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CarParts.com, Inc. (PRTS)

Q1 2014 Earnings Call· Tue, May 6, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the U.S. Auto Parts First Quarter 2014 Conference Call. On the call today from the company are Shane Evangelist, Chief Executive Officer; and Dave Robson, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the first quarter 2014 earnings release which went out today at approximately 4 P.M. Eastern Time. If you have not received your release, it is available on the Investor Relations portion of the U.S. Auto Parts’ website at www.usautoparts.net by clicking on the U.S. Auto Parts Investor Relations tab. This call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on the company’s website through May 20, 2014. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain certain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These statements do not guarantee future performance and speak only as of the date hereof. We refer all of you to the risk factors contained in U.S. Auto Parts’ Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion on the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. U.S. Auto Parts assumes no obligation to revise any forward-looking projections that may be made in today’s release or call. Please note that on today’s call, in addition to discussing the GAAP financial results and the outlook for the company, the following non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed. EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, an explanation of U.S. Auto Parts’ use of these non-GAAP financial measures in this call and the reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP measures required by the SEC Regulation G, is included in U.S. Auto Parts’ press release today, which again can be found on the Investor Relations section of the company’s website. The non-GAAP information is not a substitute for any performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP, and the use of such non-GAAP measures have limitations, which are detailed in the company’s press release. With that, I would now like to turn the call over Shane Evangelist.

Shane Evangelist

Management

Thank you, Cathy, and thank you all for joining the call. I like to start by thanking our team members for putting U.S. Auto Parts in the strongest position that we’ve been in over the last few years. And I believe we’re back in position to be aggressive and achieve growth in both revenue and EBITDA. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to the company. Turning to highlights for the quarter, our go-forward sales channels were up double-digit or 11% year-over-year and the overall comps were up 4%. Our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was 3.3 million, and adjusted EBITDA less CapEx was positive 1.8 million. Our net debt less cash at the end of the quarter was positive. And currently we have no debt, and over $3 million of cash on the balance sheet. And currently for the second quarter, our go-forward sales channels are trending up 20% year-over-year, and overall revenues are trending up 13% year-over-year. And before I get into more detail on the quarter, I’ll take a few minutes to discuss the industry in general and the shifts that are taking place from offline to online growth. I believe that in either 2014 or 2015, the incremental growth of the overall $47.2 billion DIY market as estimated by the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association or AASA will be larger online than offline. According to the AASA the overall DIY growth is expected to grow 3.9% from 47.2 billion to 49 billion in 2014, of which we estimate 4.5 billion of the DIY market to be online between online marketplaces like eBay, pure-play retailers like U.S. Auto Parts and offline retailers going through the website like AutoZone. We anticipate the 1.8 billion of growth to be split almost evenly between offline and online in 2014,…

David Robson

Management

Thanks, Shane. Good afternoon to everybody on the call. Unless otherwise stated, this quarter refers to consolidated Q1 2014, and last year refers to Q1 2013. In comparisons, our Q1 2014 compared with Q1 2013. Also, percentage and basis points discussed are calculated using net sales. However, for advertising, we’ll discuss comparing to net online sales. Adjusted EBITDA, Shane mentioned for the quarter was 3.3 million compared to adjusted EBITDA of 1.5 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA excludes non-cash, share-based compensation expense of 376,000 this quarter and 409,000 for the first quarter last year. Last year’s adjusted EBITDA also exclude 498,000 in restructuring costs. CapEx for the quarter was 1.6 million compared to 2.6 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA less CapEx was positive 1.8 million for the quarter, and improved by 2.9 million over last year. This quarter’s net sales were 68 million compared to 65.4 million last year, an increase of 2.6 million or 4%. During the same period, our online sales grew by 3.8% while our offline sales grew by 5.7%. Net sales channels excluding websites we eliminated in 2013 grew by 11.4%. The online sales increase of 3.8% or 2.2 million was driven by 6.5 million increase from continuing online sales channels offset by 4.3 million reduction in online sales from websites we discontinued. The 6.5 million increase in continuing online sales channels was driven by 5.4 million increase in sales from our online marketplaces and 1.1 million increase in sales from our continuing e-commerce sales channel. Both our online and offline businesses benefited from better in-stock position and favorable weather conditions this year over last year. Now turning to margins, this quarter’s gross margin was 30.4% up 110 basis points from last quarter of 29.3% and up 20 basis points from last year of 30.2%. The…

Operator

Operator

Thank you, sir. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Mitch Bartlett with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead.

