued to perform at a high level during the third quarter. Up against the blockbuster period last year, Famous beat our expectations, delivering a modest year-over-year sales decline. However, by limiting promotional activity, the business generated margins higher than pre-pandemic levels, which were also in line with our plan. Jack will walk through the specific key financial metrics of each segment in more detail in just a few minutes. I would like to call out a few highlights that drove our quarterly performance at Famous, namely kids, brand curation, fashion acceleration, and consumer experience. First, our back-to-school kids business was a highlight, outpacing last year's robust performance. In fact, our kids business increased 3% in the ten-week back-to-school period versus 2021.
The results for the full quarter were even better, up 6% as we positioned the right inventory behind the right brands and styles. Clearly, the kids category is a strategic differentiator and a long-term growth driver for Famous, and its recent performance further solidifies our position as a destination for back-to-school footwear. Second, the curated assortment of national brands and styles continued to resonate with the Famous consumer target, the millennial family. Famous' top 25 brands represented 89% of sales during the period, and we saw acceleration of those key brands as inventory strengthened later in the quarter. Famous also experienced strength in its non-athletic business, aligning with the demand we saw with the rest of our CALERES brands. Third, we are seeing meaningful progress in our effort to meet the consumer and to build our competency on the fashion side of the business.
We know that when she buys for her family and for herself, she is spending more, connecting more, and returning more often. This was accelerated by growth in top key market brands as well as by the vertical integration with our CALERES brands. Our own CALERES brands performed very well at Famous during the period, with sales increasing 19% versus last year. LifeStride in particular was a standout, breaking into the top 10 of all selling brands at Famous for the quarter. Our Dr. Scholl's footwear experienced similar results, posting a double-digit increase across both men's and women's segments. I will also call out Naturalizer, which had impressive year-over-year sales performance, increasing our fashion component for the Famous consumer while offering a strong comfort proposition.
All of these improvements demonstrate our ability to take our extensive understanding of our consumer and deliver the right brands and styles in the right quantities and locations to drive highly profitable incremental sales. This is all in addition to the core athletic and sport business that Famous is known for. Lastly, CALERES has continued to invest in the consumer experience at Famous, amplifying a tangible brand image across our omnichannel. In recent quarters, we have re-platformed famousfootwear.com, updated high potential and high performing stores, initiated a new store concept that brings the best footwear brands and trends to life, and showcases all of the enhanced visual assets and communication focused on the family that we display on our website. So far, the results seem very promising.
Our digital performance improved 2% in the quarter. Our early reads from our new store concepts show a significant uplift in financial performance. We are encouraged by these developments and look forward to providing more updates at year-end. Overall, Famous has delivered a strong performance during the first nine months, holding its powerful double-digit operating margin while underscoring the strength of the Famous brand. While we recognize that there is uncertainty for consumers given the threat of mounting inflationary pressures, Famous is well-positioned to compete and win even in a challenging market due to its leadership position with the family, its advantaged assortment of national brands, retail locations in key markets across the country with exceptional service by our team, and enhanced consumer experience in stores and online, supported by customer insights. Next, I'd like to move to the brand portfolio.
Brand portfolio turned in an outstanding performance in the third quarter of 2022, achieving another period of year-over-year improvements across all key financial metrics and putting us well on our way to delivering a significant step up in the segment's overall annual earnings contribution in 2022. This performance was driven by robust demand and strong consumer reaction to our fashion products, with most of our lead brands delivering positive sales trends during the quarter. These results reflect the progress the team has made against specific key initiatives, including elevating our product design, fit, and relevance, sharpening our brand positions and messaging, and aligning inventory with demand with our Edit to Win strategy playing nicely for more of the right styles, SKUs, quantities, and sizes to meet the consumers' needs.
