Five Below, Inc. Aktie

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. It's my pleasure to introduce Five Below and to moderate this fireside chat. Today, we have with us Winnie Park, Chief Executive Officer of Five Below; and Dan Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer of Five Below. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Thanks for having us.

There's so much to talk about. And so this time, it's going to go very fast. But in the past 2 years, Five Below has undergone quite a bit of change, especially starting with both your new roles. And so Winnie, I wondered if you could maybe now that it's been a year, what has been your biggest learnings about the business? How has your perspective evolved compared to when you first stepped into the role?

Thank you so much, Kate. And we're excited to be here and talk a little bit about the Five Below story, at least for the past 2 years.

I think the biggest surprise I've had in the business is how quickly we are able to turn the business around. And if anything, I think it's a testament to the strategy that we put in place, and it's really great to see customers respond to that strategy, but really started with, one, a maniacal focus on the customer. And for us, that meant going back to kids and zoning in on Gen Alpha, really understanding the needs of Gen Z and how they differ from Gen Alpha and then finally, millennial parents, whom we love. And they're always looking for a quick and easy treat for their kids, and we're kind of a one-step destination for that.

So I think that, that focus really set us up for success and embedding that in everything we do. The other learning is if you get the product right, they will come. And so with products, we are really moving towards an approach of merchandising that is selling a full assortment as opposed to focusing on one key item. And with that assortment approach curated product storytelling has been so critical. And you add product focus with a way to communicate with the customers via social media and our first-ever world Chief Marketing Officer. And being able to meet customers where they are in social has done tremendous things in terms of driving traffic, engagement and interest.

We have just begun the journey of actually capturing customer records, so we can get them to come back and communicate more directly with those customers. The last piece of this is investing in the store experience. We really have invested in terms of getting labor in the stores for kind of the basics of moving products in the back to the front, but also in terms of visual merchandising and making sure that our product stories and that curation of product is really clear.

With that, we also simplified pricing. So we went back to the good old fashioned whole price points, $1, $2, $3, $4 and $5, being 80% of the assortment. And stepping up and out, Five Beyond doesn't have to be in a corner of the store in a special area and start with $25. We can integrate those products in line. And so all of those things have been really terrific in terms of getting customers back in the store, engaged with us. And I think they're also the formula for a durable growth story in terms of how we sustain our comp growth, along with a ton of white space opportunity with new store growth. So it's been really, really tremendous.

And you can see that in the stores and obviously in the results. So Dan, I'm going to have kind of a similar question for you. So it's 2 years, Winnie, 1 year for you. Sorry, I misspoke before. What have been your biggest learnings and surprises and observations that you've made about the business in your role?

Yes. I was a huge fan of the business from the outside, both with a bit of jealousy as a competitor and then ultimately as a customer, obviously, my kids grew up. So I thought I knew the business fairly well. Having said that, I think when you get into the organization and you learn the business, I think for me, three things became really clear. One is incredibly powerful business model. It is simplistic in terms of how it translates growth at the top efficiently into growth at the bottom. And that profit then converts to cash pretty seamlessly. I haven't seen many models that work this well with this simplicity. So that was one.

I think the second thing is around store growth. And from the outside, when I joined, we were just shy of 2,000 stores. We've said publicly, we see a runway to 3,500 plus here in the U.S. And certainly, I had a question on that. And as I dug in and really got to know the business, spent time with the real estate team I'm incredibly amazed at the line of sight the team had towards that 3,500 plus. In fact, if I were betting today, I'd bet on the plus, I think that's how convicted we are in terms of unit growth, which you just don't see basically a business doing this well that has a clear line of sight to double its stores.

And then the third piece, I think, for me, is around the uniqueness of this concept. And I remember when I met with Winnie and we started talking to each other, I said, who's our competitive set? How do we think about that? and she laughed and it wasn't out of arrogance or anything, it was just when you get this model right, when you do what Winnie and the team have done to the assortment to the product, to the newness, we are simply a different concept. We are one of one as Winnie likes to say. And so for me, you don't really expect that level of brand strength, and it creates a tremendous competitive moat for us. So those were my learnings.

Great. So if I can jump back to Winnie. I'm going to go back and forth a little bit. But one thing you had mentioned was the 80% of the $1, $2, $3, $4 and $5 price point and then 5 beyond. But you have been I don't know if aggressive is the right word, but you certainly have pushed towards what you think is appropriate from a higher price point. So could you maybe talk to what you saw that allowed you that confidence to move that direction? And where do you see price points going?

Yes. Great question. I think never waste a crisis would be my motto for the tariffs. And for us, it pushed us to really relook at every item in the line and relative value. And what we discovered is that we could do a lot at $5 and below, but we could pack a ton of value and price points like $7. And it allowed us to do things we couldn't do before, like a really compelling lounge and PJ program.

And Five Beyond really stepped all the way up to like $20, $25. But what we've discovered is you can do a lot of great things at $10, $15. And we've taken a very careful approach, and this is really, I think, Five Below's magic is everyone thinks about value and how much cheaper can I get it than the competition?

If there's an animatronic ghoul that is 6 feet tall and it's $60 elsewhere, how can we get that at $25, $30 at Five Below? And that's really the approach that we take. So we start with the customer, what is it they want? And then how do we go after the things they want but deliver that amazing relative value. And so I think we've got a lot of opportunity given the fact that the response has been tremendous to things that are above $5 as long as that relative value is packed in.

And Dan, you had mentioned unit growth in the 3,500 plus. Can you share a little bit more about some of the changes maybe that you've made internally in terms of the real estate process and how we should think about the pace of that growth to get to the 3,500-plus?

Sure. Look, we've always been bullish on white space and fill in opportunities and store growth. And so the conviction level that we've had towards how we can grow units has always been quite high. I think in the past, we may have let a focus on quantity of stores, outpace a little bit of quality of locations. And so a little over a year ago, I think the team made the decision to sort of pull back put a little bit more rigor into all aspects of real estate from site selection all the way through to grand opening.

And focusing the team on a bit of a higher threshold. So we wanted great sites. We wanted great economics. We wanted to put our best foot forward as a brand when those doors opened, whether it was fill-in or white space and really set a higher bar of what really good looks like. And that admittedly meant we were going to slow down unit growth at the same exact time that we're seeing tremendous, tremendous results from that. So the two are very much related. And so if you look at what we've done in terms of opening new stores, '25, '26, we're talking about a new store productivity level that's in the upper 90% range.

Last year, we went into the Pacific Northwest, which was white space for us. Nine new stores, every one of those stores would have set a record for a grand opening except they happen together. So we have real confidence that the model we put in place, the rigor we've put in place, what we've asked the teams to deliver is paying off for us, so we like that. In terms of the pace from here, I think high single-digit unit growth is still the right algorithm for us. So whatever it is, 7%, 8%, 9%. That number will increase in terms of boxes we open simply as the denominator gets bigger. We're not capital constrained. So that's the good news. This is all about us continuing to operate and execute at a really high level and obviously subject to market availability and inventory.

Thank you for that. I think you mentioned the Pacific Northwest wouldn't have been an area that you thought you could open in the past. Again, what's giving you the confidence that entering these new markets is going to be so successful?

It's really interesting. I was always bullish on the Pacific Northwest. And I just look at the simple fact that we are a destination for kids. Are there kids there? Can we be a resource? We want to find the right real estate and had our eyes on the right real estate and we were opportunistic with Party City going out of business in terms of claiming real A locations. And with the openings being so amazing and sustained business momentum, we're going to go after and fill in that white space in that market.

But I see so much opportunity for us in general. In my home of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the two Five Belows are about 45 minutes apart. And there are a lot more kids to be served. So just a lot of opportunity for the brand if we can execute well and if we're choiceful about where we land the stores.

So Winnie, you had mentioned in your recent earnings call, some changes you're making to the store layout and the design, including the back of the store and creating a dedicated World of Play. Could you maybe provide a little bit more detail on the specific initiative and strategic rationale?

Absolutely. Kate, this journey started last year as we started to move the Five Beyond items in line in their respective homes. So Five Beyond was created to be a walled garden in the back of store. It literally was walled off and had its own signage and fixture package as we move those items out, it presented an opportunity to make that area much more productive. And also to make the shopping experience easier.

So what happened is inadvertently with those walled -- that big wall in the back of store, customers actually can't sneak to the store. Their shopping journey actually stops at by beyond. You hit the middle aisle and you have to go back. So what we want to do is take those -- detach those wells, take the heights down, so you have clear line of sight. We also generally had our tech section in the back. And we decided that, that should be moved forward because it's not only a trip driver, we think it will reduce shrink.

But the real customer-facing idea here is to create a world of play in the back. And it is definitely our strong suit is an area that I think we win and we dominate is in play. And so by creating that world, you put your best foot forward and you get customers to penetrate the store from the front to the back. And so we've started that work in terms of looking at renovating and testing within stores as well as most of our new stores are actually built with play in the back, and we're seeing tremendous results.

So that's giving us courage to push that process further. We are also looking at with that change, how do we make the world's more contiguous for customer segments? Gen Alpha gets to shop the back and play. Gen Z may want a world of style, contiguous with beauty as well as room decor. So those thoughts are all percolating. My final ambition is also have a line queue that's super shoppable. So we get the benefit of an additional unit in the basket before you check out.

Great. And then, Dan, is there a potential cost to these changes? And how should we think about the deployment of that and the time line?

Yes. It's largely a modest level of capital, about $40,000 to $45,000 per store to achieve all of the benefits that Winnie discussed. We have already been deploying this sort of new design, new concept as we roll out new stores to do it in the most efficient way that we can, meaning when we're already in the store for resets or PI, physical inventories, we'll use that opportunity.

And then, of course, in about a month's time, we'll be knocking on the door of holiday where we would obviously sort of shut this program down and pick it up again in January. And so long story short, I think it's a reasonable level of capital given the benefits that we expect to see. We're going to execute at a really high level and ultimately, the pace will be sort of marked to what the store and the fleet can digest as we work through, obviously, other business priorities.

The question, I think, that we get the most is just the strength of the top line has been so solid. And it's just how do you think about your ability to continue to grow to lap the strong growth? And just what makes you confident that the business can continue to grow from here?

Great question. We've had 5 consecutive quarters of double-digit comps. And we feel like, again, it's a testament to the strategy and the operating model that we've built. We think it's got real legs and durability. And the secret to Five Below is the sustained comp growth along with new unit growth. And I think that what we have built on the comp front is the merchandising approach that is fueled by newness, curated product storytelling.

And there's always something new. And there's always a new trend and being able to attack that the way we do with great agility, speed and also do it in a way that the customers know about it because we have a tool we never had in the toolbox before, which is called marketing. And for us, social and engaging in social is not only about storytelling, it's about engaging with customers in terms of what they see, they love, they like.

So I think the second piece of that is we've just started capturing customer records. And that is powerful. The ability to build a relationship with a customer over time is super powerful. We still don't have a CRM system. We still don't have leadership in the marketing team to lead that initiative. So really early innings in terms of what we can truly do with marketing because beyond that, there's a question of how do we attack loyalty. So there's a lot left for us to do on that front in terms of driving our own traffic and engagement.

And I think the last piece is there's still a lot of opportunity in our stores. There's opportunity in terms of making that customer experience more compelling in terms of getting people to shop the full range of what we offer. And also, we've got finally a new head of stores. We -- my team is finally complete. And I think there's a lot of opportunity in terms of consistency of standards and practices. So that the experience can be that much more consistent every time a customer visits. So a lot of runway ahead of us.

And in that context, Dan, as Five Below continues to grow. How are you thinking about the long-term algorithm of this business?

Yes, that is the interesting question, right? I think historically, we've talked about this business, certainly prior to Winnie or my arrival as a low single-digit comping growth business. That gets harder to defend certainly when you talk about 5 straight quarters of double-digit comp growth.

And in fact, I would argue the quarter we just exited was our strongest over the 5 because it was double-digit growth on top of double-digit growth, and as we anniversaried price actions from the year before. So there's certainly a very compelling point that says this business is getting stronger here as we continue. Now what does that lead to then in terms of algorithm top and bottom? Today is not the day for us to get into that.

We're certainly focused on all of the areas Winnie discussed in terms of how do we execute against this runway because while we're super proud of what we've done to get here, we're actually more convicted on what lies in front of us to deliver sustainable growth for the business. What I would say is two things as far as how we think about this business going forward. One is the role of growth, unmistakable in terms of both comp and new unit. We see ourselves as a high-growth retailer, and our investments are disproportionately geared to continue that. So that's one.

And then secondly, with a growth profile at the top, we also run this business to deliver increased growth at the bottom. So said another way, it's not unreasonable to think that profit growth will continue to outpace top line growth. Part of that is the magic of this model that I talked about earlier. And part of it is the way that we balance both investing to deliver the growth and also leverage and productivity to deliver profit. So that's how we run the business in terms of putting a number and a name to that and the algorithm not for today, but certainly at some point down the road, we will.

Okay. And then, Dan, with regards to capital allocation, can you maybe walk through that too, there's been a shift, I think, regarding your priorities just because you've just announced a $600 million share repurchase authorization. How should we think through that?

Yes, I don't think it's necessarily a shift in strategy or focus as more of the optionality that our balance sheet has offered us. So our primary focus in terms of capital allocation is investing in the growth of this business. That is what we are geared to do. It's where our priorities lie. This year, over 75% of the capital we'll deploy will go in support of in-service of that growth.

It could be in new stores, which we've talked about the runway there and high single-digit growth, certainly will be in support of the new store experience and a revised format in store that Winnie talked about earlier. We're investing in our supply chain, in our DC network to make sure that we're being as efficient and as productive as we can be, while supporting from a capacity standpoint, discontinued growth. So no shift there in terms of what's most important and what we're going to continue to feed.

Having said that, I think two things have happened here both in a positive way that have given us some interesting optionality. One is we've been very, very careful stewards of the balance sheet, and we've built up a very healthy liquidity position. And two is we've meaningfully changed the profit profile of this business in the last 18 months. So the two of those have put a lot of cash on the balance sheet and have given us great optionality. We leaned into that optionality in the second quarter.

We bought the remainder of the authorization that was in place, about $60 million. And through our board support, we have announced a new $600 million authorization, which I think speaks very clearly to the confidence we and our Board have in terms of our ability to continue to deliver these results. And so I think what we're moving into, Kate, is not a strategic shift, but it is the notion of having a capital allocation strategy that does both. That has great optionality and breadth to it that allows us to absolutely continue to invest in growth while finding a really good alternative for excess liquidity, and that's what we're executing.

Great. Maybe to jump around from P&L to balance sheet. Now back to the P&L. Obviously, there are some headwinds that the whole industry is facing with regards to higher costs with oil and freight. And then tariffs are still in this conversation as well. So could you maybe talk about the second half of the year from a cost standpoint, how you're managing it, what you expect?

Sure. Yes. Look, I think based on the -- I'll start with tariffs based on the environment, we understand today, the new Section 301 tariffs we have a slight headwind in the back half of the year -- or sorry, it's slight tailwind in the back half of the year versus our previous outlook.

Said simply, these rates are lower than what we had contemplated previously under AIBA. So there's a bit of a of a tailwind there, which we have reflected in our updated outlook. Having said that, the flow-through of that tariff savings is somewhat mitigated to your second point on inflation and predominantly, it's in fuel. The good news is we're not yet seeing significant pressure on the ocean side of transportation. We have contracts locked in place. We haven't seen any movement on those contracts, so we feel reasonably comfortable there. Where we see the challenge and the pain is on the inland side, the trucking side.

