Vincent Pilette
Analyst · Brean Capital. Your line is open
Thanks Bracken. Hello everyone. As the CFO, I'm just delighted by this quarter. The numbers speak for themselves. It is not a proof point that the business model we are building, combined with our strong execution in delivering sustainably long-term growth on both the sales and the profit lines. With sales up 13% year-to-date and with another broad-based performance across our regions, across our portfolio, we are strategically, methodically putting our operation levers to accelerate our momentum. It is our highest ever sales and combined with a continued focus on execution, we drove Q3 non-GAAP gross margin up 380 basis points to a better than expected 37.4%, a record. As you know, typically second half gross margin falls seasonally versus the first half due to holiday promotions. Our successful cost savings efforts, including the integration of cost management into our design framework as we discussed last year in March, more than offset the increasing promotion. As a result gross margin for the full year will trend slightly above 36%, one full point better than we expected at the beginning of the year. We are now in a great position to reinvest some of the extra gross profit dollars into our core capabilities; R&D, design, go-to-market, marketing, to deliver a model that can drive sustainable sales growth and capture the vast market opportunities in front of us. That is our focus, that is our priority. Non-GAAP operating expenses were up 11% to $150 million in Q3. If you exclude the additional OpEx from Jaybird, our non-GAAP OpEx would have increased 6%, a great operating leverage. We invest in R&D. It was up 10% in Q3. We invest in sales and marketing, up 16% in Q3, but we also continue to take down our infrastructure spend as demonstrated by the 3% decline in our G&A spending. In fact, our G&A reached a record low level of 3.2% of retail sales and that was for you Daniel. Our total non-GAAP OpEx to sales ratio was 22.5% in Q3 driven by this consistent effort to drive greater cost discipline. On the cash side, we continue to deliver strong cash flow, with cash flow from operations of $147 million in Q3. I read a few reports this morning indicating that cash flow from operations was down this quarter. In reality, we drove much smoother working capital through the year. If you look at the first nine months of fiscal year 2017, our cash flow from operations was $234 million compared with $151 million in the same period last year, a 55% increase and that's the right metric. Our Q3 cash conversion cycle remained very, very healthy at 14 days. On the cash returns side, we repurchased $21 million of stock in the quarter, that is in line with our capital allocation strategy, which as you know focuses on acquisitions, dividends and then stock buyback. And with that Bracken, I'll turn it back to you.