While you've heard from our peers that retailers are being more conservative with inventory, our capabilities have allowed us to minimize the impact to CALERES. For example, our dropship partnerships continue to support meaningful sales outcomes. We expect this trend to continue through 2023, and it serves as another example of how we can continue to connect with consumers, maximize our inventory investment, and provide our retail partners flexibility in periods of uncertainty. During the quarter, the brand portfolio achieved an outstanding performance in our brand's own website sales, highlighting the power of our brands and our improved digital capabilities. This included a nearly 22% growth from our own e-commerce site with solid year-over-year increases from nearly every brand, with the largest gains coming from Sam Edelman and Naturalizer.
In total, the brand portfolio sites saw an increase of 24% in new customers versus 2021. Clearly, these results demonstrate how we can leverage our powerful brands, our customer analytics, and our growing expertise in this area to unlock more value from the total Caleres customer file going forward. I'd now like to highlight some brand-level detail focusing primarily on the portfolio's lead brands. Beginning with Naturalizer, which has delivered an outsized performance all year long, gaining market share and driving sales, earnings, and average unit retail improvements. During the third quarter, Naturalizer sales increased nearly 60% over 2021, with gains in dress, casual, and boots, especially tall shaft boots.
Average unit retails increased by 20% over last year, driven by newness in style and innovation. The brand's focus on inclusive sizing has resonated with consumers, not only through offering extended sizes and widths, but also by offering wide shaft proportions in its tall boot assortments. The brand also launched an elevated look with improved functionality on Naturalizer.com. The new site emphasizes the strength of elegance and utility along with comfort and fit, and it connects with consumers through authentic product concepts and stories. The results, sales of Naturalizer.com grew more than 50% in the third quarter, and new customers to the site grew by 19%, with over half of this increase in younger consumer demographics. Naturalizer's performance serves as another example of the power of our brands combined with the power of our capabilities and our talented team members.
The ongoing evolution here has placed the brand in the top 12 of all fashion brands and sales performance for third quarter, according to NPD. Next, our Sam Edelman brand delivered continued strong results, with sales increasing 26% year-over-year. While the brand's wholesale performance showed strength across all footwear categories via trend right styling, its SamEdelman.com business more than doubled in the quarter. Key to driving this performance was a heightened focus on the aspirational luxury consumer, including fall direct mail and a global marketing campaign featuring supermodel Naomi Campbell. These initiatives translated to a 75% increase in web traffic, a 55% increase in new consumers, and a new record in digital sales for the month of September. Clearly, there is a lot of momentum with Sam.
Next to Allen Edmonds, where newness in its well-known brand icons as well as sneaker and boot offerings showed continued improvement versus last year, with higher average unit retails and margins. Product collaborations and limited drop events continue to delight consumers and drive full-price selling. Our Cordovan trunk show was our most successful ever, and our collaboration with the brand Barbour on exclusive styles became immediate bestsellers. Both these events highlight the brand's commitment to authenticity and craft, which is at the heart of the Allen Edmonds brand. Also new this quarter is a relaunch of our Collectors Loyalty program, allowing us to enhance our relationship with our best customers. There are many other brand examples I could give, but to summarize, the consumer continues to respond to newness and fashion aligned with a brand's clear DNA.
Our brand portfolio is more diversified and relevant and focused than ever. Our teams and processes are flexible and able to pivot to meet changing consumer demand. Looking ahead across the entire portfolio, the brand teams will lean into their strong product creation ability, build on consumer insights and build on our own e-commerce business, manage inventories using speed to market as a catalyst, and further our Edit to Win initiative, all to unlock opportunities for future growth. Overall, 2022 is progressing in line with our expectations. In light of the more challenging macroeconomic environment, the entire team at CALERES will be focused on controlling what we can, managing expenses, and reducing our overall debt levels.