When you see diesel costs at the $6 a gallon rate versus 350, 375 a year ago, we, like everyone else feels that pain. And so our back half of the year has a tariff tailwind and a fuel headwind that are almost identical, so don't provide much of a put or take Here's the really good news, though, and I think it's an exciting part of the evolving muscles we're building in the company. We're not seeing pressure on the cost side of the business. And that's because we have great relationships with our vendors, supplier partnerships, there is a real willingness and desire to work with us given our growth profile. And so back half of the year, I anticipate on the product side, a reasonable stability despite obvious pressures in resin, other chemicals and commodities.

Before we go into the 4 questions we're asking every company that sits with us today. I just wondered, Winnie, if you wanted to kind of wrap all of this up again, there's a lot to chew on when it comes to your story. So how would you like to kind of wrap the story up today?

I would -- for those of you who have known Five Below, we are a new Five Below. We are a new Five below in terms of our focus, our value proposition, our mission to be the destination for the kid and the kid and all of us. We're new Five Below in terms of the way we operate, merchandising, marketing, store experience, and our agility, speed.

And I would say, finally, the last piece of this is we have tremendous growth ahead, and we feel very convicted in the opportunity ahead of us. Being a one-on-one concept focused on kids, and I hate to say it, the last guy standing in the United States that's focused on kids, puts us in a really unique place. And so I'm super, super excited about what we offer and what we're doing and super grateful to the crew for really bringing a lot of heart into delivering our mission.

Great. I wondered if I could maybe just sneak in one more because we had dinner last night, and we talked about just the toy category being very healthy. It's one of probably the only areas of retail right now from a unit standpoint. We heard a lot about all the self-help and execution that you guys are doing. But could you maybe just level set the category and why you think there is such strength right now?

It's such an interesting category. I think for Five Below, our mission to become America's greatest little toy store started in January of 2025 when I joined. There is a huge opportunity to serve kids. And what that meant was bringing together all of our vendors and a fun Summit in Philadelphia to really talk about the opportunity ahead. So we have been very focused on the value proposition for kids and what it means to be a great toy store today, which is really different.

And I would also broaden that definition of who's engaged. It's not just Gen Alpha and young kids, it's Gen Z as well. And so the components of what we see is everyone is engaged in certain trends and it's agnostic of generation. Squishy dumplings, squishy things are a viral social moment. That's definitely helped us generate really engaged traffic, which we've been able to convert into our full assortment of toys, games and collectibles.

The second component of this is we're seeing a lot of resonance with collectibles and blind boxes. And again, multigenerational impact there. And I think that it's very, very interesting for me to watch my Gen Z daughter who started shopping at Five Below when she's 10, she's 21 now and legal. And to see her really engaged in all the things that she used to love as a kid. And you'll see the rise of certain toy brands like LOL because -- and littlest Pet Shop because people want those things again. They want to go back to the innocence and fun that they used to have. So I think that is why Toys is having a real moment right now. I would also say that regardless of what's happening in the broader landscape and the macroeconomic landscape, you want to shop for your kids. And when the price of entry at Five Below, $1, we can make it democratic for anyone to shop with us.

Great. Helpful. Thank you so much. So the 4 questions we're asking are just kind of meant to be rapid fire kind of questions. We kind of talked about it a little bit. It's really not necessarily the key to your story because, again, the price of entry is $1.

But the health of the consumer, because you're a retailer, I feel like we should ask just in your opinion, do you have any expectations of any differences in the second half of this year in terms of consumer behavior versus what you saw in the first half?

If backwards-looking data would support forwards, I would say we still -- we feel confident that the customer will be with us in the back half of the year, primarily because of what we offer in terms of value starting at a $1. And we pack tremendous value into our product. We have seen really nice growth across all of our socioeconomic cohorts, all of our demographic cohorts, every geography and in fact, every world. And so I feel like more and more, we're becoming a resource for desirable things that are -- I always say we're in a business of desire, not of need. And so I think that we feel like the back half will bode well for us for that reason.

And then with regards to pricing, again, it's not completely applicable to your model. But do you expect your AUR to be higher, lower or the same in the second half of this year versus the first half?

We have a very different business in the back half of the year because of the predominance of holiday and the role that plays. And so I think our -- the shape of our AUR year-on-year will be pretty similar. And with holiday AUR being lifted because of the multitude of things that you buy in any given trip and the fact that we are intentional by offering higher retail real WOW product, but we think it's going to be fairly consistent.

Great. And then with regards to margins, this is more of a '27 than '26 question, but do you see more margin headwinds or tailwinds next year?

Yes. So I think you have to look at it through 2 levels. One is sort of our business model and what we control. And then the second is the macro environment and inflation and what environment are we operating in. I suspect these fuel rates are here to stay. And so until the point we anniversary what we saw this year in the late spring, I suspect fuel and other related cost pressures will represent a bit of a headwind. Having said that, I think you go back to how we operate this model.

We've got tremendous opportunities still within our own gross margin profile. Winnie talked about our ability to continue to drive above the $5 price point to continue to push on AUR without the need for like-for-like pricing. I think that certainly is a tailwind. We continue to be incredibly productive in the margin profile around things like supply chain, distribution, shrink, good operating environment, good operating controls, that likely is a tailwind.

And then I think there's this piece in our business, and Winnie talked about the importance of marketing and where we are in this journey, we're going to continue to invest and feed that growth lever. In fact, that's, in my opinion, arguably the biggest growth lever that we have. As we gain better understanding of the customer as we then build out the capabilities internally that Jacob and team are building, we're going to feed that. And so like we saw this year, where marketing investment is about a 25 basis point investment headwind year-over-year.

I think it's a pretty good proxy for how we're thinking about it heading into 2027 because we're seeing the results we love and the returns we love on traffic driving. And so at the end of the day, I think there's probably some macro headwinds. There's a lot of great work being done internally to offset and drive productivity and efficiency, and we'll continue to intentionally invest in incremental marketing.

Okay. And then our last question is with regards to AI. Do you expect a significant increase in efficiency as a result of AI in 2027 versus '26?

We're being very mindful of how we leverage AI. And I do think, for us, it gives us an opportunity to look at it as a tool or bridging some of the tech debt that we have. and working between systems on more complex issues. But we're being very mindful about how we do it and thoughtful. We always talk about bigger -- fewer, bigger, better bets, as opposed to kind of like throw it out everywhere and see what happens.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you, Kate.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

We're going to get started. Good morning, everyone. My name is Seth Sigman. I am the U.S. hardline broadline food retail analyst at Barclays. My pleasure to have the Five Below management team at our conference this year. Dan Sullivan, CFO. Also in the audience, we have Christiana Pelz, VP IR. Thank you, guys, for being here. Appreciate it.

Five Below has delivered incredible top line growth over the last 18 months, double-digit comps in 2025, a record start to '26 on the second quarter earnings. You also raised it in again for 2026. So there's a lot happening here. Seems to be a very different growth story in the last 18 months. Something is really changing here.

So Dan, I'd love to hear from your perspective key top line drivers, what's driving the growth right now? What is new? What's different in the business? And ultimately, what do you think is having the most impact On these strong results.

Yes.Good morning, Seth. Good to see you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for spending the time with us. we've got a lot of great news and a lot of great things to share and talk about. I think for me, if I sort of unpack this, what you're seeing in the business right now is a very clear strategy that was put in place by Winnie Park, our CEO, when she joined just under 2 years ago, you're seeing proof points that, that strategy is resonating quite well.

So let me try to talk to you a little bit about that. I think most importantly, it is a strategy absolutely grounded in clear focus who the customer is. And I say that because I think that is super important. We welcome all customers, obviously, to our brand and our franchise, but we are focused on Gen alpha, GenZ and millennial moms and dads. And when you have that clarity at your core, you start to design and execute a strategy that resonates with that set of cohorts.

The strategy itself is sort of 3-pronged. First and foremost, it is about a relentless focus on trend-right new interesting product. If you know Winnie's background and you tracked her career, you would certainly see CEO capabilities, but you would see at the heart a merchant and someone who lives for product and who really understands customer. And so I think the first thing that you would see that she did in her time over the last 18 months is reinvigorate the brand through the product lens. That means new, that means different. That means trend right and that has sort of been the guidepost for what we've been doing.

I think the second element then is the in-store experience and how do we bring the product to life, how do we create for our customers, the treasure hunt and the newness and the discovery that is so important to our brand.

And then the third piece is how do we talk to our customers differently. The marketing muscles that we are building in the organization around better understanding not only who that customer is, where do they live? -- and how do we continue to bring our brand to them in that space. And so all 3 of these are at different stages in their maturation. All 3 are contributing to what you are seeing in the results. And then I would probably add a fourth piece, which is how we operate as an organization. It is all about collaboration. It is all about agility, and it is a relentless focus on executing against the strategy.

And so we've got a very clear strategy, Seth. We've got a very clear customer we're trying to serve and we are executing that strategy better. And so what you see then in the last 12 months to 15 months, and we just posted these results last week. It was our fifth straight double-digit comp quarter. I would argue you could look at it as almost our strongest quarter to date because it was a double-digit comp quarter while cycling a double-digit comp quarter.

And in the quarter, we anniversaried pricing. So we didn't have that tailwind behind us. So we are seeing really clear proof points that this strategy is resonating and that this growth is durable.

We'll talk about some of the specific product drivers, but I think 1 of the other takeaways has been the breadth of the performance. Can you elaborate on that, maybe across the store base, across cohorts, across categories as a starting point?

Sure. Yes. This is perhaps one of the more exciting parts to the story is the breadth of growth that we're delivering. And what we're seeing here is across all income cohorts across all demos across all geographies across all vintages of stores we're seeing this growth. So it gives you sort of an idea of how widely -- this strategy is resonating this new focus on assortment and product and newness is resonating because you just don't see that level of growth across all of those dynamics.

And so we're certainly encouraged with what we're seeing, and I will continue to say, it is early in what we're doing. The proof points that we are delivering here, we still see as early proof points as we're starting to build capabilities and durability.

Okay. Great. And then you talked a little about this on the last call, but trend items. So in this case, it's squishy dumping, which I think we have some here somewhere that's played a large role in the strong comp growth. Can you talk about the trend, the impact it's having on your business? And how do you think about the contribution?

Yes. Look, we get this question a lot, and you probably are aware of this specific trend item that Seth is referencing the squishy dumping. We were very clear in the earnings call that it contributed about low single digits to our comp profile, and that was pretty consistent in Q1 and Q2.

I think if I ladder back though, I think it's important to understand, we are a trend business. We have always been a trend business. We will continue to be a trend business. What is new and different, and this I think goes to the capabilities component I was speaking to is we are better at detecting the trend earlier than we had been in the past and we are far better at amplifying the trend when we see it.

And so if you look at this squishy dumping item, which certainly has been a great catalyst for traffic driving and brand awareness, I made clear on that. But what you see is an item that was in the assortment for a couple of years, okay? This wasn't a new item that we discovered or someone else discovered and we bought into. It was there.

Our ability to detect trend, our ability to scrape online, our ability to listen socially pointed us in this direction in the fourth quarter -- calendar quarter of last year. We saw some interesting things around how our customers were engaging with this product. And so early detection was key. And then we amplified it. And when I say amplified it, that means we -- in a very unique Five Below way, brought this product to life. We brought it to life in terms of the story around the product, which I think is important for us when we think about our brand. We brought it to life in-store and how we executed against it.

We brought it to life as we widened the assortment and brought newness and new interesting products, which we will continue to do over the back half of this year. And so yes, there is an interesting trend item. But I think maybe unlike the past where we may have bought into something and sold through. We see this as an interesting catalyst because we detected it early, and we've amplified it in a meaningful way.

And I'm sure it's top secret, but maybe you could shed some light on maybe the future trends that you see or how you're thinking about that?

Yes. top secret is a good way to describe it. We don't discuss the pipeline. We don't discuss what could be coming next. What I would say is, because of this trend detection capability that we've always had. The merchants have always had a skill as we've worked with vendors and with partners. I think seeing trend early has been core to what we've done. We have now added science to that in some of the tools and the technology that we are building and deploying and if you know Winnie, you would know she spends a lot of her time on social. She is seeing things early, she is passing things along to the merchant team.

So you've got this ecosystem now that is sort of historical muscles based on great experience and terrific relationships with vendors. You've got new and emerging capabilities that are being enhanced with science and tech together. We've got a pretty interesting and robust pipeline of things that we think could become something new and different down the road.

So as you think about the growth profile of the business, I think you used the term durable in the past, right? How do you think about the growth rate of this business going forward?

Yes. Look, we're super excited. We're 5 quarters at double-digit -- we've got an updated outlook, as you mentioned, Seth, for the back half of the year. We get the question a lot, how do you comp the comp? And candidly, we see that as a very narrow question. We think the better question is, how do we know this growth is durable. And our conviction that the growth is durable. Based on 2 things. The strategy I described and the proof points that we are seeing in that strategy as it gets executed, but then also this realization, we are so early in this journey. We are so early in building out our marketing capabilities.

Our Chief Marketing Officer, has only been with us 15, 16 months and he's certainly the first pure and proper Chief Marketing Officer that we've had. Winnie hasn't even yet hit her 2-year work anniversary. And so as you see these results, which we certainly see through the lens of proof, around the strategy, we're equally excited that it is early, early innings in each of these lanes that we're executing against. What that means as we go forward, time will tell, right? Whether that is a low single digit, mid-single digit today is not the day for us to provide that update.

We're simply staying focused on executing the strategy. We've got an exciting outlook for the balance of this year and then certainly in March of next year, we'll talk about 2027. But I think more than the number that we attach to it. I hope you all take away, it's a really compelling strategy, and it's very early in our development.

Given the momentum that you have, especially around some of these product drivers, how do you think about getting that customer back? You mentioned marketing it seems like it's very early innings. So talk about the approach today. What's different about what you've done historically? Because it seems like a big opportunity, a big unlock here.

Yes, it sure is. Seth, you're right. Look, I think the encouraging piece is we are seeing accelerated growth against both retained and new customers, right? And so that, as a macro data point, is exciting, -- it sort of gives you confidence that we're driving that traffic to the store, admittedly, in part fueled by our execution on the trend but also that we're seeing really healthy retention rates. That customer, maybe they're being introduced to 5 for the first time through that experience. They like what they're finding, they're coming back. Like we see that in the early reads and in the early data.

Having said that, going back to sort of where we are in the marketing journey, we've really just begun. We're only a year into collecting e-mail capture from our customers and starting to gain some insights on who they are and sort of when they shopped, but we're still doing it through a very general lens. We don't yet have the data or the insights or even the capabilities to talk to that customer uniquely, to curate for that customer specifically to personalize.

So the good news is we're starting on the journey to be able to speak to the customer. And what we do know is when we speak to that customer, that customer who's e-mail capture, we've successfully gathered the LTV of that customer is bigger. The frequency of store visit is more and the basket they build when they're with us is more. So that we know. Now we've got to start to build the capabilities and the infrastructure, the talent profiles internally to better talk to that individual. And it's going to take us some time.

But again, you can sort of see in the journey here of where we've been a year ago, we didn't have e-mail capture. 18 months ago, we didn't have a Chief Marketing Officer. Now we're starting to progress on a proper CRM journey. And as we build those skills and build those capabilities and are able to talk to our customer cohorts uniquely, we think that's a big unlock.

Okay. Great. I want to shift to store growth. Obviously, the business is comping, but you also have still 1 of the biggest unit growth opportunities in the retail sector today. Previously, you've talked about over 3,500 store opportunities in the U.S., doubling or almost doubling where you are today. How do you think about that target? Why is that the right target? And if there's anything else you can tell us about how the new store economics are playing out, I think that would be helpful.

