Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call November 2, 2022 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Richard Hare – Chief Financial Officer

Clarence Smith – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Steve Burdette – President

Conference Call Participants

Anthony Lebiedzinski – Sidoti

Cristina Fernandez – Chelsea Advisory Group

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Haverty's Q3 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on a listen-only mode and the floor will be opened for questions and comments following the presentation. [Operator Instructions]

At this time it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host Richard Hare, Chief Financial Officer. Sir, the floor is yours.

Richard Hare

Thank you, operator. During this conference call, we’ll make forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those made or implied in such statements, which speak only as of the date they are made and which we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include economic and competitive conditions and other uncertainties detailed in the company's reports filed with the SEC.

Our Chairman and CEO, Clarence Smith, will now give you an update on our results and then our President, Steve Burdette, will provide additional commentary about our business.

Clarence Smith

Good morning. Thank you for joining our 2022 third quarter conference call. We're very pleased to report the third quarter sales performance of $274.5 million and earnings per share of $1.46. The third quarter was the all-time highest sales and operating profit in the company's history. Carriers has produced the highest sales quarters in our history over the past eight quarters going back to the fourth quarter of 2020. While we have seen a slowdown in store traffic, which has impacted written orders, we particularly like our position of appealing to a higher income customer in the fastest growing states in the country. We're seeing stronger customer orders and more design sales, which is increasing our average sale and helping to build profitable market share across our regions.

Compared to Q3 2019 pre-COVID, our written sales were up 15.8%. Average sale ticket is up 35% compared to 2019 with a double-digit higher closing rate. Store traffic and units continue to be lower compared to Q3 2019, but with the average ticket over $3,000, a higher closing rate and strong margins our focus teams are producing record profits. We continue to see a return to more historically normal sales patterns with holiday events and weekend sales [Technical Difficulty] middle week sales [Technical Difficulty].