However, our strong execution through the first nine months allows us to say with confidence that despite the uncertainty in consumer spending and the broader economy, we are confident in our ability to deliver record earnings per share this year. In closing, I am energized to be taking on the CEO role at this moment in CALERES' evolution. Our team has established a great foundation from which to build, and I am optimistic about our prospects for long-term profitability. I am highly confident in our ability to generate strong levels of cash and drive additional shareholder value. I will now hand it over to Jack for a more detailed view of our financials. Jack?
Thanks Jay. Good morning everyone. I am thrilled to be speaking with you on my first CALERES earnings call. Today, I'll provide additional details on our strong third quarter results, discuss our capital allocation progress and plans, and share our improved outlook for full year 2022 financial performance. As a reminder, my comments will be on an adjusted basis and will focus on the comparable period in 2021, with some supplemental comparisons to the third quarter of 2019 where helpful. Please see today's press release for a reconciliation of adjusted results. Sales were $798 million, an increase of 1.8% versus last year. As Diane mentioned, this performance was driven by a 7.6% increase in brand portfolio sales. Famous Footwear sales declined 2.6%, slightly better than expectation, and comparable sales were down 0.8%.
Gross margin was 42.6%, effectively in line with last year, reflecting a decrease in Famous gross margin, an increase in brand portfolio gross margin, and a higher contribution of brand portfolio sales to total company. Famous gross margin was 44.7%, down 290 basis points versus last year. The decline reflects more normalized pricing and increased promotional activity versus last year when inventories were exceptionally low due to supply chain constraints. Notably, gross margin was up 370 basis points versus the third quarter of 2019. Brand portfolio gross margin was 37.9%, a 490 basis point increase versus last year due to higher wholesale prices, which were up 16% on average, growth in higher margin sales from the direct-to-consumer channel, and a favorable brand mix.
Gross margin in brand portfolio increased 70 basis points versus the third quarter of 2019. SG&A expense was $283 million, or 35.5% of sales. As communicated on our second quarter call, this includes approximately $9 million of higher stock and incentive compensation expense, most of which is a timing shift from Q2. Operating earnings were $57 million, and operating margin was 7.1%. Operating margin was 12.3% at Famous and 6.9% at brand portfolio. Net interest expense was $4 million, about $900,000 higher than last year, given higher borrowings on our revolving credit facility and a higher borrowing rate given the increase in LIBOR. Diluted earnings per share were $1.15 at the high end of our previous guidance.
EBITDA for the trailing 12 months was $299 million, or 10.1% of sales. Turning now to the balance sheet and cash flow, we ended the third quarter with approximately $365 million in borrowings on our revolving credit facility and no long-term debt. Inventory at quarter end was $649 million, up 19.5% versus last year and up slightly compared to the third quarter of 2019. On hand and available to sell inventory was up and goods in transit were down materially. Notably, inventory was down 15.8% sequentially. By segment, inventory at Famous was up 17.5% versus last year and down 11.5% versus 2019. At brand portfolio, inventory was up 22.6% versus last year and up 14.1% versus 2019.
We recognize the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship of inventory to sales and expect continued improvement in inventory levels in Q4. Regarding cash flow from operations, we generated $19 million during the quarter and deployed cash for strategic investments in the business, paying our dividend, and buying back shares. In the third quarter, we repurchased 838,000 shares at an average price of $25.72 per share for a total cost of $21.6 million. Including the dividend, we returned $24 million in cash to shareholders in the quarter. Looking ahead, we expect to generate a significant amount of cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter.
While we have 6.4 million shares remaining under our current board authorization and will continue to consider share repurchases based on market conditions, we believe at this time the best use of free cash flow after maintaining the dividend is to reduce our revolver borrowings and increase overall liquidity. Our guidance does not assume additional share repurchases this year. Given our strong performance year-to-date and our current expectation for Q4, we are tightening our fiscal year 2022 earnings outlook to the upper end of our previous guidance range. We now expect full year 2022 diluted earnings per share to be between $4.30 and $4.40. We are reaffirming our previous guidance for full year 2022 sales to be up between 4% and 6% versus 2021.