Sure. Yes. This is perhaps one of the underrepresented interesting facts around Five Below is the new store growth. We have committed to a high single-digit growth profile for new units, but that at 8%, 9%. It's 150 new stores this year as that denominator grows, it will be more next year. And admittedly, when I joined the company, it was probably 1 of the areas that I underappreciated and may have been a bit skeptical about because the comp story is so clear, and you see that, but we are actually growing units now at just over 2,000 stores with a really clear line of sight to 3,500 plus stores.

We just entered the Pacific Northwest. That was white space for us a year ago, 9 new stores in that space in theory to a cohort who had never shopped us every 1 of those 9 stores would have set a record for a grand opening at Five Below, but they all opened at the same time. We just moved into our 47th state in Idaho in the quarter that we're in. We have a really, really strong line of sight and strong conviction to that 3,500 plus.Now the economics upon which we do it is simply astonishing. It is absolutely the best dollar return I can get by putting $1 into new store growth. We are seeing 12- to 15-month return time lines and really compelling growth profiles.

And so yes, we have this wonderful comp story Equally, we're at 2,000-plus stores today, and we have a clear line of sight that we can almost double that. with a U.S.-focused deployment. So that's the plan. I think we're super encouraged. And if anything, over the last 12 months, you've seen better execution against our new stores. You've seen new store productivity now in the 90% range from -- it was in the 70s, even 18 months ago. So we love all of the signs that we're seeing and highly, highly convicted that, that 3,500 plus is there to be had.

That strong new store productivity, I assume, is also benefiting from some of the trends that existing stores are seeing. So maybe speak to where you think new store productivity can normalize. And then just related to that, it sounds like there has been a change in the real estate process under your leadership. So just walk us through what is actually changing there as you think about site selection.

Yes. And you're absolutely right. Listen, when you're comping double digits, rising tides are going to lift all boats, your new store productivity is going to feel the effects of that and benefit from that. But your second point, Seth, I think, is a really important one. unrelated to that, we took a very different approach to real estate, a very different approach to how we deploy new stores.

And it was a bit informed by the learnings that maybe in the past, we had gone too far too fast. We had settled for less than 8 properties -- and we're focused on quantity and needed to rebalance ourselves also focused on quality. So we sort of reengineered the process internally -- we've held a much higher bar to the real estate team on everything from site selection as you look at a market all the way through grand opening. We've put a much stronger criteria on execution inventory levels, labor in the store, just putting our best foot forward as a brand. That process predated me, that started probably 15, 18 months ago, and it's not a coincidence that you are seeing this level of performance in the 25 and 26 vintages.

Now and we start to speed that up. I think we can over time. We're certainly not capstraintd, so we have the capital to deploy. We want to mere that the muscles we're building across real estate, dealmaking site selection, execution are structurally strong. We feel really good about that. Now you're left to the third variable of availability of properties, right? And sort of how do you think about new stores and inventory in the market, which is mixed at this point. So we're pleased with the strategy. We see the proof that it's working. We think over time, we can accelerate that. But in the near term, I think that high single-digit growth profile for new units is the right 1 for us.

Okay. And at the same time, you're rolling out some new store prototypes and redesigns. Maybe walk through what you're changing there.

Yes. This is something we discussed in our earnings call a week ago. I think it's a really important catalyst for that in-store experience element of our strategy. We know that's so important to our offer is the experience in-store for our customers. How do we bring our brand to life. And so we have been studying this for the better part of 12 months looking at shopping experience, simplification, how do we yell and screen the brand and make the engagement with our customers stronger.

We use the word immersion. We want our customers to be in the 5 below world when they enter the store. So that has taken shape in a number of different prototypes. Where we have landed is a very clear answer where sightlines and signage are better end-to-end within the store. We have taken down the 5 Beyond element of the store. We've been on this journey for about 12 months because we just didn't think that was how our customers shop the store. And so this program you're referencing, Seth, was sort of in search of what do we do with this space. And so better signage, better flow through the store, better sight lines for both our crew and our customers.

And then it ultimately lands in a better immersion within the 5 below brand for our customers with a really clear play world or world of play anchor now in the back of the store. So you've got better synergies and alignment and adjacencies among categories and you've got a really compelling in-store experience for our Gen alpha and Gen Z around toy and around play. These prototypes are starting to be deployed. We're super excited about it. I think the early reads are encouraging and it will just be a question of the pace at which we can do this efficiently.

And there have been a few iterations of the front-end experience in the stores over time? Like where does that stand today as you think about that checkout process?

Yes, I think it's important, right? How you merchandise the front of the store, how the customer experiences you when you walk in the store, as part of this new redesign. As to is simplifying and improving the checkout experience, the line queue, how do we bring product into that experience, how do we make sure that the throughput is there for our customers, how do we also make sure that the service and our employees and our crew are engaging the customers.

So all of that from the in-store experience, the product assortment, the line queue and bringing interesting items to the customer through that queue, all the way through the checkout experience is all part of this this new experience that we are designing and running with.

Okay, great. I wanted to ask about price points. What are you seeing from customers that gives you confidence in the Five Beyond strategy, which is clearly evolving, your ability to sort of sell product above that typical $5 price point? And what's different than prior attempts to grow that business?

Yes. I think this has been a super interesting part of the last 12 to 18 months, partly a catalyst from the tariff experience where all bets were off, right, and you had to really look at the assortment end to end. And I think what the team did incredibly well through that lens was reestablish the importance of value within the offering.

Winnie operates with a very clear direction on 2 levels. One is items need to be new and interesting and trend right for the customer. That's a nonnegotiable and 2 is they need to be stuffed with as she calls it value. They need to scream relative value. And when you get those 2 elements right, the thesis was we have the license to go above $5. Over the last 18 months, we've proven that. Now we are still a value retailer. That is our core. 80% of the items in a given store will be at $5 or less. That is unlikely to change. That is who we are and how we operate.

Having said that, this insight and equally, this requirement of newness, trend-right and value, has demonstrated we can go above $5. We think probably the sweet spot is in $7 to $10 and that's where we have disproportionately focused. But equally, you will have seen items in the store that go above $15, $20, $25 selectively. All of that sort of fits into how we think about the assortment. And even look at the quarter we just exited, you actually saw AUR growth without price as we had fully anniversaried the price. That's mix, right? That's coming from how we mix out this assortment at the $5 price point. and above the $5.

So we're super excited that our strategy has real proof behind it. We're super excited. The customer has given us license to play in this space. But we're equally committed to staying true to who we are, both as a value retailer, but committed to relative value for the customer.

We'll talk about your favorite topic, tariffs. The tariff refunds came up a lot on the last call. How are you deploying those dollars today? And then any other context on how you're thinking about tariff rates?

Yes, it's been an interesting journey for all of us, right? So we did disclose in the second quarter that we have received almost entirely all of our expected refunds. It was $165 million, plus or minus plus another $6 million-ish of interest income on those proceeds. And we think that is the lion's share of what we will receive.

Now the question is what do you do with those proceeds? And our focus has always been and will continue to be -- we're going to invest in the customer. We're going to invest in the customer experience, and we're going to invest in this growth profile that I talked about earlier. And so the refund proceeds haven't shifted our thinking at all what they have given us is an opportunity to accelerate that. And so those items play out -- or that strategy plays out in 3 distinct ways. One is investing in the customer experience that I talked about earlier and how do we think about redeploying this capital in store to augment and transform the stores? That's one.

I think equally or second is around our online platform and how do we make sure that the shopping experience online is commensurate with the shopping experience in store and represents the brand the way that we want to make sure we're representing the brand. So you'll see the investments there digitally.

And then the third is continuing to reinvest behind the product. and that is around newness, that is around trend, that is around price value equation. Those are our 3 primary focus areas. The AEPA refunds have allowed us or will allow us to accelerate that. I think -- it will disproportionately be seen in CapEx. And obviously, it will play out over time.

As far as the second part of your question, tariff environment. It's changing for sure. I think -- we have to recognize that what we think we know today might be different 90, 100, 120 days from now. But as it sits today, our back half of the year outlook includes a bit of tariff tailwinds as the rates that have come along now with the new Section 301s are slightly lower than what we had previously expected.

So on a tariff front, a bit of a tailwind to our outlook. We think that will get largely absorbed by higher fuel cost, by the way, in the back half of the year, but that's a separate tame. And then as we look to next year, I think it's reasonable to assume a slight headwind simply because the rates that are in place today now under 301 are slightly higher than the temporary rates that were put in place that expired July 24. Do I anticipate a meaningful issue next year? I do not. And I don't want to signal that we think there's a cost challenge coming. I think this organization has shown a great skill at solving for any potential tariff headwinds, but just on the math right now, it could be a slight headwind as we work our way into next year.

Okay. I wanted to ask about the long-term growth profile of the business. So there's been a lot of debate in the past about whether 5 can get back to that 13% operating margin that had a few years ago. This year, you'll be around 12.5% if you hit the guidance. So how do you think about the long-term profile of the business?

Yes. I mean certainly super excited about how we have built this model and let me explain that to you all in how we're running this business. We obviously think this growth is durable. You've heard -- you've heard me talk about that, and this model is uniquely dependent on growth. And so our commitment is to continue to drive sustainable comp growth at the core. Equally important, though, we have a mindset and an algorithm that says profit growth will outpace top line growth.

And so that is our model, that is our mindset that is that is how we run this business. And that comment holds true whether we're seeing double-digit comp growth or high single digit or mid-single digit. That is how we run this business. Now to get there, you have to think about our business on 2 distinct levels. There is an element of our business where you would expect us to continue to drive productivity, efficiency and leverage, supply chain as a great example, shrink as a great example. -- costs in our overhead structure. We're going to continue to be ruthless on costs. We're going to continue to drive the organization to be more and more productive and we're going to lever as we grow this business.

On the other side, we want to continue to invest. We want to continue to feed all of the elements that I'm talking about today. predominantly through the marketing lens, I think, is how you can expect us to do that. But also, I think store labor and store payroll will play an important part because, again, back to that store experience, they're not unrelated, right? We want to make sure we've got the right labor complement, serving the customer, delivering on that great experience.

So if you put the 2 of those together, what can you expect from us? You can expect profit growth to continue to outpace top line growth, you can expect us to be incredibly rigorous in diligence on driving productivity at the core, and you can expect us to continue to invest in the growth of this business. We're going to feed this. We think we're at a super interesting time here with a compelling strategy that we're going to leverage.

So at the end of the day, op profit margin will continue to expand. At what pace, how fast, how far like we'll see as we work our way through this -- but the model will continue to deliver accretion.

And as you think about capital allocation, how is that changing? You've announced a $600 million authorization recently? Any shift in focus or priorities.

Yes. The priority has not shifted, which is disproportionately investing capital and growth. That was maybe largely a new store conversation previously. As we've talked today, we've added now more committed capital against the in-store experience. We're going to continue to build out our supply chain, our DC network to handle the growth. But first and foremost, we're going to deploy capital against growth unchanged that is consistent with where we've been.

I think the situation that we are in with tremendous excess liquidity, the team has done an unbelievable job of managing the balance sheet with care -- and obviously, when you grow the way we have over the last 2 years and you deliver the profit levels we have and that throws off tremendous cash flow, we're sitting today with a really interesting excess liquidity. And so -- that led us to a new share repurchase program that has led us to find alternatives to redeploy excess liquidity to deliver better returns.

We think we have struck that balance with the new authorization. But we think both of these work together. This is an and capital allocation strategy, not an or. And I think the Board, with following the confidence that management has to continue to grow this business durably supported that authorization.

Okay. Great. Just a couple of minutes left here. Obviously, it's been a great turnaround story, transformation story over the last several quarters. Any final messages that you want to leave with the audience here?

Yes. Thank you, Seth. Look, I probably would like to go back to where we started, which is -- while the last 12 to 18 months in the growth and sort of the magnitude of that growth has been simply amazing. I think what excites the team and I think what Winny is holding us accountable to is the durability of that growth. the list of things that we haven't yet done or the capabilities that we are building or the catalysts that we see to continue this growth is long.

And so while we're super excited about what we have seen we're equally confident in the path forward. And our job is obviously to continue this growth to build the capabilities, to continue to execute at a level -- but hopefully, if we leave you with no other message today, it's not just the excitement of what you have seen looking back over the last 12 months, it's the durability that the strategy that we're deploying allows us..

That would be the message I would leave you with.

Okay. Great. And congrats on all the progress, and thank you for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate it.

Good day, and welcome to the Five Below Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note today's event is being recorded.

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Christiane Pelz, VP, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today for Five Below's Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. On today's call are Winnie Park, Chief Executive Officer; and Dan Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. After management has made their formal remarks, we will open the call to questions. Certain comments made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements, including those described in the press release and our SEC filings.

In this presentation, we will refer to our SG&A expenses, which for us includes depreciation and amortization. Additionally, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please review today's press release, which is posted on our Investor Relations website for a reconciliation of these items to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure and a cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements.

I will now turn the call over to Winnie.

Thank you, Christiane, and hello all. I want to start by thanking our amazing Five Below crew. They continue to deliver tremendous energy, fun and executional excellence in service of our customers, the boss. Their focused collaboration and drive are what truly delivered our exceptional Q2 results. We are so excited to welcome 2 new leaders, Rodney Lastinger, our Chief Retail Officer; and Christos Yatrakis, our Chief Legal Officer, both of whom joined us during the second quarter. Our leadership team is now complete, and I'm looking forward to seeing the impact we can continue to make on our customer and the crew experience.

The results in the quarter exceeded our expectations and reinforced the progress we are making in transforming the business, strengthening the brand and deepening Five Below's position as the destination for the kid and the kid in all of us. With our strong first half performance and increased outlook for the second half, we are again raising our full year outlook, which Dan will discuss shortly. The second quarter results further demonstrate that our customer-centric strategy and the foundational enhancements we made to our operating model are working. The strategy is focused on clarifying who our customer is and what we can uniquely offer them, moving from more item-focused merchandising approach to an assortment and product storytelling approach. Redirecting marketing spend for social and digital, simplifying pricing and improving the store experience.

The key to our success is speed to market and close collaboration between merchandising, marketing and supply chain and stores to deliver compelling new product stories. Together, these are driving our operating flywheel, which serves as a basis for our durable top line growth.

Now on to the second quarter results. Sales surpassed our expectations, delivering $1.3 billion, up 23% versus last year, with adjusted diluted EPS of $1.68, more than double last year's second quarter. Sales growth was driven by both comparable sales growth of 14% and continued unit growth of approximately 9%. Notably, we lapped last year's double-digit comps with double-digit comps and a 26.5% 2-year stack. These results give us even greater conviction in the power of our model. This growth was driven by transactions with robust traffic growth and increased customer engagement from both new and returning customers. We saw broad-based growth across customer cohorts, geographies and product categories. The breadth of the world that grew is a testament to our assortment strategy from room to toys to tech to snacks, and we saw amazing response to newness and trends across price points. We have deployed a repeatable operating capability that enables us to detect customer trends early, amplify these trends with our emerging marketing muscles and execute consistently across the store experience.

New stores also continued to deliver strong performance. We opened 52 net new stores across 26 states, including 4 stores that made our all-time spring and summer grand opening list. The success and productivity of our new stores is a testament to the strength of our brand and the unique place we occupy in retail as a kid-focused value-driven destination where newness and trend drive visits and loyalty. We have a long runway to bring Five Below to more customers in more communities and new stores continue to fuel our growth. In July, we celebrated the opening of our 2,000th store, an important milestone for Five Below and our crew.

