Buckle Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Buckle EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.89
• Consensus EPS: $0.83
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.06
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.78

Buckle Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $305.74 million
• Expected Revenue: $292.61 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$13.13 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +8.30%

Buckle Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/22/2025
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Friday, August 22, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Buckle (NYSE:BKE), Inc. is a retailer specializing in casual apparel, footwear and accessories for young men and women. The company is known for its denim-focused collections, offering both private-label lines and curated brand-name merchandise. Its product assortment includes jeans, tops, outerwear, shoes and a variety of accessories such as belts, jewelry and handbags, all aimed at blending contemporary style with everyday comfort.

Founded in 1948 in Kearney, Nebraska, Buckle began as a single clothing store and has since expanded into a nationwide chain. Over the decades, the company has grown through a combination of organic store openings and strategic site selections, moving from a regional presence to a coast-to-coast footprint. Despite this expansion, Buckle has maintained its Midwestern roots, keeping its corporate headquarters and primary distribution center in Kearney.

In addition to its brick-and-mortar network, Buckle operates an e-commerce platform that allows customers to shop its full assortment online. The website features new arrivals, exclusive web-only releases and a loyalty program designed to reward frequent shoppers. Store layouts emphasize a “free-to-shop” environment, with attentive sales associates supporting customers on the sales floor rather than traditional checkout-first models.

Buckle’s management team brings decades of retail and merchandising experience to its operations, focusing on trend-driven inventory planning and customer service. With a concentration on merchandising innovation and targeted marketing efforts, the company continues to adapt to evolving consumer preferences within the casual apparel segment. Its blend of regional heritage and contemporary branding aims to sustain growth in the competitive U.S. retail landscape.

Buckle Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Net sales rose 8.3% in Q2 to $305.7 million, with comparable store sales up 7.3% and online sales jumping 17.7%.
• Positive Sentiment: Gross margin expanded to 47.4% (+50 bps), SG&A dropped by 80 bps to 29.0% of sales, driving operating margin up to 18.4% from 17.1% a year ago.
• Positive Sentiment: The women’s segment saw sales surge 18.5%, led by a 20.5% increase in denim and a higher average denim price point of $85.35.
• Positive Sentiment: Kids business grew 23% year-over-year, and private label penetration increased to 43.5% of total sales, marking the tenth consecutive quarter of gains.
• Negative Sentiment: Units per transaction declined by 1.5% in the quarter, indicating potential pressure on transaction volume.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Buckle's second quarter earnings release webcast. As a reminder, all participants are currently in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will be conducted following the company's prepared remarks with instructions given at that time. Members of Buckle's management on the call today are Dennis Nelson, president and CEO Tom Hecock, senior vice president of finance, treasurer, and CFO Adam Akerson, vice president of finance and corporate controller and Brady Fritz, senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary.

[Operator]

Before beginning, the company would like to reiterate its policy of not providing future sales or earnings guidance. All forward looking statements made on the call are pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties described in the company's SEC filings. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise these statements except as required by law. Additionally, the company does not authorize the reproduction or dissemination of transcripts or audio recordings of the company's quarterly conference calls without expressed written consent.

[Operator]

Any unauthorized reproductions or recordings of the calls should not be relied upon as the information may be inaccurate. As a reminder, today's webcast is being recorded. And I'd now like to turn the conference over to your host, Tom Heacock.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

Good morning, and thanks for joining us this morning. Our 08/22/2025 press release reported that net income for the thirteen week second quarter ended 08/02/2025, was $45,000,000 or $0.89 per share on a diluted basis, which compares to net income of $39,300,000 or $0.78 per share on a diluted basis for the prior year thirteen week second quarter, which ended 08/03/2024. Year to date net income for the twenty six week period ended 08/02/2025, was $80,200,000 or $1.59 per share on a diluted basis, which compares to net income of 74,100,000.0 or $1.48 per share on a diluted basis for the prior year twenty six week period ended 08/03/2024. Net sales for the thirteen week second quarter increased 8.3% to $305,700,000 compared to net sales of $282,400,000 for the prior year thirteen week second quarter. Comparable store sales for the quarter increased 7.3% in comparison to the same thirteen week period in the prior year, and online sales increased 17.7% to $43,600,000 Year to date, net sales increased 6.1% to $577,900,000 compared to net sales of $544,900,000 for the prior year twenty six week fiscal period.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

Comparable store sales for the year to date period increased 5.2% in comparison to the same twenty six week period in the prior year, and our online sales increased 10.5% to $90,000,000 For the quarter, UPTs decreased approximately 1.5%, the average unit retail increased approximately 3%, and the average transaction value increased about 1.5%. Year to date, UPTs decreased approximately 1%, the average unit retail increased approximately 2%, and the average transaction value increased approximately 1.5%. Gross margin for the quarter was 47.4%, a 50 basis point increase from 46.9% in the 2024. The current quarter margin expansion was the result of a 10 basis point increase in merchandise margin, along with 40 basis points of leverage buying, distribution and occupancy expenses. Year to date gross margin was 47.1%, up 60 basis points from 46.5% for the same period in the prior year.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

