Designer Brands reports Q2 adjusted EPS 29c, consensus 53c

Reports Q2 revenue $771.9M, consensus $816.14M. Total comparable sales decreased by 1.4% in Q2. “This quarter, we further built on our track record of steady improvement as we continued to refine and refresh our strategic initiatives intended to accelerate our ongoing business transformation,” stated Doug Howe, CEO. “We saw sustained pressure on challenged categories such as dress and seasonal in the second quarter, which we were able to partially mitigate through providing a greater selection of athletic and athleisure brands in our assortment. During the second quarter, we drove athleisure category sales growth of 8% in the U.S. Retail segment over the same period last year, outpacing overall athleisure market growth by over 4 percentage points, and total U.S. Retail sales outpaced the footwear market by 1 percentage point according to Circana. Our strategy successfully supported a solid start to the back-to-school season, particularly in our kids’ category, which helped us to exit the second quarter in a stronger position than we started.”