© Reuters. YETI Holdings (YETI) tumbles as earnings and gudance worse-than-expected
YETI Holdings, Inc. (YETI) shares tumbled more than 15% Thursday after the company reported a challenging fourth quarter, with both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue falling short of Wall Street estimates.
The company posted an adjusted EPS of $0.90, which was $0.06 below the analyst consensus of $0.96. Revenue also did not meet expectations, coming in at $519.8 million against the projected $535.98 million.
Despite these misses, the company’s sales saw a 16% increase to $519.8 million from $448.0 million in the same quarter last year. Adjusted sales, which exclude the impacts of recall reserves, rose 6% to $517.0 million. Direct-to-consumer channel sales grew 11% to $344.9 million, driven by growth in Drinkware. Wholesale channel sales saw a significant jump of 26% to $174.9 million. Notably, the company’s Drinkware sales increased by 12%, pushing the category to over $1 billion in annual sales.
YETI’s President and CEO, Matt Reintjes, acknowledged the mixed results, stating, “In the fourth quarter, we saw strength in a number of key areas of our business… However, our fourth quarter results were below our guidance, primarily as a result of more cautious and inconsistent spending on high-priced ticket items in our Coolers & Equipment category.”
Following the earnings release, YETI’s stock experienced a significant drop, plunging 15.8%. This sharp decline is indicative of investor disappointment over the company’s performance, particularly as it pertains to the earnings and revenue miss.
Looking ahead to Fiscal 2024, YETI anticipates adjusted sales to increase between 7% and 9%. The company also expects adjusted operating income as a percentage of adjusted sales to be around 16.0%, with adjusted net income per diluted share between $2.45 and $2.50, reflecting a 9% to 11% increase. However, the midpoint of this EPS guidance range, at $2.475, is not compared against an analyst consensus in the provided data.
YETI’s fourth quarter was marked by a notable gross profit increase of 89% to $315.2 million, or 60.6% of sales, compared to $167.0 million, or 37.3% of sales, in the prior year quarter. Adjusted gross profit rose to $311.1 million, or 60.2% of adjusted sales, from $264.0 million, or 54.3% of adjusted sales, in the fourth quarter of 2022. The company attributed the improvements to lower inbound freight costs, lower product costs, and an increased mix of higher-margin direct-to-consumer channel sales.
Reacting to the report, analysts at Citi, who have a Buy rating and $50 price target on the stock, said the company posted weaker-than-expected 4Q23 results with 2024 guidance missing expectations. While they noted that the adjusted gross margin was better, the analysts said the operating margin was also worse than expected.
