Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTRN) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript March 19, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Nitza McKee - Senior Associate
David Makuen - CEO
Heather Plutino - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Mike Baker - D.A. Davidson
Jeremy Hamblin - Craig-Hallum Capital Group
John Lawrence - Benchmark

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the Citi Trends Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

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

Nitza McKee

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on Citi Trends fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 earnings call. On our call today is 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 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 our fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2023 earnings call. I will begin our call with highlights of our financial and operational performance for both the quarter and year, update you on our progress across our strategic initiatives and establish our 2024 outlook. Heather Plutino, our Chief Financial Officer, will then elaborate on financial details for both 2023 and our outlook for fiscal 2024. Then we'll open up the call for your questions.

I am pleased to report that our fourth quarter and annual results were in line with our guidance. We delivered a solid holiday season as our Ready. Set. GIFT! campaign resonated with existing and new customers. Our strong execution of the business across our strategic priorities fueled our performance throughout the quarter. In particular, our focus on rebuilding inventories and targeted product categories drove improved costs. The team's hard work resulted in fourth quarter total sales growth of nearly 2%, EBITDA of $10 million, and a strong gross margin of 39.1%. Throughout the fourth quarter, our team operated with great flexibility and agility. I am incredibly grateful to our entire organization for their continued execution of our priorities while keeping our customers and neighborhoods at the core of everything we do.