In August, we entered our 47th state with our first store in Idaho, and we continue to explore fill-in opportunities to support our successful launch in the Pacific Northwest, less than 12 months ago. And we are super excited to announce that we plan to enter the market of Puerto Rico in the back half of 2027. This U.S. territory represents a highly attractive opportunity for our brand with a strong customer fit and desirable real estate opportunities. There's currently no retail concept in the market that delivers the same combination of kid-focused fun and value that are hallmarks of Five Below. We expect to open a handful of stores as part of the initial launch and will remain thoughtful and disciplined in how we build our presence in the market over time.

We're excited to see our flywheel driving these results. As our merchants identify trend right product, our marketing team amplifies the story in real time, creating excitement for our customers and driving trips to our stores, where we provide a fun and easy experience that converts interest into transactions and repeat visits. As our capabilities grow, the flywheel becomes more powerful, driving continued customer engagement and durable growth. We are still in the early innings of unlocking the full potential of each capability. And while each stands on its own in terms of importance to the model, the relationship and connectivity between all three is key to unleashing the full power of the Five Below brand and driving durable growth.

With respect to merchandising, our teams remain focused on what Five Below does well, listening to customers in social, spotting emerging trends and delivering compelling newness at great value through product stories that feel fresh, fun and relevant. Our ability to identify, pursue and scale trends is a meaningful competitive advantage. It brings new customers into the brand. And when they experience the breadth, value and fun of Five Below, it gives them reasons to come back.

During the second quarter, our teams delivered a rolling thunder of newness across the store. We amplified numerous trends from Asian food and snacks to the return of slime and create, and we continue to build the overall squishy trend with new collections and fresh drops. We also leaned into cultural events and curtain-up moments that matter to our customers. From World Cup Madness to blockbuster movie releases to music and entertainment trends, our teams moved quickly to bring relevant products to market, including licensed items like FIFA and the NBA as well as the Toy Story and Spider-Man movies and Netflix K-Pop Demon Hunters series. With both the summer and back-to-school curtain-up moments falling during the second quarter, we had lots to celebrate. We helped kick off summer with a full lineup of products for the pool and beach from inflatables to craft kits and all things squishy.

For back-to-school, we offered strong value across the assortment that featured both need-to-have pencils and notebooks to must-have novelty giant calculators. We brought the season to life through series of trend forward destinations designed to inspire both our Gen Alpha and Gen Z customers. For Gen Z, for example, we launched our first ever dorm blowup where trend met value, making it easy to create a stylish personalized dorm room without stretching the budget. We curated two collections grounded in pink, gold and leopard print with washable rugs, full length mirrors and amazing storage solutions like our plush storage ottomans. The response to this collection has fueled continued interest in Five Below as a destination for room decor and accessories.

On the marketing front, we continue to focus on creating a connected customer journey, which often starts in digital and ends in a store visit. Our customers are social native and meeting them where they are strengthens our connection with them and improves the relevance of the Five Below brand. Beyond social, we are also growing our customer database to further develop a relationship with the customer and inspire repeat visits. This is an emerging capability for Five Below and one that we are excited to develop. Our marketing efforts are helping to drive brand awareness while deepening engagement with new and existing customers. Both customer cohorts grew faster than we had historically experienced and we were pleased to see new customers gained in 2025 return to Five Below throughout the first half of 2026.

We are still early in our journey to fully unlock the potential of our marketing strategy and the capabilities we are developing will become increasingly important for customer acquisition, retention and brand strength.

Turning to the store experience. We are focused on making our stores easier to shop and more engaging for customers. We aim to make shopping fun for kids and easy for their parents to say yes. Our customers thrive on newness, value and novelty, and we are all about the treat and the treasure hunt. We are continuing to evolve the Five Below store experience. The first step began last year as we moved Five Beyond items in line with their associated departments rather than merchandising them on the back of the store. We have an opportunity to remerchandise this space, which was walled off in the balance of the store. By opening up the space and merchandising a world of play in this area, co-locating toys, games, collectibles and crafts, we believe we can make our aspiration to be America's greatest little toy store come to life.

Similarly, we believe that Gen Z customers will appreciate shopping a world of style, beauty and room that are co-located in the store and offer an immersive and engaging experience tailored to this important customer cohort. We believe that creating these immersive worlds in the store with intuitive product adjacencies, clear and more inspiring signage, and improved sight lines from the front to the back of stores will bring our assortment to life and provide inspiration and excitement for our customers as they build their baskets. The store environment, combined with our trend right product assortment and exceptional value is what makes Five Below a one-of-one concept and a destination for discovery.

Our stores have also become an increasingly important element of how we were able to amplify trends. Our merchants, marketers and store teams are working together to amplify trends and activate them with impactful in-store events. A great example from the quarter was our Golden Ticket Squishy Dumpling event in May. This 1-day event created excitement for our customers and communities and was flawlessly executed across the chain. It was a great example of building an engaging community at the local store level with a viral trend that has swept across multiple generations from parents to kids and young adults. After the event, our marketing team continued the story in social by taking Goldie, our exclusive Golden Dumpling, on the road with their friends, introducing new exclusive dumpling drops through social storytelling, and keeping customers connected to our brand.

Together, the product, social engagement and store execution has helped us to continue capitalizing on the squishy trend, driving traffic to our stores and leading a cultural Zeitgeist. In summary, we are very pleased with our second quarter performance and are encouraged by the strength we are seeing in the business driven by the continued progress across merchandising, marketing and store experience. As we move through the rest of the year and into 2027, we will remain maniacally focused on our customer, the boss, and on continued growth and executing our strategy at a consistently high level. The scale of our growth opportunity across the business and the brand is exciting and we believe the effectiveness of our flywheel positions us well for the future.

With that said, I'd like to turn it over to Dan for a deeper discussion of our financial results and our updated outlook for 2026.

Thanks, Winnie. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to start by adding my sincere thanks to the Five Below team for another outstanding quarter. The organization's continued collaboration and relentless focus on our customer is reflected in the results we're sharing today. I'll begin my remarks with a review of our second quarter results and then discuss our updated outlook for the third quarter and full year fiscal 2026. My comments will refer to results on an adjusted or non-GAAP basis and therefore, exclude the P&L impact of the tariff refunds amongst other items.

Overall, we were extremely pleased with the results in the quarter, highlighted by further execution against our strategies, outsized sales and profit gains and strong free cash flow generation. As we drove transactions in our stores and meaningfully grew comp sales, the fundamental elements of our business model were widely visible: gross margin accretion, a healthy combination of disciplined investments and productivity gains and broad deployment of capital that was prioritized in support of growth. For the second quarter, net sales increased 23% to $1.3 billion, driven by a strong comparable sales increase of just over 14%, primarily due to an increase in comp transactions and new store unit growth of 9%. This was our fifth straight quarter of double-digit comp growth with 2-year stacked growth of 26.5%.

We opened 52 net new stores compared to 32 net new stores in the second quarter last year, ending the quarter with 2,022 stores. New store productivity again outperformed, and the strong results from our 2025 and 2026 vintages reinforced the benefits of our disciplined real estate strategy. Adjusted gross profit increased 31% to $449 million. As a percentage of sales, gross margin increased approximately 220 basis points year-over-year to 35.6%, despite meaningfully higher fuel costs. These gains were primarily driven by merch margin expansion, fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales and an improved shrink reserve rate based on 2025 physical inventory results.

Adjusted SG&A expenses totaled $336 million or 26.6% in rate of sale or 140 basis points lower than the second quarter last year. This was largely due to fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales, partially offset by planned higher marketing investments and incremental labor costs associated with the timing of physical inventory counts. Importantly, despite these timing headwinds, we leveraged labor costs year-over-year. Adjusted operating income more than doubled to $113 million and adjusted operating margin increased approximately 360 basis points to 9%.

Adjusted net interest income was about $9 million or $4 million higher than last year, due primarily to a higher average cash balance throughout the quarter. Adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share for the second quarter each more than doubled to $93 million and $1.68 per share, respectively. During the second quarter, we repurchased approximately 311,000 shares at a total cost of about $60 million as part of the $100 million repurchase authorization from November 2023.

Subsequently, our Board approved a new $600 million repurchase authorization without an expiration date. This new authorization offers an attractive alternative for the deployment of excess liquidity and reflects our confidence in the underlying strength of our business and ability to continue to generate healthy free cash flow while self-funding our store growth and delivering industry-leading paybacks on our new stores. We ended the second quarter in a strong cash position with approximately $1.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments, inclusive of $170 million in pretax IEEPA refunds.

For the first 6 months of fiscal 2026, CapEx levels were just over $110 million and 36% above the same period last year, as we continue to disproportionately invest in new unit growth, where returns on invested capital are most attractive. Inventory was $941 million at the end of the second quarter, an increase of 18%. On an average per-store basis, inventory dollars were up 8% with units slightly down. In summary, as our strategy gains further traction and enterprise execution levels continue to strengthen, we have increased confidence in the long-term value drivers of our business. We are on strong footing entering the second half of the year with clear momentum, a healthy balance sheet and ample liquidity. As such, we are raising our outlook for the back half of the year. As a reminder, our outlook excludes the IEEPA tariff refunds and does not contemplate future share repurchases.

For the third quarter, we expect total sales in the range of $1.21 billion to $1.23 billion or growth of about 18% at the midpoint versus last year's third quarter with comparable sales growth between 8% and 10%. We expect to open approximately 40 net new stores in the third quarter compared to 49 net new stores last year. Adjusted operating margin at the midpoint is expected to be about 6%, an increase of 160 basis points versus last year, driven by both gross margin expansion and SG&A leverage. Adjusted gross margin at the midpoint is expected to increase about 100 basis points, reflective of leverage on fixed costs and higher merch margins, in part due to lower tariff costs. This is partially offset by higher fuel costs on outbound transportation and an unfavorable shrink comparison against last year's true-up.

Adjusted SG&A for the third quarter is expected to leverage fixed costs on the 9% comp at the midpoint, while funding increased marketing investment. Net interest income is expected to be approximately $8 million for the third quarter and the effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 25%. Adjusted net income is expected to be $59 million at the midpoint or an increase of 57% versus Q3 last year. Adjusted diluted earnings per share at the midpoint is expected to be $1.07 compared to $0.68 in Q3 last year.

Turning to the full year. Sales are expected to be in the range of $5.63 billion to $5.71 billion, an increase of 19% at the midpoint versus last year, and comparable sales growth is expected to be between 10% and 12% or 24% at the midpoint on a 2-year stack basis. Adjusted operating margin for the year is now expected to increase 250 basis points to approximately 12.5% at the midpoint with 3/4 of it driven by gross margin expansion and a quarter by leverage over SG&A. We expect adjusted net interest income of approximately $36 million and a full year effective tax rate of approximately 25%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to be $10.07 at the midpoint on 55.5 million shares outstanding or growth of 51% versus 2025.

Capital expenditures are now expected to be between $250 million and $260 million or 4.5% of net sales at the midpoint, excluding the impact of tenant allowances. This reflects 150 net new store openings and investments in our store experience, infrastructure and technology.

In summary, we are pleased with the continued strong performance of the business. We are increasingly confident that our strategy for merchandising, marketing and in-store experience will drive durable top and bottom line growth.

And with that, I'll hand the call back over to the operator to start the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] And today's first question comes from Randy Konik at Jefferies.

I guess, Winnie, first to you -- and I've been doing this for 26 years, I've only seen transformational changes like this very rarely in my career. So congratulations to you guys. I guess what I want to kind of unpack is the word flywheel and the different kind of ingredients that go into that flywheel, let's say, let's kind of focus on two of them in product and marketing. And if you think about the outperformance of your quarter on the top line, maybe kind of give us some perspective and get a little deeper on how much of it you thought came from the strides you're making in product and the balance in marketing.

And then really kind of give us some perspective on your journey on how you're thinking about the evolution of product and marketing into '27, '28 and '29 -- 2029, and how you're kind of thinking about that journey and how that kind of leads to more customers coming into the business and then your existing customer cohorts, how they continue to kind of drive more frequency of shop to the box as well. That would be very helpful.

Thanks so much, Randy, and thank you for the congratulations. I just want to one more time thank the crew here at Five Below for a tremendous quarter. And it's actually our fifth consecutive double-digit comp quarter, which makes us all incredibly proud, but what it really reinforces for me is that the strategy that we put into place last year is working and that the customers are really responding. And so there is nothing more gratifying than to see as a merchant and a marketer that things are really, really working. And I would say that we've got this amazing operating flywheel, and it's grounded in a strategy that was reset. And thank you for acknowledging that the transformation happened quickly. I think that it's a testament to our overall value proposition in the marketplace. We are a one of one concept that is a destination for kids the kid in all of us at extreme value. There's really no one like Five Below.

And what we did last year was first put that maniacal focus on the customer, who is our customer, and got really intimate with what it means to be Gen Alpha, Gen Z and a millennial parent and what their needs are. And with that, we remerchandised and we really kind of took a step back and up and thought about not just merchandising items and chasing great one-off ideas but how do we do our job telling really great stories and curated product stories that are grounded in what's happening out there, especially in social media. And we've always been a business of trend, but it's exciting to see that products that we've had in the line for 5 years like the Squishy Dumpling, when it gets acknowledged in social, we now can not only build it from a product perspective, but also meet customers where they are from a marketing perspective.

And last year, we worked hard to move our working media spend away from traditional commercial and into social media. And with that, at the end of last year, we could really amplify those trends as well as create our own content on those trends. And we saw a lot of goodness come with that, including better brand awareness. And then right now, we're hard at work and in the very early innings of trying to capture customers at the till and capture their records. When I started, we were at roughly 0%, and we're making great progress in the stores. It's a concerted effort with everyone involved. But with those records, we're able to better direct great content to those individuals and start to build a relationship through e-mail marketing. And we're going to refine that even further. But again, very early innings, and what's really great to see is the customers we captured in 2025 are coming back in '26, those that we gained new in the first quarter of '26 are coming back in the second quarter of '26. So really great stuff.

And I would say that if you've got the right content and the right value proposition, those messages when they hit, they drive great visits. The third aspect is really around our stores and the store experience. And again, we are just getting started here in some ways. We're so excited to have Rodney lead the troops and our crews. But in terms of store experience, we are beginning a journey of just making it that much more fun, simpler for customers to shop, starting with our price simplification last year. But also just making these product stories come to life and these 6 curtain-up moments really have galvanized the crew to work together. And this is where you see merchandising, you see marketing, and stores as well as our wonderful supply chain and distribution crew come together to deliver goodness to the customer to celebrate these magical moments in the year.

So you asked the question with regards to how much further can we take this? We are very much in the early innings. And what is really great is we've just begun and we are seeing nice resonance in terms of getting that repeat growth up in the double digits, new customer counts up in the double digits. Our brand awareness spiking. And it is, again, the operating flywheel in effect. And we have a lot more ahead of us. And you add on all the white space opportunity we've got with new stores. And it's a very nice position to be in as a growth brand. And I'm also going to pass it on to Dan to fill in some of the details here.

Thanks, Winnie. Randy, you asked about the over-delivery against our outlook for Q2. Remember, when we spoke back in June, we had 1 month in the books essentially for the quarter. We were also looking out trying to anticipate and predict a couple of unknowns, one around what would happen as we cycled and anniversaried the pricing of a year ago. And then second was, of course, the trend profile, particularly school would be letting out and trying to be thoughtful about that. So that was the backdrop. I would point to 3 things that really were the catalyst for the over-delivery against our expectations. One, transaction growth was simply more robust than we anticipated. We drove significant traffic to the store, that traffic converted, and we saw transaction growth that was above what we had expected.

