Zumiez Inc. (ZUMZ) Q3 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

I'll begin with remarks about our third quarter performance and the momentum we're building as we head into the holiday season before discussing our strategic priorities. Chris will then take you through the financials and our outlook for the balance of the year. After that, we'll open the call to your questions. We're very pleased with our third quarter performance delivering top and bottom line results that were up meaningfully versus last year and exceeded our expectations. Comparable sales grew 7.6 percent on top of a 7.5 percent increase in the year-ago quarter, representing our sixth consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales growth. Once again, it was our North American business fueling our performance as comps in the region accelerated to double digits, bolstering our confidence heading into the critical holiday season. After a successful back-to-school period, sales remained strong throughout the quarter, reflecting the effectiveness of our merchandise assortments in attracting customers who pay full price even during less busy seasons. Encouragingly, our third quarter comp performance was driven by contributions from multiple areas of our business, led by women's and hard goods, which were up strong double digits, along with low to mid single digit gains from both accessories and men's. High single-digit comps and robust full-price sales boosted gross margin, which combined with improved expense efficiency, raised operating income significantly year over year. Earnings per share reached $0.55 in the quarter, well above the high end of our guidance of $0.29. Looking forward, we are increasingly confident in closing out the year with strong holiday results. The fourth quarter is off to a good start with comparable sales through this past Tuesday up 6.6%...