Priced like the old business, running like a new one: management is redirecting the call away from the metric investors
The model's full reasoning — Q2 2023 call → NOWe need to determine if management repeatedly redirects attention away from the conventional yardstick and toward a different part of the business that is already earning, and indicates the record hasn't caught up. Let's analyze the transcript. The company is Destination XL Group (DXL), a big and tall men's clothing retailer. The conventional yardstick is likely same-store sales (comp sales), net sales, EBITDA, etc. The call discusses Q2 2023 results. Management discusses quarterly results: comp sales -1.4%, inventory down, etc. Then they talk about future growth plans: brand awareness, store development, collaborations. They mention that they are investing in marketing, new stores, etc. They also mention that they are extending CEO contract. Key part: Harvey Kanter says: "we are announcing our plan to meaningfully accelerate growth at DXL through three distinct pursuits" - these are brand awareness, store development, and collaborations. He says "we believe greater growth is on the horizon." He talks about investing in marketing, opening new stores, etc. He says "we are all in on building the business to create a far greater scale." He also says "we have already targeted a 10% adjusted EBITDA in the past. In the last few years, we have achieved that milestone but we were still not growing sales to the level we believe is attainable. If we are going to invest 3% to 4% in more brand-building marketing, that growth will come out of adjusted EBITDA margins. We believe that over the next three to five years, we can scale and grow the top line in low double digits and take market share profitably, but it is unlikely to be at the greater than 10% adjusted EBITDA margins that we have enjoyed over the past two years." So they are saying they will sacrifice EBITDA margin to invest in growth. They are not setting aside the conventional yardstick (like comp sales or EBITDA) but rather they are saying they will accept lower EBITDA margins to invest in growth. They are not saying that the conventional yardstick is no longer the right thing to watch; they are saying they will trade off some margin for growth. They also talk about new stores, brand awareness, etc. But are they redirecting attention away from the conventional measure? The conventional measure for a retailer is comp sales, net sales, EBITDA. They are still discussing those.
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| CALX | Calix, Inc. | Q1 2023 | 2023-04-20 | C+ |
| WD | Walker & Dunlop, Inc. | Q2 2022 | 2022-08-09 | C+ |
| LC | LendingClub Corporation | Q4 2021 | 2022-01-26 | A |
| CYBR | CyberArk Software Ltd. | Q3 2021 | 2021-11-04 | B+ |
| LPTH | LightPath Technologies, Inc. | Q4 2021 | 2021-09-09 | D |
| LOB | Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. | Q3 2018 | 2018-10-25 | C+ |
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