I think secondly, part and parcel to that, the trend demand continued. And so we were excited. We had new products to offer. We had a better in-stock position. We did some really cool stuff in-store to activate and we saw a really, really strong response from the customer. And then thirdly, and Winnie highlighted some of the special moments -- if you look at the quarter that was, there are some moments in time, 4th of July would be an example, World Cup would be an example, even early back-to-school where we knew we would have great new interesting product. We knew we would execute at a high level. And even with that as the inputs, those moments outperformed what we had expected. So super excited, obviously, about the results and the over-delivery, and we're heading into the back half of the year with clear momentum.

And our next question today comes from Krisztina Katai with Deutsche Bank.

Congratulations on yet another very strong quarter. I wanted to ask about the composition of the better-than-expected traffic growth a bit more. I guess Winnie or Dan, can you unpack sort of like the categories and product stories that were the biggest traffic drivers? Are you seeing traffic increasingly concentrated around major trend events, or are the visits becoming more broad-based across the assortment?

If I could just throw in a second one. Just when we look at, obviously, quarter-to-date, you gave us an 8% to 10% guidance. Just anything you can comment on as it relates to the exit rate or how maybe August has trended and if anything, from a composition perspective might be changing? Or are you seeing that continue?

Thanks so much, Krisztina. I'll start, and then I'll let Dan speak in terms of the guidance. The traffic growth that we saw and that we experienced in the quarter was consistent with the traffic growth we saw in quarter 1. And what's been really great is to see that actually, we saw broad-based growth across all of our categories. Certainly, we had really, really nice effect of the squishy trend. And it did survive quarter in, quarter out, which has been terrific. And I think what's been very telling about seeing the traffic that's come from the squishy trend is that those customers have converted to -- into broader Five Below. And we're seeing them buy across the assortment. We're also seeing that our aspiration to be America's greatest little toy store is definitely coming to life. That's something that I put out as an aspiration last year.

And we certainly highlighted in holiday, and we're following up now. And I think that the squishy trend has made our games, toys, collectibles, and even our create and crafting departments really relevant. And so it's been great. I think the key with any trends now at Five Below is, while there always have been trends, is what we do with them. And I think that we have new ways of managing them, first and foremost, listening to social and seeing what pops up. Secondly, being able to engage with customers really, really fast through social media and amplify and boost those trends. And then thirdly, provide a product assortment where we're dropping newness and continuing to engage the customer. And we're doing that throughout the store. So that's what's been really, really exciting. And again, we saw nice growth across our world and a lot of resonance. And so I think Five Below is just becoming a brand that's known for affordable, great fun for the kid and the kid in all of us, and I'm going to pass it on to Dan to talk about the quarter.

Yes. Thanks, Winnie. Thanks for the question, Krisztina. I'm not going to get into necessarily the in-quarter performance to date or color. What I would say is just maybe to pivot back, as we thought about how we constructed the guide, let me take you through a bit of the thinking. Obviously, we started with a very strong underlying growth rate. You've heard some of the reasons why here already on the call and some of the points that Winnie has made. But certainly, with an 18% growth, half 1, 28% on a 2-year stack -- we've got new store productivity levels that we're super pleased with. We have real increased proof points that the strategy is resonating and the execution is strong. So that was the basis -- we then did factor in, of course, the impact of trend both on a, let's say, a direct comp basis, but also indirect as it continues to drive traffic and brand awareness.

And so you put those elements together for the third quarter, we have profiled what we think is a thoughtful outlook, 9% at the midpoint, over 20% on a 2-year stack. And I would say that we would expect the composition of that comp growth to be very similar to the first 2 quarters of the year, which means largely driven by transaction growth.

And our next question today comes from Matthew Boss at JPMorgan.

Congrats on another great quarter. So, 2 questions. Winnie, could you elaborate on the rolling thunder approach to newness across categories that you cited? And how you see this impacting traffic frequency and new customer acquisition? And then, Dan, you touched on it, but could you speak to the drivers of this new store performance from the recent cohorts? And the new store productivity levels, which, as you said, continue to materially outpace your historical plan.

Thanks so much, Matt. The rolling thunder approach is something that we have worked really, really hard on, and it's across every single world. I think that Five Below has always been about newness and has been about refreshing the assortments at very specific times during the year. But I think what's different about what we're doing today is one, we're acknowledging that newness is what's driving those visits and that excitement from the customers, and we're talking about it. So along with the newness drops, we're actually engaging in marketing, we're messaging it, we're talking about it, and it's working. Customers acknowledge when we have it, it is driving the visits. We're able to communicate with them now with the growth of our e-mail file as well.

The other piece of the rolling thunder approach is being intentional about, again, product storytelling and instead of just launching a bunch of new stuff, really build out a story with connective tissue and think about things with the collections mindset. And so this has been a lot of hard work in the background between merchandising, visual merchandising, marketing, stores to get this right. And I really applaud the teams because we see that the customers are picking up on these cues, and it's driving them into the stores. So it's been terrific.

Yes. Matt, picking up on your second question around new store productivity. Look, we're obviously super pleased with the results and the trend that we're on. It makes what was already a very exciting investment profile outstanding for us. I would point to two main drivers. One, I think just the acknowledgment, the reality of the breadth and depth of the growth that we are seeing. When you see this type of growth across all geographies, all income cohorts, all demographics, there's certainly a rising tide element to this that plays out in your NSP.

I think more importantly, though, is I think this is a great reflection of the more disciplined real estate strategy that we put in place about 18 months ago and really applied that strategy not only in white space thinking, which you saw in the Pacific Northwest last year, but also as we thought about fill-in. And this strategy is based upon the notion of much more discipline upfront, really engaging from site selection all the way through to grand opening, holding a really high bar on location, on lease terms, on our ability to then activate and execute the minute we open the doors and knowing how to seed the market, both ahead of the entry and as part of the execution. I think we are meaningfully better on all elements of that than we were 18 months ago, and those results are playing out in our new store productivity. Thanks for the question.

And our next question today comes from Robbie Ohmes at Bank of America.

I was hoping this might be more for Dan. Just if you could speak to the tariff refunds and how you think about that cash and -- or how we should think about the back half and sort of investing the tariff refunds as expenses in the back half versus expenses because your traffic is so much higher. So sort of spending into the higher comp trends that you guys keep coming up with and how we should think about that in our models?

Yes. Sure, Robbie. Thanks for the question. Look, our focus from an investment standpoint has been and is going to continue to be primarily focused against our customers and in support of our growth. That is at the heart of our strategy. That is how we have prioritized and will continue to. Now I think what the IEEPA refunds offer us is an ability to accelerate that and with some optionality. And so -- the areas that I would expect that we would think to redeploy these funds: first is going to be to continuing to invest in the customer experience in-store and making sure we are offering our customers the best experience possible. And Winnie's talked about that in her prepared remarks around the importance of how we bring our product to life, how we simplify and improve the shopping experience for our customers and really reinforce the treasure hunt aspect of our offering, which is so important.

I think the second one, sort of following on that is applying the same thinking and importance to our digital platform as we think about ourselves through the lens of omnichannel and really improving the online shopping experience for our customers and making sure that, that experience lives up to our brand and matches the in-store experience.

And then thirdly, I would point to, we're going to continue to invest in the product, in our hunt and our search for newness and in our value proposition. And so I think as you put all 3 of those together, I would expect that it will disproportionately be seen in CapEx, and it will be seen over time. Thanks, Robbie.

And our question today comes from Michael Lasser at UBS.

Last quarter, you quantified what the flywheel meant to your business in that the underlying run rate was in the high single-digit range, inclusive of some pricing. Now that you've seen second quarter play out as well as having some time to reflect on that number, is that still a good way to think about the underlying run rate for the business? And as you look to next year and the coming quarters, do we take pause that there are any unique factors that we should consider as we model over the next few quarters that are just going to be difficult to repeat and will act as an impediment to Five Below's ability to sustain a positive comp in the periods ahead?

Thanks, Michael. I'm just going to start in terms of taking a step up and back as we look at what's coming for the balance of the year. What's great about the operating flywheel is that the momentum is starting to speed up and carry itself. And I think the aspects that we've been really pleased with are our disciplined approach of delivering great relevant newness at extreme value with a very focused intention of being a destination for kids. And I think that one-of-one concept and that focus on value is going to be even more resonant as we move through the year. We also have the ability this year versus last year, especially as we look forward to holiday, of bringing in products that the tariffs did not allow us to bring in last year. So we have a full assortment of goodness coming through both for Halloween and holiday that we feel really excited about.

And we think it's going to be incredibly compelling to the customer. We've seen really nice new customer acquisition both through trend as well as our marketing efforts. And that just continues to grow and I would say that what's nice is to be able to take those customers and see them repeat with us. And so as we capture more customer records and are able to communicate with those customers and build relationships with them over time, I think that, that is going to be a huge tailwind for us in the quarters coming up. So very, very excited about those elements. And again, early innings on those pieces. And I'm going to pass it on to Dan to lean in here.

Thanks, Winnie. Yes, Michael, I would only add a couple of things. I think the operating flywheel that Winnie talks about which is really the heart of a winning strategy that is being executed at a really high level, that's obviously the catalyst here. I'd point out that the result of this is also reflected in a business that is much more about assortment than it is about item. In the quarter itself, Squishy Dumplings, as an example, was a low single-digit contributor to our comp growth. And that's similar to what we saw in the first quarter. Now we recognize, obviously, it had a bigger impact from a halo perspective and from its ability to contribute to our traffic gains.

But I think the other point I would highlight here is the importance of our ability as an organization to self amplify this trend. We've almost taken now what's become a commodity item and made it so unique and so compelling and so interesting that it is actually a Five Below item. And so I think these are all examples of durable elements to this growth story. And while we don't underestimate the impact of Squishy Dumplings, the math would tell us it was a low single-digit contributor and our capabilities here to amplify this trend and drive traffic around the trend are new and growing muscles, which we think also play well into the future. Thanks, Michael.

And our next question today comes from David Bellinger with Mizuho.

Two follow-ups on the social media piece. Any data points you can share around the sales uplift maybe from sort of target markets where this has turned on more than others? And then as you look out further, you mentioned being still early innings with the e-mail capture rate. How sophisticated can the marketing program ultimately get? Can we eventually see much more precision on these paid posts, paid sponsorships on even a household-by-household basis?

Thank you so much, David. So on the social media, I can't share exact figures, but what I can share with you is that we like the results we've seen in terms of pivoting our spend from traditional commercials into social. We really look at the media spend in social and digital by cohort of customer and what's most applicable. And we're also seeing some nice results through connected TV for Gen Alpha through YouTube. So we continue to really mix -- modify the mix of media in order to optimize our ROAS but more importantly, to capture customer attention and to engage with them in a relevant way. And yes, I think we are very early innings on e-mail capture, and we're able to batch and blast at this point to a lot of customers. Our ability to really hone in and personalize and dial in our marketing is early stages, and we will be making those investments over time because we know that they will pay off as we try to grow lifetime value of our customers.

We've also got a neat value proposition at Five Below in that we capture customers young and we ladder them through their preteen and teen years. And we would love to see them beyond that. But certainly, as they grow up and out and have their own families, they come back. And so the true lifetime journey at Five Below is one that I think is exceptional. And once we build out our marketing toolkit and our tools, we'll be able to do a lot more to bridge those moments for the customers. Thank you, David.

And our next question today comes from Joe Feldman at Telsey Advisory Group.

Yes. And also congrats on a strong quarter, amazing quarter really. And question I had was, you talked a bit about the Five Beyond section in the back of the store and sort of tearing down that wall, and allocating some more space. Can you talk a little bit about how that will be rolled out and implemented and like the cost to do it or the effort and the time? I'm just trying to get a better sense of what we should expect to see over the next coming months and couple of quarters. I would assume it's not going to be an overnight thing. So maybe you could share some thoughts on that.

Absolutely. And yes, on Five Beyond, this has been a journey for us, and it really started last year as we started moving the product out of the area and customers were receiving the products better in their own departmental homes -- which left an open space for us to merchandise and try to make more productive. And so we started the work of looking at what could go back there, how do we literally tear down the signage and get the gondolas that are attached to the wall and a pretty high height, down. See what that would do for the stores, see what that would do in terms of productivity and customer acceptance as well as crew and the crew experience. And all of that has been positive.

So we've just begun that journey of moving through stores to make these adjustments and we think it's going to do great things from a couple of points: one, we do believe we will make a very productive splash with the world of play. It's part of a broader strategy to, again, really think about our adjacencies of the products, so they make sense for the customer and the customer shopping, so that they can more effectively build their basket.

I think secondly, we want to make sure that whatever we do keeps us incredibly flexible because the business changes all the time, trends change, needs change for our customers. So we really want to keep it flexible and agile. And then I think the third thing is from an overall experience, being able to see back to front for store is important, especially if you're shopping as a family and you've got young kids, you want line of sight. For our crew, it's important in terms of being able to track customers and understand what their needs are. So we think there's a lot of goodness that's going to come out of some of these changes but we're being very disciplined in terms of how we roll it out, monitor it and move forward that way. So I'll let Dan talk a little bit more about that.

Yes. Thanks, Winnie. Yes, Joe, we think this is a fairly modest level of capital investment per store. It's probably in the range of $40,000 to $45,000 of CapEx per store -- it is at the heart, though, of what led to us increasing our CapEx outlook for the year, now in a range of $250 million to $260 million is our conviction to start investing in this program. And so that has begun and is the cause for us taking up our guidance. Thanks, Joe.

And our next question today comes from Scot Ciccarelli with Truist Securities.

I appreciate the time. So based on the midpoint of your 3Q guide and the full year outlook, it looks like you're still embedding a low single-digit comp in the fourth quarter. I think we recognize 4Q always has some pressures because of the amount of volume that has to flow through the box. But just given your -- the momentum of your trends and the ability to bring in products that you couldn't have last year, why wouldn't you expect 4Q comps to be quite a bit higher than what seems to be implied in the guide? And specifically, do you have real concerns around the physical volume limitations of the stores? Or is this just taking more of a prudent or conservative approach in the outlook?

Scot, thanks for the question. Look, as we've constructed the guide, certainly, run rate momentum of the business factored into that. I think you are right. We've talked about certain opportunities that we left on the cutting room floor last year in the fourth quarter, largely as a result of tariff decisions that we had to make around products. We're certainly super excited about the programs and the products that we're bringing in for the holidays and the teams have already begun planning for and executing. So certainly, a lot there to like. The way we've constructed the fourth quarter, which would position at about a 3% comp growth profile for the quarter. I think to be fair, you also have to look at that on a 2-year basis, given that we have now anniversaried the pricing, and we are cycling, as you know, a fairly big 15% quarter a year ago.

So on a 2-year stack, this quarter, our biggest quarter of the year, profiles at an 18%. And just we haven't tried to be conservative. We're prudent. We've just been thoughtful here weighing all of the things I just mentioned and also the reality that we're in terms of the competitive set in that time period and the amount of business we and others will do over a very, very short period of time. We just wanted to be thoughtful balancing the obvious underlying run rate of this business, some of the things we're super excited about and the fact that it is the holiday season. That's all that went into the guide. We don't see it as conservative, we see it as thoughtful.

And our next question today comes from Chuck Grom at Gordon Haskett.

When you look at your store fleet and overall sales per store this year, which is going to be about $2.7 million, is it possible to speak to maybe your top 10% to 20% of the store base? And I guess any common themes between those locations, whether it be brand awareness or others that you can apply to the rest of the fleet? I'm trying to sort of approach the comping the comp question for 2027 from a slightly different angle.

