Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call July 28, 2023 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Michael Casey - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Richard Westenberger - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Brian Lynch - President and Chief Operating Officer

Sean McHugh - Vice President and Treasurer

Conference Call Participants

Warren Cheng - Evercore ISI

Tom Nikic - Wedbush Securities

Ike Boruchow - Wells Fargo

Jay Sole - UBS

Operator

Welcome to the Carter's Second Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Michael Casey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Richard Westenberger, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Brian Lynch, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Sean McHugh, Vice President and Treasurer.

After today's prepared remarks, we will take questions as time allows. Carter's issued its second quarter fiscal 2023 earnings press release earlier this morning. A copy of the release and presentation materials for today's call have been posted on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at ir.carters.com.

Before we begin, let me remind you that statements made on this conference call and in the Company's presentation materials about the Company's outlook, plans and future performance are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. For a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to vary from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company's most recent annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the presentation materials and earnings release posted on the Company's website.

On this call, the Company will reference various non-GAAP financial measurements. A reconciliation of those non-GAAP financial measurements to the GAAP financial measurements is provided in the Company's earnings release and presentation materials. Also today's call is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Casey.

Michael Casey

Thank you, Tanya. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on the call. Before we walk you through the presentation on our website, I'd like to share some thoughts on our business with you. Earlier today, we reported our second quarter sales and earnings, which are in line with the forecast we shared with you in April.

For the third consecutive quarter, we saw higher-than-planned demand in our Wholesale segment. Our wholesale customers have been running leaner on inventories and in need of fresh new product to drive sales. In our Retail segment, comparable retail sales in the second quarter were in line with our forecast. Spring selling was sluggish earlier in the quarter with the late arrival of warmer weather. Thankfully, our retail sales picked up over the Memorial Day holiday weekend and that improved trend in sales has continued through July. And in our International segment, sales were a bit lower than planned, largely due to unseasonably cool weather in Canada. But similar to our experience in the United States, the trend in retail sales in Canada improved in June and has continued into July.