Caleres Inc (NYSE:CAL) stock rallies 9.68% (As on Mar 16, 12:12:59 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company posted better than expected result for the fourth quarter of FY 21. During the quarter, Famous Footwear leveraged its concentration of sought-after brands and trend-right products to capitalize on robust consumer demand, resulting in an exceptional quarterly sales performance that was 8.8 percent higher than fourth quarter 2019, as well as a gross margin rate that was 641 basis points higher than the same period two years ago. At the same time, the Brand Portfolio continued its steady recovery post the pandemic, returning to solid profitability and establishing a strong foundation for a significantly improved earnings contribution in 2022. Notably, four of the portfolio’s key leadership brands, Sam Edelman, Allen Edmonds, Vionic and Blowfish, surpassed fourth quarter 2019 earnings levels.

CAL in the fourth quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 91 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 67 cents, according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 19 percent to $679.28 million in the fourth quarter of FY 21, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue by 0.20%. Adjusted net income of $34.9 million, compared to adjusted net earnings of $1.3 million, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. Inventory levels were up 22.3 percent, year-over-year, with in-transit inventory approximately 1.9x higher than the fourth quarter of 2020, reflecting efforts to align inventory with robust consumer demand and ongoing supply chain disruptions.

Additionally, during 2021, Caleres generated $168.4 million in cash from operations and used that cash to improve its financial position and continue its balanced capital return program. The company has proactively replaced its higher-cost long-term debt with additional drawings under its lower-cost revolving credit facility. The company has ended fiscal 2021 with $290 million of total debt – down from $448.9 million at the end of fiscal 2020. The actions to reduce and reposition the debt should lower the company’s 2022 annual interest expense by approximately $20 million versus 2019 levels. The company has paid $10.6 million in dividends and repurchased 661,265 shares for approximately $17 million. The company has recently authorized an incremental 7 million shares to its opportunistic share repurchase program. With this increase, the company has 9 million shares of Caleres common stock remaining for purchase under the program.