Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTRN) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call August 22, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Nitza McKee - Senior Associate, ICR IR

David Makuen - CEO

Heather Plutino - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Jeremy Hamblin - Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Greg Sommer - Gordon Haskett

John Lawrence - Benchmark

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Citi Trends 2Q '23 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Nitza McKee, Senior Associate. Please go ahead.

Nitza McKee

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on Citi Trend's second quarter 2023 earnings call. On our call today is our Chief Executive Officer, David Makuen; and Chief Financial Officer, Heather Plutino. Our earnings release was sent out this morning at 6:45 a.m. Eastern Time.

If you have not received a copy of the release, it's available on the company's website under the Investor Relations section at www.cititrends.com.

You should be aware that prepared remarks today made during this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These statements do not guarantee future performance. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on these statements. We refer to you to the company's most recent report on Form 10-K and other subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

I will now turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, David Makuen. David?

David Makuen

Thank you, Nitza. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today on the second quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call.

I will begin our call with highlights of our second quarter financial and operational performance. Heather Plutino, our Chief Financial Officer, will then elaborate on our detailed financial results and a few other items related to our outlook. Then we'll open the call up for your questions.

We are pleased with our second quarter results that reflect positive momentum for both, the top line and gross margin, against a continued challenging macro backdrop. The quarter was highlighted by significant sequential comparable store sales acceleration from the first quarter. As you've heard, we are committed to improving our operating results with an extreme focus on driving improved comp store productivity.