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

Hey, guys. This is George on for Mitch.

Shane Evangelist

Management

Hi, George.

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

First question, great quarter on accelerating growth at the go-forward sites, so the question is what -- if you were to point to just a few things that’s really driving that acceleration, what would you point to? And second part of that is how much is weather contributing to that group?

Shane Evangelist

Management

Hey, George. Yeah, so I think there is a couple of things, one is we continue to improve the Web site and so the user experience has been better. And you can see that in conversion as well as we have a better in-stock rate this year than we did last year, so that certainly help. And I think we mentioned it a few times, we are a little more aggressive with our pricing. So the combination of those three things has helped drive the growth.

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

Okay, okay. And then …

Shane Evangelist

Management

I am sorry. I apologize, George. My guess is we think weather is probably a couple of points.

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

A couple of points.

Shane Evangelist

Management

But I will definitely tell you that I believe the performance of the business is a much greater share of our performance than weather.

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

Sure. And then secondly, and you just talked a little bit about pricing getting -- I assume that’s getting more aggressive on the branded stuff. Is that -- do you see more competition? Is competition sort of intensifying or is it mostly just been sort of internal decision to start to be more competitive with the market?

Shane Evangelist

Management

Yeah. So a couple of things, one is, we have got more aggressive with some of the private label as well. And so it hasn’t just been branded. We like the result we see from private label. And as it relates to more price point competitive out there, I don’t think that’s the case. I think we just made a decision to give our pricing more in line with some of the market pricing.

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

Okay. And then lastly, could you go through the quarter to-date metrics again for a go-forward and consolidated?

David Robson

Management

Which ones do you want, George?

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

Can you just give the revenue growth for where we are so far in the quarter?

Shane Evangelist

Management

Yeah. So, total revs are up 13% and go-forward sales channels were up 20% sort of quarter to-date for the second quarter.

George Kelly - Craig-Hallum

Analyst

Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Jared Schramm with Roth Capital Partners. Please go ahead. Jared Schramm – Roth Capital Partners: Hi, good afternoon.

Shane Evangelist

Management

Hi, Jared. Jared Schramm – Roth Capital Partners: Most of my questions were just answered. Two -- ones that were not, you mentioned net direct investment in Auto will be for ‘14, it will be about a million and a half. Have you picked out and that sort of figure for that property heading into 2015 at all or is it too soon to be forecasting that?

David Robson

Management

Yeah. I don’t think we’ve -- I think we will read that Jared, based on the progress we make this we as well as what we see in 2015. We are certainly excited about the opportunity being transparent to the consumer as in we are certainly excited about filling up shop. I think those two are bug needs in the marketplace that haven’t been meant. We think we are in the best position to do it. And as it relates to what the overall investment will be, we will continue to evaluate that as we go forward. Jared Schramm – Roth Capital Partners: And I think you mentioned as well the private label comprised about 605 of sales for the quarter, is that correct?

David Robson

Management

Yeah, that’s right. Jared Schramm – Roth Capital Partners: How do you see that mix trending for ‘14? Is that a number that you are pleased with at this point? Or maybe like a different balance or mix shift in the future?

David Robson

Management

Yeah. I think probably the right way to think about it is we certainly want our private label business to grow with market on a go-forward basis, and hopefully ahead of market. We also would like to see our branded business grow with market as well. And so that mix shift may come down a little bit since our branded just hasn’t been growing. And I think as we get smarter and sharper about how to price it and position it as well as some of the changes we will make on our website coming forward, hopefully we see that growth. So, I wouldn’t be disappointed if the shift reduced a little bit from TL to branded, but it wouldn’t be because TL wasn’t growing. I think it’s probably the best way to say it. We think about these two businesses as kind of separate businesses as it relates to the growth of those businesses and we hope to grow both of them and frankly if they both grow then obviously TL would continue to keep the same percent mix it has today, but we wouldn’t be opposed to having our branded business grow too. Jared Schramm – Roth Capital Partners: Okay. Congratulations on the quarter, and thanks for taking my question.

David Robson

Management

Thanks, Jared.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks.

Shane Evangelist

Management

Thank you. Thanks everyone for joining the call. We look forward to updating you with the second quarter. Take care.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.