We are providing guidance on several additional metrics as follows. We are planning continued improvement in inventory levels and expect Q4 ending inventory to be up mid-single digit % versus last year. Given the recent increases in interest rates and the likelihood of an additional increase from the Fed in December, we expect our interest expense to be about $14 million for the year. Finally, we expect full year capital expenditures of about $55 million. With that, I'll turn the call back to Diane for some closing remarks.
Thanks Jack. As you can see, we are extremely encouraged by our results year to date. Even with the uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, we're very confident we'll close the year in a record-setting manner. Going forward, our portfolio is strong, our teams are aligned, and we still have plenty of runway for growth, so we're poised to generate significant value for all of our stakeholders. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to the operator for some questions and answers. Operator?
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Steven Marotta with C.L. King & Associates. Please proceed with your question.
Good morning Diane, Jay, Jack, and Logan. Diane, congratulations again on a just incredible career and an incredible run at CALERES. You're gonna be very missed, I'm sure, on the calls.
Thank you Steve, I really appreciate that.
Great thanks. Jay, of course, welcome again.
Thank you.
Can you talk a little bit about November to date and if it's differed at all from the rate of sales in the third quarter at both branded portfolio and Famous?
Yeah sure. Let me start, I'll kick the ball around a little bit this morning with both Jay and Jack. On this one, as it relates to our brand portfolio business, quite honestly, our trends going into the fourth quarter have continued to be as good, if not better, than what we saw in the third quarter. We're feeling very good about how that is looking in for the fourth quarter. As it relates to the Famous side of the business, as you've heard from many folks, that certainly the customer is a bit under stress. There was some weather-related issues out there and, you know, sentiment has been a little off.
We were Steve, we're trying to be super thoughtful in our guidance, given both the strength at BP and a little softer on the Famous side. How did we put those pieces together to really guide very smartly for, you know, the fourth quarter? Jack, maybe you could just talk a little bit about what the assumptions are around that. I think that's probably the most helpful way to share our thinking.
Sure, t hanks Diane. Hi Steve. Really at the low end of our guidance at $430, you know, we would assume that Famous comparable sales could be down as much as low double digits. At the high end, Famous would be down sort of mid-single digits on comparable sales. What I would say is kind of where we are quarter to date is kind of in between those two numbers. Feel really comfortable with the range we've given, both to protect on the downside and then to give us some upside opportunity as well.
Yeah. Reiterating that on brand portfolio, feel very good about the current trends on that, and they seem to be continuing.
That's right.
Yeah.
Sure, t hat's very helpful.
That helpful Steve?
Absolutely, y eah, 100%. I think I asked this on the last call as well, and I know you don't specifically provide order book information, but as we look out through the first half of 2023, can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing, maybe how much drop ship has increased as a percent of sales during quarters so that maybe the initial order book is not completely reflective of what is ultimately sold during the quarter—
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
and maybe provide a little bit of, it might be a tail of two halves next year.
Yeah, g reat question, and I'll let Jay talk a little bit about the order book and drop ship because that's really. Actually, the drop ship business has been. We were early adopters, I think, in that.
Yeah.
You know, that's continued to be a real advantage for us, particularly in the, I would say, the last six months. Jay, wouldn't you?
Yeah, t he really provides a lot of flexibility, and really a way to maximize our inventory going directly to the consumers. I would say two things: Number one, the drop ship business has continued to grow high double digits during the quarter. We're seeing that be around that 20% of our business. Again, it's supplemental to the total, but still very, very important, significant to the brand portfolios business. The other thing is that our order book is actually really in line with where we've been going into the quarters, you know, as we go through. With so much of it being dynamic now with our drop ship and our replenishment business that we're really seeing more of that come through that way. We feel pretty confident in our order book as we go into, you know, spring right now.
Jay when you say in line, I just wanna understand that. Is that roughly flat with last year?