So in terms of the store fleet, that's a great question, Chuck, and that's a great way of thinking through it. We don't see a meaningful variance. It is amazing in terms of the performance across the fleet regardless of vintage or geography. We've seen lift throughout and we don't see a huge meaningful swing between the top percentile versus the bottom either in terms of brand awareness or any other factors. It's been kind of like good throughout the system. I think the bigger piece around comping the comp as we look at 2027 is thinking through how we take these new customers that we've acquired and bring them back and then how we continue to acquire new.

Both our new store openings but also in existing because we're increasing our brand awareness. And that can be through marketing, but it also can be through a trend and relevance. And I think that's where we're winning currently. Thank you, Chuck.

And our next question today comes from Jeremy Hamblin at Craig-Hallum Capital.

I'll add my congratulations. And especially on your operating margins flowing right past the 11% to 12% legacy level and hitting mid-teens this year. I wanted to get into the curtain-up moments. And kind of those 6 times a year, I think we recently kind of seen that for your post back-to-school and kind of early Halloween set. In terms of the efficiency around doing those sets, it seems like your labor investment is quite a bit more than what you've put into it in the past. And given that it's kind of a bigger show of the new assortment than what you've done from a historical perspective, do you feel like you have the formula down from a labor scheduling perspective of how many people you need and when? Or is that something that's a future opportunity as you get more efficient in how to have these WOW curtain-up moments and still run the business even if you have maybe comp levels that are a little bit lower than what you're doing currently?

Thanks for the question, Jeremy. So overall, we have invested more labor in the stores. And it started last year, and it started in earnest because we had gotten to the point where we weren't I would say, doing the one-of-one of bringing products from the back to the front in a way that was -- that allowed us to refill shelves and to really feed the unit throughput business that we've got. And so overall, that's kind of where it all started. With the curtain up moment, we actually have always had new sets in the front of store. The difference between the current curtain up moment is the coordination between corporate and stores and it's merchandising, marketing, and supply chain to get it right, get the right product at the right place at the right time to make sure that the stores are educated about what they're seeing to give them an idea of what they're going to see not only in terms of product content, but also in terms of marketing and gearing for let's not wait to set the floor. Let's get it done.

So that when we announce, the customer is there. And so it really is how we collaborate and how we work has been the biggest piece. And yes, of course, I think we're going to get more efficient over time. But in general, we have seen that the visual merchandising of product, the movement of product has actually driven a lot of interest and a lot of engagement by customers, and we like those results. Thank you, Jeremy.

And our next question today comes from Edward Kelly at Wells Fargo.

Maybe just a follow-up to start, a real question. I was hoping that you could clarify traffic versus ticket. I think when you said something about consistent with Q1, I just didn't know if you meant proportionately similar and tickets still up. And then the real question is just around the gross margin, Dan. I was hoping you could maybe unpack it a little bit, fuel versus shrink versus tariffs this quarter. And then looking out into '27, how we start to think about some of those dynamics, particularly if tariff rates go back up?

Great. Okay. And I'm going to start with transaction. So we saw transaction growth in both quarters and both quarters was driven by traffic. And so that was the shape of the transaction growth, which has been terrific to see. And terrific to see the consistency kind of week in, week out. And I'll pass it on to Dan.

Yes. Thanks, Winnie. Yes, look, the gross margin profile in the second quarter, we were super pleased with. We had 220 basis points of accretion. Obviously, leverage played a role there, but it was really led by merch margin expansion. So here you saw the benefit of pricing that we hadn't yet anniversaried and lower tariff costs. And the shrink was solid. It was slightly below year-over-year, which was helpful. And higher fuel cost was absolutely an offset in the quarter. So you put all of those elements together, and obviously pleased with the profile.

As we look forward into the tariff environment, and I think we would expect some level of tailwinds moving into the back half of the year just based on the simple reality that the new rates under Section 301 are lower than the rates we had assumed in our outlook previously. We would expect that, that picture slightly reverses as we head into 2027, again, based on everything that we know because the rates that will be in place under Section 301 are actually slightly higher than the rates that have been in place under the temporary Section 122. So what does it all mean? Look, I think it's an evolving picture for sure. We know that. I think in the second half of the year, while we do anticipate lower tariffs, we don't anticipate material flow through to gross margin because fuel costs are likely going to be higher and will likely offset that. And then as we think about next year, it's obviously way too soon for us to start constructing a plan and talking about that plan.

But what I would say is just because we may be operating under a slightly higher tariff environment, I wouldn't expect that, that would necessarily mean a dampening to gross margins. This organization has shown it knows how to address tariffs head on, largely through the cost lens as well. So I wouldn't necessarily paint a picture for next year that the negative tariff environment will impact margins. Much more work to do on that, and we'll certainly talk about that as we talk about '27.

And our next question today comes from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

We always like to ask about licensing. I think I've asked about it in the last couple of calls. It's very obvious that there is a more concerted effort in the stores when it comes to licensing and it's been an important driver of your product transformation. Just wondered if you could provide any more detail about the role of licensing with regards to the comp in the second quarter, kind of what the movie slate looked like this summer versus previous summers. And just as you implement more, are you seeing a measurable impact to traffic as a result of this initiative.

Thanks for your question, Kate. And licensing is definitely growing -- of growing importance to us. And I think I mentioned that -- the big difference for us in terms of how we do licensing is in the past, I think we were really great at infusing relevant licenses into relevant products. So Stitch in the toys and games world, for instance. And we definitely saw some [indiscernible] licensed kind of IP work for us. Today, we're taking a slightly different approach in that, one, we have the ability to deliver a 360 experience with a license in a full collection. And we definitely did that with Toy Story this year. And in fact, the back part of this year, we're excited because we're going to have, again, a rolling thunder of great movie titles coming out.

But the other aspect of licensing that we're excited about is to bring new licenses to market. And you'll be seeing more of that as we move through it. But we think that there is a wonderful complement to what we're seeing in terms of toys, games and collectibles. And if you take an idea like Fugglers that was born really in the world of toys and games applying it to tech product and seeing what else we can do with something that really resonates with our customer. So that's really the difference in terms of how we work on this, and you'll see more of that as we roll through this year. And of course, we've already started on thinking through 27 as well. Thanks for your question.

And our next question today comes from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim.

Winnie, do you guys have good insight into how -- once you get people in the store how they shop the store is changing in terms of how they work their way through the store, how much time they spend? What has happened so far? Where do you think that is going and is that -- how does that influence your thoughts operationally?

Thanks, John. We, I think, have more learning we can do in terms of insights on how the customer shops the store. Right now, it really is through observation and it's observation through our own visits as well as what we hear from our crew in the field. And this is one of the areas that I think we've got a lot of opportunity with Rodney coming on board is really understanding how the customer engages with the full store -- we think there's a lot of opportunity currently. And so like I said, the move towards eliminating Five Beyond is not just so that we can make that area more productive, but also get those sight lines clear from the front to the back.

Five Beyond is actually a walled in area. So detaching those fixtures from the wall and creating an ability for our customer to sneak up and down aisles is the way I like to shop, and I think customers will respond really well to that.

Finally, I do think that having adjacencies in the store that makes sense and are directed towards a target customer cohort like a Gen Alpha versus a Gen Z is going to help them build their basket. Right now, they're kind of hopping from place to place in the store, and we think we can do better there. There are 2 trip driver categories that we know of that are fairly consistent, which is the world of candy and the world of tech. And so again, making moves to think about putting them in the front of the store, and making them really easy to see for the customer really easy for whoever wants an in-and-out experience.

And I think the last area that I think is opportunity for us is our line queue, just adding those last few items in the basket. So everything will be in service of making that experience funner, better, easier, but also helping our customers build the basket, but we're early stages on this. Thanks for your question, John.

And our next question today comes from Zhihan Ma with Bernstein.

A quick 2-part follow-up. One, just on the new store side of things, given the very strong results from the new store openings, what does it take for you to consider reaccelerating the pace of store growth from here? And then a follow-up on the reinvestments of the tariff rebounds. How do you think about balancing the reinvestment needs versus returning capital to shareholders?

I'll take them both. Look, on the new store side, we're obviously not capital constrained, so that isn't necessarily a barrier here. I think the balancing act for us is continuing to be able to execute at a really high level, and we are really scaling these muscles in an impactful way such that we're even confident now to expand into a white space like Puerto Rico, so you can see the confidence that we have. But also new stores is also a subject of what's available and what properties and locations are available. And so we have to balance all of those. We're going to continue to operate with pace and urgency simply because the returns are too good, but we're not going to sacrifice the standards that we have set because we've seen the results here, and we're quite pleased. So that was the first part.

On the second part, look, we've demonstrated, I think, certainly, in this earnings release, our ability to balance capital both ways, right? One is to lean in and invest in growth and in our customers, and that is going to continue to be our priority, and you see that in our updated outlook for the year. CapEx moves up, and you've heard the reasons why around the store experience and that discussion. At the same time, in the quarter, we just completed buying shares on the original authorization and then subsequently launched a $600 million authorization. So what we are showing here in terms of how we will deploy capital is a reflection of our confidence in this business and its ability to continue to grow, throw off significant cash flow.

And it's a capital allocation strategy that is geared in being able to do both, invest in this business to drive growth and, at the same time, return excess liquidity to shareholders where those returns warranted. And we're quite pleased with that outcome, and we'll begin to execute against it. Thanks for the question.

And our final question today comes from Phillip Blee with William Blair.

As we just start to think about holiday, I think last year, you began to roll out some of your larger omnichannel initiatives like BOPIS, delivery, et cetera. But maybe you had to turn off some of those capabilities due to the high volumes and staffing constraints. So are you planning to have your full suite of omnichannel functions live this holiday? If so, what kind of comp impact do you think that, that could have? And then what are the margin implications there, assuming there's going to be an uptick in-store labor to make that happen?

Thanks for your question. We are hoping to be able to continue with our omni during this holiday season. And we're still working through the details of what that looks like and how we execute against that. So I really can't comment with regards to what it will cost, et cetera. I will tell you that right now, we're seeing nice results with BOPIS, but also third-party delivery. So we've got a couple of different ways to deliver to the customer, their needs and meet them where they are, and we're still working on the details. Thank you.

That concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Winnie Park for closing remarks.

So we want to thank you all for your continued support of Five Below. I also want to add a last huge thank you to the crew for making this quarter possible. We literally could not do this without you. And I would like to invite all of you all to come shop our fabulous Halloween curtain-up. We've got some amazing scary and fun treats. So please come and visit, and we look forward to seeing you all. Thank you.

Thank you. That concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

[Audio gap]

made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements, including those described in the press release and our SEC filings. In this presentation, we will refer to our SG&A expenses, which for us includes depreciation and amortization. Additionally, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please review today's press release, which is posted on our Investor Relations website for a reconciliation of these items to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure and a cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements.

I will now turn the call over to Winnie.

Thank you, Christiane, and hello all. I want to start by saying how grateful I am to our amazing Flow crew. They have executed our strategy at an exceptional level by seeing laser-focused on what matters most, the customer, our box. Our first quarter results are a testament to their great work, which reflects our operating flywheel in action and demonstrates the traction we've made in transforming our business and strengthening our position as the destination for the kid and the kid in all of us.

For the first quarter, we are reporting results that exceeded our expectations, with sales growth of nearly 33% to $1.3 billion, driven by 23% comp growth and strong new store performance, including 49 net new stores that opened during the quarter. Adjusted EPS of $2.22 per share grew over 2.5x compared to the first quarter of last year. With this positive momentum and despite an expected more challenging macro environment as the year plays out, we are raising our full year outlook, which Dan will discuss shortly.

Our outside sales growth in the quarter was driven by three key factors. First, we continue to see the customer reacting favorably to our strategy and the changes we made to our operating model. We often talk about the 3 legs of the stool that support our unique value proposition. The first leg is curated product storytelling focused on newness and amazing value across our assortment. Second, meeting the customer where they are with relevant marketing and social and digital media. Third, easier and funner shopping experiences in our stores, which offer better in-stock positions and streamlined pricing. Importantly, we operate as a real team, galvanizing all of our corporate ship centers and stores in 6 [indiscernible] moments that celebrate the season and milestones in our customers' lives. The second driver of our sales growth was engaging in social trends to amplify their virality.

While we have benefited from trends in the past, we are now able to actively engage with our customers through social media, direct marketing and finally, within store activations. Our marketing toolkit is expanding. And with the adoption of social-first approach, we are so much more reactive and relevant in messaging and engaging with our Gen alpha, Gen Z and millennial mom communities. And third, we benefited from customers spending their higher tax refunds. We leveraged our position as a value retailer to make fun and newness accessible to all. We continue to push ourselves to deliver aspirational product stories at very accessible price points.

Importantly, our growth was broad-based with 15 of 18 departments comping positively. Games and toys were particularly strong, driven by flexibles and the overall squish trend. We again grew in our districts, all vintages of stores and across all income cohorts. The comp growth was disproportionately driven by transactions, up 19% with ticket up 4%, reflecting strong traffic, customer engagement and continued success in our value proposition across price points. This reinforces what we've consistently said, our strategy is not reliant on a single product or trend, but rather driven by a full assortment of products at great relative value and supported by strong execution.

Identifying and capitalizing on trends is a core and growing capability at Five Below, and one that are newer, more impactful marketing strategy and campaigns enable us to amplify as we did with the authentic RMS squishy dumplings, leveraging our enhanced social activation capabilities and working with more agility cross-functionally. We feel a cultural like guys that has reinforced the strength of our brand with our core customers, while also introducing the brand to new customers. This end-to-end approach from detecting a burgeoning trend to amplifying it in social to creating an amazing in-store experience. That's our special sauce. And we're just getting started with how much more we can do here.

Our teams remain laser-focused on consistently executing against our core pillars, the 3 Cs: One, staying maniacally focused on our target customers; two, delivering a connected customer journey from social to in-store; and three, collaborating cross-functionally to enhance execution. This focus allows us to deliver amazing new products packed with compelling value, engaged with our customers on social media and digital and execute consistently at a high level. On merchandise specifically, we differentiated our offering through trend-right newness at amazing price value. The popularity of candy, beauty and toys help fulfill Valentine gift needs and fill Easter baskets. Our robust games and toys growth in the quarter further evidence our role as the greatest little toy store in America.

Our focus on curating licensed products led to an exclusive collaboration with an old favorite Winnie-the-Pooh. Value remains a critical component to our offering, and we believe our customers recognize the compelling value we provide, whether it be at $5 and below, our foundation and the vast majority of our products or $6 and above. We're very disciplined about ensuring it's not just another product on the shelf, but something that delivers wow value and really speaks to our customers' need for newness and fun.

With our new cross-functional go-to-market process in place, the team is focused on bringing the products to life by delivering current at moments for Valentine and Easter. We also hosted into activations to help our customers celebrate special moments, such as the 30th anniversary of Pokemon, a National Pokemon Day in our entire network of stores. In terms of marketing, as I mentioned earlier, we engaged our customers in social with creator content highlighting trends, newness and viral moments. We also deployed amazing AI content in connected TV commercials focused on seasonal moments. During the quarter, we made great progress building an e-mail database, which will sharpen our ability to direct social and digital marketing content to better engage with our customers and develop a more personalized relationship with them.

Across our fleet, we host fun treasure hunt shopping experiences for the whole family. Our labor model is designed to ensure in-stock positions while we simplify pricing structure, and improved visual presentations have made our stores easier to shop. We've largely completed integrating pipeline product in line in their appropriate world, and we are now testing layoffs and designs within the store to further strengthen the shopping experience while improving sales.

So to wrap up, I'm really excited about our first quarter results. They demonstrate the strength of what we've built and the progress we're making in staying maniacally focused on our customers. We're just getting started with what we can do across merchandising, marketing and the store experience. More to come, but we are confident that the strategies we put in place will enable us to deliver sustainable growth on the top and bottom line and to drive long-term value creation.

