Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) Q3 2024 Results Conference Call October 25, 2024 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Sean McHugh - Vice President and Treasurer
Michael Casey - Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Richard Westenberger - Senior EVP, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Kendra Krugman - Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Creative and Growth Officer

Conference Call Participants

Ike Boruchow - Wells Fargo
Jay Sole - UBS
Chris Nardone - Bank of America
Paul Lejuez - Citi
William Reuter - Bank of America
Jim Chartier - Monness, Crespi and Hardt
Carla Casella - JPMorgan

Operator

Welcome to Carter's Third Quarter Fiscal 2024 Earnings Conference Call. On the call are Michael Casey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Richard Westenberger, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer; Kendra Krugman, Chief Creative and Growth Officer; and Sean McHugh, Treasurer. Please note that today's call is being recorded.

I'll now turn the call over to Mr. McHugh.

Sean McHugh

Thank you, and good morning, everyone.

We issued our third quarter 2024 earnings release earlier today. The release and presentation materials for today's call are available on our Investor Relations website at ir.carters.com. Note that statements on today's call about items such as the company's outlook and plans are forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to vary from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please see our most recent SEC filings and the earnings release and presentation materials posted on our website.

In these materials, you will also find reconciliations of various non-GAAP financial measurements referenced during this call. After today’s prepared remarks, we will take questions as time allows.

I will now turn the call over to Mike.

Michael Casey

Good. Thanks, Sean. 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. Our third quarter results were better than forecasted. Our sales and earnings exceeded the high end of the guidance we shared with you in July. We believe consumers responded favorably to the strength of our product offerings and our new pricing and marketing strategies launched in the third quarter.

The better than forecasted sales were driven by our U.S. retail segment. Our U.S. wholesale sales in the third quarter were at the upper end of our forecast and our international sales were at the lower end of our forecast, reflecting a slow start to cooler weather apparel sales in Canada. Earnings in the third quarter were well above the high end of our guidance. Gross profit was in line with our forecast. SG&A was lower reflecting good control over discretionary spending.