Where it is we actually...y ou know, it's in the same percent of where we've gone into each quarter, so it allows us to really capture the rest of it into there. Yes, it's been in line with, I would say historical new normal quarters. I think 2022 was a funny year, and it was a little lopsided as we went quarter to quarter, but this really reflects where we've been in the third and fourth quarter, so we feel quite confident with that going into the first.
Yeah. It has evolved, right? You know, we used to look at order book only.
Yeah.
We've got to look at the drop ship capabilities. We look at our own direct-to-consumer businesses. It's a mix. All of that is very much in line now with what our outlook looks like. Feeling pretty positive about that. I think Steve, you know, the other thing on that point is, you know, we really did have the inventory on the brand portfolio this fall, which really helped accelerate our business. When you have a good business going into the next season, that is very helpful as well. You know how that all works.
Sure. Sure, sure. Excellent, o ne more question. As it pertains to cost and pricing, can you talk a little bit about what is going on in the first half of 2023? Is there the potential actually for sourcing deflation in the second half of 2023 compared to the second half of 2022?
Well, you know, I think I'll start and Jay can add some color to it. I think, you know, we're thrilled with the price elasticity that our brand showed really, all through 2022. You know, that price increase of 16%.
Mm-hmm
That really stuck on the brand portfolio was, you know, I think, fantastic. I think our priority, for sure there may be some de-deflation in, you know, the input costs but there's also really gonna be additional ocean freight savings and, you know, other opportunities. You know, and Steve, I think, you know, both Jay and Jack would certainly support this point that our focus is absolutely on continuing to hold and maintain these margins—
Yeah
going forward. While we're gonna do everything, there will be tailwinds, there'll be some headwinds and all in, our goal is to continue to deliver higher growth margin levels.
Yeah, I would say absolutely. The other thing is we'll continue to attack that with speed all the way through the reorder system, I think that'll help us pick up additional scale and savings as we go forward, as the supply chain really returns back to what we've seen as more normal lead time levels.
That's terrific, t hank you very much.
Thanks Steve, a ppreciate it.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Abbie Zvejnieks with Piper Sandler. Please proceed with your question.
Good morning, t hanks so much for taking my question. I just wanted to ask about the inventory, you know, moving through to only being up around mid-single digits by the end of the year. It's really impressive. Can you just talk about your strategy on how you're going to move through that inventory, both at Famous, and the brand portfolio? Then I guess, you know, how are you thinking about promotions, at the brand portfolio, and are you concentrating those more in your DTC channels versus letting them flow into some of the wholesale partners? Then I guess on, just balancing newness and this product creation that you're talking about to drive demand versus moving through that excess inventory. Thank you.
Want to just open it?
Yeah. I'll start Abbie, y ou had a lot of questions.
I know.
Mixed in that. If I don't unpack them in the right way, you know, let us know and we'll, you know, certainly add some more color to it. I think, you know, our inventory position. Let's just talk about the Famous Footwear side. I think we're in terrific position at Famous. We, you know, as we got some of, you know, new goods in during the course of the quarter, we actually did see some acceleration in those pockets of in-demand kind of styles that Famous had. Got plenty of room and have within our guidance to make sure we maintain our competitive position, you know, in the marketplace in the fourth quarter of this year.
Feel like, again, through all of our guidance and what we've planned, that we don't really see any issue, and we want to make sure that we go into the first quarter of next year in a really clean position. In fact, I think Jay, we saw that almost 60% of our inventory is really new in this quarter.
Yeah.
You know, we're really hoping that that newness is gonna really motivate the consumer to buy. We believe we have it pretty well covered there. On the brand portfolio side, again, we all know that in the second quarter, you know, our inventories increased as all of the pandemic issues collided and some things came early.
Yes.