With that, I'll turn it over to Dan.

Thanks, Winnie. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to start by also thanking our crew for their incredible focus on serving our customers. In the face of growing macro challenges and an increasingly cautious consumer, our results exceeded our expectations in the quarter and further reinforce the strength of our unique retail concept. For the first quarter, net sales increased nearly 33% to $1.3 billion, supported by a strong comparable sales increase of approximately 23%. On a 2-year stack basis, comp sales grew approximately 30%. Q1 represented our fifth consecutive quarter of positive comp sales growth and fourth straight of double-digit growth with widespread increases in new and retained customers as well as across all income cohorts.

Growth across games and toys was noteworthy, underpinned by strong support in squishy trends and collectibles. We opened 49 net new stores across 25 states compared to 55 new stores in the first quarter last year. We grew our store count by 8% year-over-year and ended the quarter with 1,970 stores. As Winnie mentioned, we were very pleased with the performance across our fleet as growth rates were similar across all classes of stores. Adjusted gross profit increased 46% to $479 million or 37.2% in rate of sale, an increase of approximately 340 basis points compared to Q1 last year. This was primarily driven by fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales with efficiencies in distribution and a lower shrink accrual also contributing.

Adjusted SG&A expenses totaled $324 million or 25.2% in rate of sale, a decrease of approximately 250 basis points compared to Q1 last year. This was primarily driven by fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales, partially offset by increased incentive costs and higher-store labor related to the April physical inventory counts. The profit flow-through on our sales growth was strong. Adjusted operating income grew 160% to $155 million, and adjusted operating margin increased approximately 600 basis points to 12%. Net interest income was $8 million or $2 million above last year, primarily due to a higher average cash balance throughout the quarter.

Adjusted net income for the quarter grew 160% to $123 million and adjusted earnings per share increased 158% to $2.22. We ended the first quarter in a strong cash position with approximately $1.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments. Inventory was $813 million at the end of the first quarter, an increase of approximately 16% with a commensurate 10% increase in units. Average inventory per store was up 7% at the end of Q1. The increase in inventory reflects both opportunistic buying during this favorable tariff environment and taking the appropriate steps to ensure seamless flow of product amidst a more challenging global supply chain environment. Overall, we believe we are in a very good inventory position heading into the summer and holiday periods.

Now I want to turn to our expectations for the remainder of the year. We're very pleased with our Q1 performance and remain highly convicted in our ability to continue to generate durable, sustainable growth. At the same time, we remain cautious with respect to the macro environment, consumer sentiment and buying behaviors. As such, we have left our half 2 comparable sales assumptions unchanged from our previous guidance. On tariffs, we have now voted through the estimated benefits from the 10% global tariff rate that is in place through July '24. And we continue to assume that the tariffs will then revert to rates that were in place at the beginning of the fiscal year.

I'd like to also point out that our guidance does not assume any impact from EPA tariff refunds. With this as context, I'll now turn to our outlook. For the second quarter, we are raising our previous implied outlook. We now expect total sales in the range of $1.18 billion to $1.2 billion or growth of 16% at the midpoint versus last year's second quarter, with comparable sales growth between 7% and 9%. We expect to open approximately 50 new stores in the second quarter compared to 32 last year. Adjusted operating margin at the midpoint is expected to be 7% versus 5.4% in the second quarter last year. With the 160 basis point increase driven by gross margin expansion, partially offset by higher SG&A.

Adjusted gross margin in the second quarter reflects higher merchandise margins, fixed cost leverage and the lower shrink accrual partially offset by the effect of higher supply chain and fuel costs on outbound transportation. Adjusted SG&A is expected to deleverage slightly as the benefits of leverage are more than offset by increased marketing investment and increased store labor due to the timing of physical inventory counts. Net interest income is expected to be approximately $8 million for the second quarter and the effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 25%. Adjusted net income is expected to be $68 million at the midpoint or an increase of 52% versus Q2 last year.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share at the midpoint is expected to be $1.23 compared to $0.81 last year. For the full year, our guidance for sales reflects the outperformance we delivered in the first quarter and the improved sales outlook for the second quarter. We expect operating margin expansion to be driven by gross margins with SG&A rate of sale now expected to be flat to 2025. Full year sales are expected to be in the range of $5.4 billion to $5.48 billion, an increase of 14% at the midpoint versus last year, and comparable sales growth is expected to be between 6% and 8%, or nearly 20% growth at the midpoint on a 2-year stack basis. Adjusted operating margin is expected to increase 170 basis points to 11.6% at the midpoint driven by gross margin expansion.

Versus our prior guidance, the operating profit flow-through from the increase in sales is partially being offset by higher incentive costs. We've largely mitigated higher operating costs across the supply chain, including fuel-related headwinds, primarily through the lower tariff rates and increased efficiencies in our distribution centers. We expect net interest income of approximately $31 million and a full year effective tax rate of approximately 25%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to be $8.85 at the midpoint on 55.7 million shares outstanding or growth of 33% versus 2025. Capital expenditures are still expected to be between $230 million and $250 million, excluding the impact of tenant allowances, which reflects approximately 150 net new store openings and increased investments in technology and infrastructure.

In summary, we're very pleased with the performance of the business. We remain focused on executing at a high level and continuing to deliver on our top and bottom line growth strategies.

With that, I'll hand the call back over to the operator to start the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] And at this time, we will take our first question, and that will come from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim.

Winnie, can you talk to the results that you're seeing, obviously incredibly strong, particularly as it relates to traffic. Can you talk to brand awareness? And then maybe brand awareness around certain elements of your go-forward strategy and the degree to which you're acquiring new customers because it would appear that you're acquiring them at a much more rapid pace than even you had 6 months ago.

Thanks, John. Thanks for your question. A really good one. We actually did see a really, really great lift this quarter out of transactions driven by traffic and actually nice double-digit growth both the new customers as well retained. And I think we're actually in the early innings with marketing and growing our awareness. Our awareness still remains both aided and unaided, remains pretty low relative to our competitors. So we've just started this journey. I think what we're very pleased with is the fact that we're making good strides, and it was really a switch in our marketing strategy moving from more traditional marketing and directing our media spend into social. Coupled with that, we have really tried to build our customer database and to ensure that our stores are capturing customer e-mails because that just makes us that much more effective, both in driving the appropriate media messages to our customers, but also hopefully growing a lifetime relationship with them and eventually being able to personalize our reach out to them. But traffic has been tremendous, and we certainly had a nice lift. Our traffic -- our messaging resonated with our customers in social, and it was across Valentine's, Easter or health and fitness trends, which focused on Pilates all the way through to squishy things and squish sampling. So really pleased with the initial results we've seen. Thanks, John.

The next question will come from Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

Congrats on another nice quarter. So two questions. Winnie, with four straight quarters now of double-digit comps, could you touch on foundational changes you've made, which you think provides confidence to comp the comp I guess how best to think about merchandise opportunity remaining across your world today? And can you just touch on the momentum that you've seen continue so far in May?

Thanks so much for the question, Matthew. And it's a really, really good one. We feel really good about the strategy we put in place, and what we think is a lot of dry powder in order to go after continued growth of the top line. I have a simple saying around here at the office and it's still of problems. And I'm a tried and true merchant, and I'm incredibly excited about the momentum I see in the business, but also what our merchants have brought to the table. We have taken what used to be a very item-focused merchandising approach to really an assortment merchandising approach, looking across assortments targeting our core customers and really thinking through how do we tell stories around the product. And I think it's the combination of that product storytelling being maniacal about continuing to refresh the product lines because that is what our customers are voting for, and then also making sure that we've got compelling value. The majority of our assortment over 80% is still $5 and below. We did switch to simplify pricing at full price points, much easier to shop. Frankly, it's a lot easier to merchandise to as well. As we look at price points above $5, we've seen really great resonance because we pack so much value into anything that's above $5. We also abolish the Five Beyond section, move that product in line, and we've actually seen that product perform better because it's basically merchandise the way the customer wants to shop the product. If you have a $35 gilt floor mirror in the room section and not tucked away in the back of the store. So all of those changes have made a real difference. We also -- in terms of our execution, we're very, very focused on these [indiscernible] moments. And what it has done is galvanized the organization to work together to make sure we've got the right product at the right place at the right time, in-stock levels are good and that our stores are educated about the product stories that they're going to be hosting for all of our customers. So all of that has been a foundational work. We have ways to go early innings in terms of what more we can do both in terms of marketing, via database, via social. And then in terms of merchandising and specific to your question, I am really excited about the newness that I see and the opportunities we have in every single world. We had outsized growth this quarter in terms of toys, collectibles and games. But I also see so many green shoots and so much strength across the assortment from beauty to fashion, and very, very strong food and candy business that continues to be a cornerstone for us at Five Below. So a lot ahead of us. And I think the big thing with my coming here, we've unleashed the merchant. And the vendors really do love us, and we've worked very hard to diversify that vendor base. So I think we've got a lot ahead of us in terms of growth, and I feel very confident about our ability to comp. Thanks so much, Matt.

The next question will come from Michael Lasser with UBS.

A, is there a way that you can quantify some of the unique contributions to the comp from things like Squish Dumplings or Pokemon that may be more trend related and not necessarily continue for an extended period of time? And b, could you break down some of the unique costs that you are experiencing today such that if the market were to assume you comp flat as you anniversary some of these strong growth rates, we can get a baseline of what Five Below's earnings outlook would be even a more conservative scenario as you get into 2027?

Thanks for the question, Michael. And I'll kick off and talk about quantifying the [indiscernible] for Q1. I would characterize our strategy at work, the flywell operating model great product rate value stores that look great or fun to shop, easier to shop as well as our ability to really engage with customers via social media. I would quantify that as being high single digit in terms of kind of run rate and what we're seeing. In addition to that, we had a quarter where we enjoy the benefit of higher tax refunds that the customers spent with us. That was terrific. The final thing is everyone's been talking about the Squishy Dumpling. And what's really interesting to me about this particular trend because we've always had cyclical trends in the business that come in and out, is not the what, but the how. And I think that the big driver of how this trend went from zero to hero was; one, our doing a lot of social listening, seeing what was popping; two, amplify, reposting and then engaging with customers. And then three, really thinking through not just a dumpling, but a full assortment of squishy things. And that has driven some really nice traffic and we're going to continue to use that mental model to drive traffic in the future. And we're constantly looking at what next trend can we amplify. The good thing about our business today, however, is that, again, we've got a store in business. Every world is working very well and positively, and we continue to drive what new ideas are out there in every single world and then how can we talk and engage with our customers about it. That is really a new tool for us. And then I'll let Dan speak to costs.

Yes, hi, Michael, thanks for the question. I would probably highlight two topics to your question on the cost profile. One is clearly transitory, and that is around the supply chain. And in particular, the rising cost of fuel and the rising cost of diesel fuel per gallon. We've sized that for the year 20 to 25 basis points of an increase. Important to note though, within our outlook for the year, we have fully offset those costs through a combination of better tariff costs flow through and better productivity and efficiency across our distribution centers. But that's clearly, to your point, one of the outliers. And then I think the second one that I would highlight, which is absolutely intentional is around the marketing investments that we are making. Winnie has described so much of the incredible outcomes that we are seeing. And that's coming from our stated desire to really feed this capability. It's about a 20 to 25 basis point year-over-year increase this year. The beauty of that is we're seeing terrific returns. And if we get to a place in whatever circumstance hypothetically, where we are in a more challenged environment, we would obviously be able to pull that back as well. So hopefully, that answers your question.

The next question will come from David Bellinger with Mizuho.

I want to ask about the trading card category, some of that's very on trend right now. Is that an opportunity to chase talk about any conversations you've had with larger brands or manufacturers to get even more allocation across the store base?

David, trading cards are a great business driver for us, and we were really happy with the results of our National Pokemon Day. And we are definitely looking at further opportunities to chase Pokemon but other trading cards. That is actually one of the trends that has a more enduring effect. And what I'm also saying is that we're just looking at what does that mean beyond just the trading cards and looking at the impact of anime collectibles and growing those assortments accordingly as well. So it's something that we are looking at very carefully, and I'm having daily discussions about increasing supply. Thanks so much for your question.

The next question will come from Edward Kelly with Wells Fargo.

Congrats on really amazing results. Dan, you mentioned in your prepared remarks around the outlook, just about a bit more caution, I guess, on the macro and the consumer. Could you just maybe give a little bit more color around why that's worked its way into sort of like your way of thinking. Is there anything that you're seeing in the business yourself currently? And then as it pertains to all this and the outlook for the back half because that hasn't changed. Can you just maybe talk about some of the things you might be excited about for the holiday period as it pertains to how you're thinking about the back half?

Yes, absolutely. Look, I think there's a couple of things here within the business that are worth commenting on. One, and you've heard Winnie unpacked the Q1 results. We are incredibly pleased and confident with the results that our strategy is delivering in terms of sustainable growth. We're fore quarters now of double-digit growth and five quarters of comp growth, and that's a great reflection of the execution of the strategy. I think as we look forward from here, and we talked about it in our last call, we are certainly cognizant of the fact that we are cycling a stronger year-over-year performance in the quarter we're in, let alone the back half of the year, and that factored into our thinking as well. I mean half 2 of this year will be cycling 15% comp growth from a year ago. And we'll be doing it, having fully anniversaried the pricing activities that we initiated a year ago. And so as we thought about that, we see an incredibly healthy business that is absolutely delivering durable growth. We see a more challenging back half of the year simply based on what we will cycle. And then that leads to the point of your question, which is the environment in which we're operating. And I would say here, we're being cautious, and we're looking at the environment. We're looking at the world that our customers are living in with rising fuel costs with very sticky inflation with a somewhat soft labor market. And we think a piece of that pain that they are feeling wasn't felt in the first quarter purely because of tax proceeds year-over-year that were significantly up. And so I think you have to look at all three of those together. We don't have data that would suggest there's trade down happening. We don't have data that would suggest there's been a shift in behavior. That's certainly not what we're saying. But I do think we transparently have to look at the environment we're operating in and the world our customers are living in the reality of some of the points that I made. So that's how we shaped it and thought about both the near term and the back half of the year. Winnie, I'll let you talk about what you're excited about.

And Edward, I would also add to Dan's comment to say that, as he mentioned, we actually have seen growth across all of our income cohorts. And I think the beauty of our model is we have a very unique value proposition that's pretty much one of one. We are a brand that is delivering a specialty experience for kids and doing it at extreme value. And the notion that the price of entry is a buck is something that we think is going to really help us gain market share as we move through the quarters and should the customer feel more pressure. With that, in holiday, it's very interesting being part of the Five Below team because one characteristic is that no one's ever satisfied. And with the great holiday results that we posted last year, we walked away hindsighting 15 or 16 things we could be doing better. There are certainly things that we executed really well. And I would say from a product ammunition point of view, we were still light in certain areas because of tariffs. And I think we believe we can buy back into those categories. So there will be additional goodness that we couldn't necessarily afford last year. The other piece of this is that, like I said earlier, the product storytelling and bringing together really fulsome product stories to engage with the customers at the beginning of the holiday season ending with an amazing stocking stuffer type of event. We've got a lot going. And our job is to pull it together to make sure that it's curated and that we're messaging it correctly. So we're actually quite excited. We think we've got a lot of really great dry powder for the season. Thank you.

The next question will come from Scot Ciccarelli with Truth Securities.