And the year to date increase was the result of a 30 basis point increase in merchandise margin, along with 30 basis points of leverage buying, distribution and occupancy expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter were 29% of sales compared to 29.8 for the 2024. And year to date SG and A was 29.8% of sales compared to 29.9% for the same period in the prior year. The second quarter decrease was due to a 65 basis point reduction related to nonrecurring digital commerce investments made a year ago, a 45 basis point decrease in store labor related expenses and a 55 basis point decrease in other SG and A expense categories. And these increases were partially offset by an 85 basis point increase in incentive compensation accruals.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

Our operating margin for the quarter was 18.4% compared to 17.1% for the 2024. And for the year to date period, our operating margin was 17.3% compared to 16.6% for the same period last year. Income tax expense as a percentage of pretax net income for both the current and prior year fiscal quarter was 24.5%, bringing second quarter net income to $45,000,000 for fiscal twenty twenty five compared to $39,300,000 for fiscal twenty twenty four. Income tax expense as a percentage of pretax net income for both the current and prior year year to date periods was also 24.5%, bringing year to date net income to 80,200,000 for fiscal twenty twenty five compared to $74,100,000 for fiscal twenty twenty four. Our press release also included a balance sheet as of 08/02/2025, which included the following: inventory of 142,500,000 which was up 8.4% from the same time a year ago and $349,600,000 of total cash and investments.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

We ended the quarter with $158,800,000 in fixed assets net of accumulated depreciation. Our capital expenditures for the quarter were $12,000,000 and depreciation expense was $6,100,000 For the year to date period, capital expenditures were $23,400,000 and depreciation expense was $12,000,000 Year to date capital spending is broken down as follows: $20,200,000 for new store construction, store remodels and technology upgrades and $3,200,000 for capital spending at the corporate headquarters and distribution center. During the quarter, we opened two new stores, completed four full store remodels, one of which was a relocation into a new outdoor shopping center and closed one store, which brings our year to date counts to two new stores, nine full remodels and three store closures. For the remainder of the year, we now anticipate opening four additional new stores and completing 12 more full remodeling projects. Buckle ended the quarter with four forty retail stores in 42 states, which is consistent with the store count as of a year ago.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

And now I'll turn it over to Adam Ackerson, Vice President of Finance.

[Adam Akerson, VP - Finance & Corporate Controller at The Buckle]

Thanks, Tom, and good morning. Our women's business growth accelerated from the prior quarter with merchandise sales increasing about 18.5% against prior year, representing approximately 47.5% of sales, which compares to 43.5% last year. Growth in the women's business continues to be anchored in the performance of our denim category. For the quarter, women's denim increased approximately 20.5%, with average denim price points increasing from $80.6 in the 2024 to $85.35 in the 2025. This AUR increase continues to be the result of strong growth in our buckled black label, which has outperformed the total denim business, along with strong growth of other higher price point national brands.

[Adam Akerson, VP - Finance & Corporate Controller at The Buckle]

Through the second quarter, there have been minimal AUR impacts as a result of tariffs. Complementing our strong women's denim selection, our merchandising team continued to evolve our strategy of customer centric buying, sharpening their focus on key styles, brands and trends, which has resulted in strong guest response. This strategy delivered double digit growth in every category with the exception of shorts, which still saw nice growth for the quarter. In total, average women's price points increased about 5% from $43.15 to $45.35 On the men's side, we were pleased to see the business return to growth for the quarter with merchandise sales up about 1.5 against the prior year, representing approximately 52.5% of total sales, which compares to 56.5% in the prior year. This growth was led by our denim our men's denim category, which was up about 4.5% for the quarter.

[Adam Akerson, VP - Finance & Corporate Controller at The Buckle]

Average denim price points increased from $89.2 in the 2024 to $89.3 in the 2025. In other categories, we saw strong performance in our short sleeve wovens, polos, denim shorts, hats and fragrance selections. For the quarter, overall average men's price points increased approximately 2% from $50.2 to $51.2 On a combined basis, accessory sales for the quarter increased approximately 9.5% against the prior year, while footwear sales were down about 0.5%. These two categories accounted for approximately 11.55%, respectively, of the second quarter net sales, which compares to 11.55.5% for each in the 2024. For the quarter, average accessory price points were up approximately 3%, and average footwear price points were up about 8%.