Others came a lot early but you know, as we've gone through the back half of this year—
Yeah
you know, we have really not been focused on promotion or liquidation at all. It's been fundamentally, you know, full price selling because we frankly did not have the inventory. Last year, we were down, I think, at retail somewhere around, on average, about 30% on our inventory levels in brand portfolio last year. The fact that we have some inventory is just terrific, and we're planning on ending the year, you know, as Jack mentioned, in a good spot, so.
Yeah.
You know, while it was lumpy through the year here and there, but of course, you know, where wasn't it? You know, as we end this year going into next year, believe we have tons of opportunity to chase and to manage the business—
Yeah
you know, in whatever this new normal kind of looks like.
Yeah. I just add is that the in brand portfolio, we really saw it come in early. This was really. We really ended third quarter exactly where we thought we would with inventory, and we see fourth quarter coming into that same place, and also that we don't have to front load anymore because of the supply chain normalizing. We're gonna see it return to a much more manageable type of business, with better turns throughout the, you know, as we go forward. Anyway, the fall is really, it's exactly what we said. It came in early, and it's really being driven down, and fortunately, it's in the right styles that the consumer is demanding.
Great, s uper helpful. Thanks so much.
Thanks Abbie.
Thank you. Our next question comes from line of Laura Champine with Loop Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Thanks for taking my question and congratulations Diane, and welcome again Jay and Jack. I really just have one question, and it's about when Famous Footwear can be expected to turn that comp positive again. I guess embedded in that question is what's going on from an AUR perspective, whether, you know, for better or for worse right now in this current period?
I'll take it. I'll start with the end. Right now for the third quarter, our AURs were actually slightly up in Famous Footwear for the quarter. So that actually, you know, reflects, I would say good solid demand and health to it. We really saw athletic come down in this third quarter, and we saw non-athletic increase at the same time. As we look to move that more to an even balance, I think we're, you know, we're going forward for that for 2023. I think we're still, you know, going through in fourth quarter and really trying. I think our forecast really reflects any risk that's out there, but I think we'll see that moving into 2023.
Laura, I'd add maybe a couple things.
Yeah.
Jay, as well on this topic. You know, if you look at, the quarter, right, we were down just 1% on a comparable store basis, which really wasn't, you know, not bad in this overall environment, particularly as you think about the athletic business, which is, you know, 60% of our business in the quarter as a category in the total market, you know, was down in the, you know, high single digits. We think as, the consumer continues to move and better balance, you know, when they start buying athletic in a little more robust way, and as Jay and the team continue to build out that the other non-athletic and fashion side. We're, you know, balancing sort of the categories within the store in Famous.
We think that actually is going to truly help and lift that comp, you know, from, you know, down one to, you know, what we expect in 23 to be in a more positive place. A lot of it is this category, you know, category-driven. As we drive the fashion side of it a little bit stronger in Famous—
Mm-hmm
that will really help. I think that's a big strategic shift for everybody and kids that's gonna allow us to change the momentum.
Yeah. Get more inventory in those categories.
Yeah. Get more inventory in those categories. Yeah, Laura-
Got it.
Does that help?
It does, t hank you guys.
All right. Thanks Laura.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from line of Mitch Kummetz with Seaport Research Partners. Please proceed with your question.
Yeah, thanks for taking my questions. Diane, best of luck to you in your new role. I wanna start. I got a few questions. I wanna start on the Famous side. The range of guidance in the fourth quarter, obviously that's below what you delivered in Q3, and I'm just trying to better understand that. You know, how much of that is just that the macro seems worse than what it was in the third quarter versus maybe, you know, maybe the kids business is maybe a little worse just given that we're, you know, post back to school? I'm wondering maybe how boots are influencing kind of the trend that you're seeing right now, just maybe giving kind of a warm start to the season, although better weather in the last week.
Can you maybe unpack some of that in terms of kinda how you're looking at the current trend in that business and the guide for the quarter?
