Caleres Inc (NYSE: CAL) stock rose over 2.4% on March 18th, 2021 (Source: Google finance) after the company posted better than expected results for the fourth quarter of FY 20. The company generated approximately $25 million in cash from operations in the fourth quarter and paid down an additional $50 million in revolver debt, reducing the outstanding balance to $250 million at the end of the quarter, $25 million below the pre-pandemic debt levels.
The company ended the year with a solid liquidity position consisting of approximately $88 million in cash and $350 million of capacity on the asset-based revolving credit facility. The company has reported adjusted net income of $1.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to adjusted net income of $13.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. The company has also reduced inventory levels by approximately 21 percent year-over-year, reflecting ongoing actions taken to align with consumer demand and the ongoing liquidation of Naturalizer store inventory.
CAL in the fourth quarter of FY 20 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 3 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted loss per share of 10 cents, according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported 18.3 percent fall in the adjusted revenue to $570.96 million in the fourth quarter of FY 20, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue by 2.78%.
Moreover, Famous Footwear total sales were $346.7 million, which is down 6.2% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. The comparable store sales were down 1.8% during the fourth quarter with the e-commerce sales up approximately 51%. Brand Portfolio fourth quarter total sales were $234 million, which is a decline of 32.4% year-over-year. Famous Footwear had a gross profit margin of approximately 41% in the fourth quarter. A 168 basis point decline was on back of growth and increased penetration of e-commerce related business in the quarter. However, e-commerce margins expanded more than 400 basis points in the period, reflecting the higher e-commerce productivity due to buy online, pickup in store, curbside and ship from store initiatives.
Additionally, the company returned approximately $34 million to shareholders during the year through the long-standing quarterly dividend and the share repurchase program. Overall, the company has bought back approximately 7% of the shares outstanding in 2020 at an average price of $8.05.
The company expects Q1 2021 Famous Footwear sales to be between 5% and 10% lower than the first quarter of 2019 and Brand Portfolio sales expected to be between 28% and 30% lower than the first quarter of 2019.