Buckle (BKE) Shares Up 36.6% YTD on Robust Sales Performance


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Shares of The Buckle, Inc. (BKE Quick QuoteBKE ) have surged 36.6% year to date, thanks to the company’s impressive sales numbers for quite some time now. Strength in its online business amid the pandemic has been impressive so far. Solid gains from the company’s women’s and men’s merchandise categories are also contributing to its encouraging performance. We note that the industry has rallied 8.9% so far this year.

Let’s find out more.

Solid Sales Continue in August

Buckle’s net sales for the four-week fiscal month ended Aug 28, 2021 rose 43% to $111.6 million from $78.1 million recorded in the four-week fiscal month ended Aug 29, 2020. We note that this apparel, footwear and accessories retailer registered a sales increase of 33.8%, 17.8%, 75.4%, 718% and 240.2%, respectively, in the preceding five months.


For the fiscal month under review, comparable store net sales for stores open at least throughout a year, rose 42.7% year over year.

For the same period, total sales at the men’s unit soared 40.5% from the four-week period ended Aug 29, 2020 while the metric at the women’s business jumped 44.5%. While the men’s category contributed 53% to the company’s overall monthly sales, the women’s unit accounted for nearly 47%.

On combining the men’s and women’s categories, accessory sales for the fiscal month climbed 37% while footwear sales ascended 19% from the comparable August of fiscal 2020. Both the accessory and footwear categories accounted for 8.5% each of the overall August sales. For the comparable period in fiscal 2020, sales constituted 9% and 10%, respectively, for both these categories.


For the 30-week fiscal period ended Aug 28, 2021, Buckle’s net sales jumped 72.4% to $705.9 million from $409.5 million recorded in the prior-year 30-week fiscal period ended Aug 29, 2020. Comparable store net sales also increased 72% from the year-ago period for the 30-week fiscal period.

What’s More?

Nearly a couple of weeks ago, the company delivered a stellar performance for second-quarter fiscal 2021 wherein both the top and the bottom line improved year over year. While sales matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate, earnings beat the same. This Kearney, NE-based company delivered earnings of $1.04 a share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 86 cents. Also, the bottom line grew 46.5% from 71 cents a share earned in the year-ago quarter.


Buckle generated net sales of $295.1 million, which came in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The same, however, increased 36.6% from $216 million generated in the year-ago period. Online sales also surged 88.1% to $43.4 million in the reported quarter from the level achieved in the comparable period of fiscal 2019. The company has been benefiting from its product assortments, and women’s and men’s businesses for a while now. Its youth business was impressive during the reported quarter as kids returned to school. The presently Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company introduced youth top-to-bottom assortment to more than 75 of its flagship stores, thus bringing the total to 350 stores, which currently houses youth products.


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We note that Buckle presently operates 442 retail outlets across 42 states compared with 446 as of Sep 2, 2020. On the company’s second-quarter earnings call, management forecast the completion of six additional full remodeling projects in the rest of fiscal 2021.

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