You know, maybe I'll just start Mitch and give you a little perspective. You know, recently obviously because of the seasonality of everything and with the weather being as little more challenging late October into early November, as that's changed those categories that are more seasonally influenced, not only at Famous but everywhere, has shown, you know, really good rebound. As you would expect, that's very much kind of what our performance looks like
I think the other thing is that there is, you know, tremendous amount of shifting going on and, you know, in the macro environment that we wanted to make sure that we really had an— the right kind of room in the fourth quarter to make sure we could, you know, deliver the earnings per share that we laid out there and gave Famous plenty of room, and the company to make sure that we could do that and go into 23 in a way that, you know, we felt was really teeing up and continuing to support the momentum. Jay and Jack.
Yeah
I'm happy to have you add any other comments.
I'll just add, you know, we did see boots off to a strong start in September at Famous, and then as it got warmer, it cooled off a little bit, the trend, and then going into November, it started to pick up again. We're feeling good about that piece of it with the fashion part of the boot business being the strongest right now.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. I would just add that, you know, I think the results we've seen quarter to date on Famous Footwear are pretty consistent with what we've seen in the industry. Just a reminder, which is probably different from a lot of others, is that Q4 is our smallest quarter, so less material on the full year than I think, you know, some of our other, you know, players in the industry.
Just to follow up on boots, can you just remind me, you know, if I recall correctly, last year, you know, December was particularly warm. I don't know if that was a negative on your boot business last year. Plus, I think there were a lot of late boot deliveries.
Yes. Mm-hmm.
Just as you look at that comparison, as you kind of see the quarter playing out, you know, how much of an opportunity is there on boots over the balance of the quarter and even on the BP side, just in terms of maybe replenishment. Can you kind of walk me through that?
Yeah. Well, on a BP side, I'll start at that piece. Our boots are really a significant portion of our business, up to 30% across the portfolio, and we do see more opportunity. You know, our inventories really were very out of line last year, and so we really didn't have the boot inventory. We're in good place there now, so we do see some nice shelters coming through as we go into fourth quarter in that piece of it. Even with Famous, you know, boots in Q3, we're actually up a little bit through the quarter, and we do feel like we have more opportunity there as we go in, particularly on the fashion part of the boot business, which seems to be the best part right now.
Jack, just on Q4, just maybe I haven't kind of had the chance to sort of back into the margins for the quarter but can you just kind of maybe, kind of high level talk about some of the puts and takes that you're thinking about Q4, maybe especially on kind of the merch margin side and kind of how you're anticipating promotions?
Yeah. Well, I think we're expecting an increased level of promotional activity, certainly versus last year. You know, Mitch, I think there's a couple of factors there. One is we know that inventories in the industry are higher. We know that the consumer wallet is a bit more stretched than it was last year. I think those two factors are, you know, inclining us to think that this is gonna be a more promotional period. We also have, you know, versus last year, our inventories, you know, we had very little inventory last year 'cause of some of the supply chain constraints. For those reasons, you know, we're expecting, I think, to get to a more normalized level of pricing and promotional activity in the quarter, and that's factored into our guidance.
I guess, final question, just on the, on the Famous margins. You mentioned that the gross margin there, it's up 370 bips from Q3 2019. Just maybe kind of remind us, you know, some of the structural changes to the business that has allowed you to deliver that level of profitability and how sustainable you feel like those changes are.
Well, let me start one on that Mitch, on some of the structural changes that I can really actually speak to it from a total company perspective. You know, there's a couple of probably the biggest significant areas would be really in the margin rate assumptions across the company, both for Famous and for brand portfolio. We really believe that we are going to be able not to maintain things at the high level as Famous in 21, but somewhere, you know, between historical and those 21 levels, which is you're even seeing us do a little bit better than that today t hat's one element. The brand portfolio, again, the margin improvement that we're seeing now, getting much higher 30s, you know, let's hope 40 at some point in time.