[Adam Akerson, VP - Finance & Corporate Controller at The Buckle]

Also on a combined basis, our kids business had an outstanding summer and start to the back to the school season, increasing approximately 23 year over year. We are excited to see the increased awareness and continued growth for our kids selection, which grew to approximately 4.5% of our total business for the quarter. For the quarter, denim accounted for approximately 36% of sales and tops accounted for approximately 29.5%, which compares to 35.530% for each in the 2024. And for the tenth consecutive quarter, private label continued to grow as an overall percentage of our mix. For the quarter, private label represented 43.5% of sales versus 43% in the 2024. And with that, we welcome your questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder for participants, if you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand in the Zoom app. Prior to asking your question, please state your name and firm affiliation. Our first question is from Mauricio. Mauricio, I'll go ahead and prompt you to unmute at this time.

[Analyst]

Great. Good morning. Can you hear me okay?

[Operator]

Yes.

[Adam Akerson, VP - Finance & Corporate Controller at The Buckle]

Yes. Thank you.

[Analyst]

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess just on the merchandise margin expansion. Can you elaborate a little bit more on the drivers behind it? It seems, I think, relative to the prior quarter, it decelerated.

[Analyst]

So just wondering there if there's like any impact that you're seeing from tariffs already in your margins.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

Mauricio, thanks for the question. This is Tom. I'll take the first part and then let Dennis talk a little bit more about kind of vendors and how we're dealing with tariffs. But I mean, anytime you look at the first quarter, second quarter a year ago and the comparisons were up against, anytime you can grow merchandise margins up of record levels, we're certainly pleased with that. The team did a really nice job of maintaining really strong full regular price selling.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

And so again, pleased to be able to grow that even if not at the same rate in Q2 as it was in Q1. I think the biggest driver of why we didn't see that same growth rate in Q2 compared to Q1 is really probably tied to private label. Private label as an I mean, a percentage of the mix was down in q two one q two compared to q one, which is kind of the natural cycle. And then now looking at the year over year growth in the the percentage of the mix that's private label slowed a little bit as well just with the the strong selling of of some of our nationally branded products. So let Dennis talk about tariffs.

[Dennis Nelson, Director, President & CEO at The Buckle]

Good morning. On the tariffs, we continue to see kind of the same as earlier, at least as of today, where we're seeing low to mid single digits on average on cost increase. You know, we have several vendors. We have such a wide range of vendors, but several, we're not seeing any increase. We have starting to see with select brands a few higher, single digit increase on cost.

[Dennis Nelson, Director, President & CEO at The Buckle]

But probably the average overall is in the low to mid single digit cost increase, that we're seeing going forward.

[Analyst]

Got it. Very helpful. Just one, if I could elaborate on the other part of the gross margin where you had 40 basis points of leverage on buying occupancy and distribution. Just wondering, like, I would have maybe thought that it would have been like a higher leverage just given how the how strong the comps were in the quarter. Any particular, you know, line item within, you know, buying occupancy or distribution where maybe there's been a little bit of more expense happening that, you know, maybe didn't let that leverage flow through? Thank you.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

Yeah. Thank you, Mauricio. Really, the driver there is is occupancy expense, and so we saw the growth in in occupancy expense tick up in in q two compared to q one. So Q2 increased about 5.5% for occupancy expense compared to about 3.5 in Q1. And really, that's related to the store projects we're doing, the new store openings, the remodels where we're moving out of a lot of malls and into to better locations off mall.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

So that's driven base rent up. And then with the strong sales performance in q two, we also saw an uptick in percentage rent with with several of our stores.

[Analyst]

Understood. Thank you so much.

[Operator]

As a reminder for participants, if you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand in the Zoom app. Prior to asking a question, please state your name and firm affiliation. There are no further questions in queue. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please raise your hand in the Zoom app. Okay.

[Operator]

Looks like we have another question from Mauricio. Mauricio, go ahead and ask you to unmute at this time.

[Analyst]

Great. I guess just a a quick follow-up on the SG and A when you were breaking down the components of the change in the as a percentage of sales. I just wanted to make sure the 65 basis points from nonrecurring digital investments, is this just like a so it's a lapping from last year, I suppose. Is this just happened on the second quarter? Or just as a reminder, is this could that be like maybe like another quarter where we're also lapping that in Q3 three or something like that.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

Yeah. That does does flow into the third quarter as well. So we talked a lot about, you know, our our focus on digital, focus on growing ecom a year ago, and so brought in consultants and third parties and really put a lot of effort around improving the buckle.com experience, and and that started late in q one, but but really picked up in q two and into q three. So so we'll continue to see some benefit there in q three as well.

[Analyst]

Thank you so much.

[Operator]

Okay. There are no further questions. I will now turn the call back over to Buckle for any closing remarks.

[Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director at The Buckle]

There are no questions, further questions. We'll wrap it up quick today. And and thanks everyone for participation or your participation today, and have a great day, and enjoy your weekend.

Participants

Executives

• Thomas Heacock, SVP - Finance, Treasurer, CFO & Director
• Adam Akerson, VP - Finance & Corporate Controller
• Dennis Nelson, Director, President & CEO

Analysts

• Analyst