That structural change has happened. The whole margin profile of the company because of how we've been able to price the edits we've done, a whole host of other things have really changed that. The second thing was we exited, you know, brands and we exited stores, and that structural cost came out of our P&Ls as well. Interest expense was a bit different. Share buyback, depreciation and amortization has been a big factor of it as well, and then even corporate payroll. When we look at all those pieces and add them up, and we take a certain percentage, we don't assume it's all gonna be better, it's very, very clear to see that the materiality of that is going to be significant for us going forward.
With the most important, you know, we look at this management of SG&A and expense on a day-to-day basis. We, you know, we took, you know, $100 million out a couple of years ago. We continuously look at that to make sure that we're reallocating that spend in the right way. The real one is gonna be those margin rates, and that's gonna be critical, and that's where, you know, I would say 80% of our focus is on making sure that that continues to be where it is today or better as we go forward. You know, that's I think that's what I'd, you know, what I'd say with respect to the, you know, the structure for the entire enterprise. Is that helpful for you?
It is. Thanks and good luck for Holiday.
Thank you Mitch.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, our final question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group. Please proceed with your question.
Good morning everyone and congratulations Diane, and hello Jay, Jack, and Logan.
Thank you Dana.
Thank you.
Hello.
Current trends we've been hearing about end of October into November, can you frame how it's looking for you guys with Famous Footwear and the brand portfolio? Next up, the path of the brand portfolio is very impressive, both in terms of margins, sales increases, and how it combines and interacts with Famous Footwear. With that path of operating margins of the brand portfolio improving, what do you see as the long-term opportunity in terms of that margin and the stickiness of the Famous Footwear operating margin now in that double-digit range with the promotional environment? Anything in terms of how you're managing pricing and promotion that maintains that stickiness, or as the benefits from supply chain reduction, can it offset some of the promotional headwinds that may arise? Thank you.
Well, let me start Dana, on a couple of those things. I think as the short answer on is the sustainability of this on the operating margin side is yes. We absolutely believe there's enough stickiness with the structural changes that we've made, the way that we're approaching the business, the product creation capabilities we have, and our focus on margin, as I just said, is absolutely going to allow us continue to make progress against that.
I know Jay and Jack, as we move into 2023, you know, we'll certainly be sharing more with you about that and are really planning to do an investor day sometime in the first half of 2023, where we share a little bit more, where they'll share a little bit more about, you know, their outlook for the next couple of years. I think more to come on that, but the short answer is yes. We absolutely believe that we can. Secondly, Jay a little bit, I spoke about a little earlier but maybe on the trends that we're seeing, and then maybe Jack can close it out on—
Yeah.
reiterating kind of what are some of our assumptions were.
Well, we're certainly seeing, you know, on the I would say, the non-athletic side of the business, we're seeing multiple categories open up. In terms of loafers and flats are very, very good right now. Again, anything that feels comfortable really trending nicely, as consumers continue to select new things to add to their wardrobes. Our boot business on the brand portfolio side is good. It was also good on Famous. We see that as, you know, starting to tick up as the weather gets colder. I did say more the fashion side of that is really where the dynamics are, obviously, our brand portfolio fits in perfectly there. You picked up on it.
It also works very nicely in our on our vertical integration there with several of our brands, LifeStride, Dr. Scholl's, even some Franco Sarto and Naturalizer coming in nicely as we really open up that whole Famous opportunity there as we look to integrate that. It's coming up really nicely. Back to the margin question, we don't see any return on that. We feel like we've made enough structural changes. Also, the way that we're running the business, both on the Famous side that has really more of the brands they want at higher retails, and then also we really did change the mix of where we're really focusing on the brand portfolio side, and that gives us reason to believe that that will continue.
Dana, how's that?
Yep.
Get to the core of your question?
Yep, w orks great. Thank you very much.
All righty. Thanks Dana.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Diane Sullivan for any final comments.
I just wanna say thank you for joining us this morning and wishing everybody a happy Thanksgiving. We'll see many of you next week and looking forward to that. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.