Dan, I think that last call, you used the phrase, we're seeing what you're seeing in terms of your sales growth versus maybe what some of the 3P services would have suggested. Given that context, it appears your 2Q guide is below, I think, what we're seeing from the outside. So given the magnitude of outperformance in 1Q, and what we always believe is a higher current run rate, are you actually expecting a slowdown in the back part of the quarter? Or is it more of that kind of cushion for the macro dynamics that you were earlier referencing?

Yes. No, of course. Look, let me spend a minute on how we thought about the second quarter. I'm not going to get into necessarily the specifics of the quarter of where we are, but I'm happy to put some color to it and connect it to how we built the outlook. I'll start by saying we're certainly pleased with the start to the quarter. The team has executed at a very, very high level. And you've had some interesting holiday moments, whether they be Mother's Day or grad or early summer that certainly we're excited about, and we've seen good results. So from that standpoint, off to a good start. The quarter the way the quarter shapes to May is the smallest of the three months. June and July is where the heavy lift is. We have a lot of work left to do here as we get deeper into summer, the heart of grad, Father's Day, Fourth of July, et cetera. And so we've got a long way ahead of us here in terms of the quarter. As a reminder, at this moment, we've almost entirely cycled the pricing actions of a year ago. And so for the back half of the quarter and rest of the year, we will have fully anniversaried that. And so look, all in all, again, we're pleased with the start of it. We're about halfway through it. We have a lot of -- a lot to do for sure. And look, while I'm on the quarter, let me just comment for a second on the squishy event that took place in mid-May. Look, you heard Winnie described it in her prepared remarks, it was an absolutely amazing, amazing program. Cultural [indiscernible] is what we've called it. And I think that's the right way to describe it. We saw tremendous response from customers and really brilliant flawless execution from our team. And so if you look at that event through the lens of the Five Below brand, how we engage customers, create a unique retail moment and ultimately execute terrific on absolutely all accounts. I would caution against the notion of this event being a meaningful catalyst to the comp profile for the quarter that we've built, right? It's a one-day event, essentially of one item with intentionally constrained supply. And so I want to just sort of make clear for everyone, it was an absolutely terrific event that was not designed to be a meaningful catalyst to the comp profile for the quarter. So hopefully, that gives you a bit of color of how we thought about it.

And I would say the last thing is just price and the roller price because I think Dan mentioned this, but pricing impacts a little bit of Q2, but then we will have anniversaried it for the second half of Q2.

The next question will come from Zhihan Ma with Bernstein.

I wanted to ask about the traffic versus ticket dynamic with the great traffic result that you guys achieved in Q1. I'm assuming part of that is linked to squishy, wondering if there's additional color you can provide there. And meanwhile, ticket growth did seem to have decelerated somewhat. Despite in Q1, I'm assuming you still had some tariff-driven price increases in there. So was UPT down? Are people buying smaller baskets? And how do we see the balance for the rest of the year?

So for the first quarter, Zhihan, you hit the nail on the head pretty much. So the traffic, we had a couple of things going on. We saw really nice increases. We did see nice increases that were generated by all the marketing actions we took to amplify the squish trend. And with that trend, we did drive footsteps that cross the threshold. And those baskets typically are smaller than the broader basket. And that kind of explains why you see ticket not being quite as high or equally as high as other quarters. So that's effectively it. With that said, one of the things that we're seeing, we continue to see is nice traffic lift, and it really is we think our marketing strategy is working and our ability to be agile to really think about what's happening, reflect on those trends, react very quickly and drive footsteps across the threshold. So all good stuff, but we did see a nice benefit and a smaller basket in the quarter because of the squish trend.

The next question will come from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

First question, new space productivity was outstanding. I assume part of it is how strong the core comp is. So you're opening stores with product and trend that you probably didn't have in the base. So how to think about it if there's any change or things that you're doing on your side outside of the strong comp? And then, Dan, just to paraphrase, you left back half unchanged, but you're not seeing anything different about the consumer and some of the cost things that you cited, it sounds like they're mostly or fully offset other than increase in marketing.

Hi, Simeon. So thanks for the questions. On new store productivity, of course, you're right. When you see widespread growth like this, comp growth, you're going to see the step-up in productivity. And of course, that's what we're seeing. I do think it's worth highlighting, we are seeing outsized performance in our 2025 and 2026 classes of stores, which directly feeds back to the strategy that we've put in place, which is we want to be incredibly good from site selection to preopening to grand opening to post opening. We've intentionally shifted our approach here. It's about quality of properties and locations, not just quantity. We still are committed to the high single-digit unit growth profile, but we want to do it in a really, really compelling way. And I think that's a piece of what you're seeing here as well. And then, yes, I think the way that you described it is right. I think we haven't changed our back of year outlook. We have contemplated when we spoke three months ago, that we were expecting a bit of a choppy environment with our consumer in a challenging macro environment. And that's certainly what we've seen play out. And I would say that has accelerated recently in the world we're operating in. I would point out, though, that holding our comps outlook consistent for the half 2 reflects an incredible confidence and belief in how we are running this business and delivering results, while also acknowledging that it is a challenging environment right now for our consumers. And so we want to be thoughtful about that. We want to be balanced about that, which we think is the appropriate stance given the operating environment.

The next question will come from Robby Ohmes with Bank of America.

Congrats. My question is, how much of online growth was a driver in the first quarter? And how do you see going forward? And was digital a bigger contributor than expected in the first quarter? And is that because of the squishy trend? And just how do we think about that momentum continuing for the rest of the year?

Thanks so much for the question, Robby. We did see some nice growth online, but it's still a very small percentage of the total business. And again, this is another white space opportunity as we move forward and really think about this connected customer journey and the role of omnichannel. We are seeing nice pickup, but it's still a small percentage. Really where we have leveraged online is the social media and influencer creator marketing that we put out there, it really points most customers directly to the site, which becomes kind of a window to Five Below and drives them traffic into the stores. But again, potential white space opportunity for us in the future.

The next question will come from Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

Winnie, on the outside looking in, sometimes hard to contextualize the marketing upside. So could you perhaps size up what's worked well so far? What's next as you leverage loyalty and more influencers to modernize the social spend? And can you touch on the e-mail database that you're building out, I guess, where that stands today relative to, say, a year ago?

Chuck, thanks for the questions. So I'm going to actually start with the marketing spend. It's really interesting. We just started on this journey with social last year. And so I think first step was just trying on different types of content, but creator content, boosting UGC. And what has really, really helped us is that we have a lot of stories to tell the marketing and merchandising teams work really closely together pretty much from the inception of the line. And they start thinking through what would really hit. The second piece of social though that we've really enjoyed is social listening. And just paying attention to what our customers are talking about and then being able to really lean into those trends. And we see it not just in the squish phenomenon, but we also see it in our food world with candy. And even with what's happening with our beauty programs in BD [indiscernible]. So those are new muscles that we're just beginning to really take advantage of. We also have seen a nice pickup in terms of customer growth through Connected TV. And here, I mentioned that we are doing more more AI-generated content that just allows us to be fast, nimble but also really use our imagination and touch kids and really in terms of the channels they are looking at like YouTube. The customer file is beginning to grow, and we are in very early stages, but we are seeing that the value of those customers in our file are growing pretty much not geometric -- pretty much geometrically as we go quarter in, quarter out. So the key to this is how do we get more customers capture more at the till, but then also start to really think through what loyalty could look like for Five Below. And what we're working on is, is it going to be through the app is it reward points for spending and visits. We think that our customers will actually really enjoy being first in terms of doing about new releases and new products. So there's a lot more to explore there. And again, we're in early stages in that journey, but excited about what we've seen so far.

The next question will come from Michael Montani with Evercore ISI.

I just wanted to ask for a moment about the EPA tariff rebates basically coming to about 150 basis points of potential tailwind from that, which assumed about 85%, 90% import and then about 30%, 35% foreign direct import. Just wondering if you guys would comment at all on that. And then also, you had mentioned the 10% tariff rate coming back into play that could go up to where it was last year pre-EPA. We had that at like 18% to 20%. So I'm just curious if you'd be willing to comment at all on how you see that margin playing out?

Yes, Michael. Happy to do so. Look, on the EPA tariffs, we've not publicly sized or quantified that, and I'm sure I'm not going to do that here. What I would say is we've taken all the appropriate steps to secure the claims and avail ourselves to these claims. And so from an administrative perspective, I think we're in very good standing here towards the refunds. Now of course, the if and the when to that conversation is still to be determined, but we've done all the right things that we need to do. On the broader tariff discussion, just to be completely clear, what we have assumed for the back half of the year is tariff rates that returned to levels that they were at the start of our fiscal year. Certainly, what's been in the news the last couple of days would tell us that's probably a pretty good assumption. How the administration intends to get back to this some way, likely through Section 301 tariffs. So we think we're in a good position there. What we have updated in our outlook at this point is we have flowed through the benefit of lower tariffs that we have experienced over the 150-day period that will end in late July. It is an incredibly fluid and complicated topic. We have resisted the temptation to quantify every element of it because I think for us, we want to just make sure that we're being clear with how we thought about it, and what we've included in our outlook or not. This has a lot to play out as we work through the year.

The next question will come from Brad Thomas with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Congrats on the momentum. I wanted to ask about the strong customer traffic that you've had over the last year. Wondering if you've looked at or could share with us any insights into what kind of repeat visits you're seeing from new customers that are coming in. And then as we think about a world where perhaps tariffs are more benign, curious if there are any investments in price on the more favorable side for the customer that you may be considering should the savings stay in place?

Fair question, Brad, on the repeat from new customers, we are seeing a nice growth from repeat from new customers. And we've seen double-digit growth both in terms of repeat as well as new customer acquisition. So really nice results thus far and more to do again, early innings on this one. In terms of price, it's a great question. Last year, we really made a move to simplify prices and to round everything up and down to whole price points. And our customers responded very favorably to that move. It's a much easier shopping experience, much easier for our crew as well. With that, we kept the majority of our prices at Five Below, and we made sure to invest in the Five and above and make sure that we had great relative value. The final thing was we got rid of it beyond and put those products in line. Those two things gave us a real insight into how customers respond to price, and we have not seen resistance on prices above $5 if we can pack enough relative value. So we feel good about the strategy we've got and the customers have definitely voted for it, both in terms of a lot on offer at $5 and below. But again, at $5 and beyond, they have responded very favorably to the value we've packed into those products. So we feel good about the trajectory we've got and are sticking to this game plan for now.

The next question will come from Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets.

Let me add my congratulations on another blockbuster quarter, and I'm not going to make a joke, so I can actually get my question in this quarter. So based on your -- I mean, you have a debt-free balance sheet, right, between your cash and short-term investments, call it $1.1 billion and kind of based on where your stock is in the aftermarket, looking at how of a classic buy the [ rumor cell ] in the news, it's about -- your cash is about 10% of your current I guess my question is, how do you think about potential returns to shareholders given the fact that you're in this very advantaged position.

Anthony, thanks so much for the question. Look, we continue to deploy capital primarily in support of our growth strategies. That's been our stance. And here, we continue to see outsized returns on these investments. So for us, we're super excited about that. You're right, by the way, though, we're certainly doing this from a position of strength, liquidity, health of balance sheet is spot on. And we're super proud of that and the optionality that gets us as well. I see that personally as a real competitive advantage for us, especially in an increasingly challenging macro environment. Now so in the near term, I think that's unlikely to change. Having said that, I fully appreciate the question. And as we move forward, we will continue to reevaluate here and consider opportunities to optimize returns on excess capital to consider alternatives and potentially deploy capital differently, probably not at this moment because we remain in growth mode and really wanting to feed this outsized growth platform that we think we can deliver, but certainly something that we're looking at. And over time, we'll continue to evaluate.

Your next question will come from Brian Nagel with Oppenheimer.

Great quarter, congratulations. So the question I want to ask, you mentioned a few times here, it's the benefit of outsized tax refunds in Q1. So as you look at the quarter, was there -- the tax refund benefit, did it change the shape of that quarter? And I guess how-- if there was a unique driver, so to say, is something else taken over, so as we push into Q2 with the sales momentum persisting.

Yes, Brian. No, I mean, look, the tax refund year-over-year impact was in absolute dollar size of returns year-over-year. It was the phasing and the timing of those returns didn't necessarily change. And so like everyone else, that money was sort of put back in the consumers' hands in late February and then played itself largely over the next few weeks and then a bit -- there's always a bit of a tail towards this. So no. I think the short answer is, particularly in the year-over-year, did it meaningfully reshape the quarter for us, or was it a specific driver and specific, the answer would be no.

The next question will come from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

It sounded like, Winnie, in your comments that Beauty and Fashion might be a little bit behind the other categories just in terms of performance. And we were wondering if you would say some of those assortment changes are behind that? And if so, what can we expect to see out of these categories over the next couple of quarters?

Kate, thanks so much for your question. Actually, I'm so sorry, Beauty and Fashion performed well. And we're actually seeing nice resonance across our assortments. When we speak to 15 out of 18 departments as the majority of the departments. There are a few departments that did not comp positively because we have strategically downsized them and down-trended them. So that's really what's happening. We -- I do think there's more opportunity in beauty fashion, especially as customers may select to trade down and look differently at where they purchase. And so we feel very good about the business and the go forward on both fronts.

The next question will come from Spencer Hanus with Wolfe Research.

I'm just curious how much run rate you think you have to continue to shift the mix to higher AUR products over time just as you try to mechanically cycle some of these tough comps if the underlying rate here is a high single-digit comp. And then just on the success of this dumpling event in the quarter, do you see an opportunity to run that playbook across other products and categories over time here as well?

Thanks, Spencer. I'm going to start with the dumpling question because I think it's a really good one. I think the playbook is really what we walked away with and how we did it, not necessarily how many dumplings do we sell. And it's certainly something that we want to leverage and activate again. There is something about social listening, amplification getting really in the midst of a viral trend and then fueling it and having an event that in stores was really compelling. Customers, including parents walked away really happy with the event and thought it was pure retailtainment. So those are things that we definitely would like to replicate and use again when appropriate. We are constantly looking for the next new both from the vendor community, but also with the customers. What are they talking about? What's going viral today, and how do we engage with them. And then in terms of price, we have more room to explore price and looking at a strategic lever for growth in the future. With that said, where I think we've really won is, again, cost of entry being a buck offering this amazing specialty retail experience and having the majority of our product at very accessible price points. I'd like to say that we make the aspirational accessible and that is our main aim. What our [indiscernible] on price did for us last year is, it allowed us to explore price points that didn't go from $5 all the way up to $25, but what's great value at $10 and $15. And it opened up our ability to allow more interesting merchandise into the assortments that we maybe wouldn't have looked at in years past. So definitely more opportunity. But again, we're going to stick with our guns in terms of delivering great relative value and making again, aspirations accessible.

The next question will come from Joe Feldman with Telsee Advisory Group.

I wanted to follow up, and it's been asked a little bit about how are you guys driving the trends? Like are you -- it sounds like you're getting better at monitoring trend activity, social media. Like are you are buyers maybe leveraging new tools like AI to help ingest a lot more information about what trends are? Or is it that you guys are actually creating a trend and pushing it through social media that then spurs people into the stores? And I was just hoping you could share a little more color on that.

It's a great question, Joe. I would say that a couple of things happened, and it really started [indiscernible] last year. When I joined being a merchant, I saw the tremendous opportunity and talent we have with our teams, and we literally unleashed them. We said go forward and find great things. And with tariffs, it also pushed us to diversify our vendor base and look further and really explore the market and see what was out there, both domestically as well as abroad. And so I think that part of this is the funnel has broadened, and we have more product and more trend ideas going through the funnel. Then with our switch to social media naturally, when you switch your media buys into social, you're much more engaged from what's happening in social. And I would say that our teams were always kind of looking at it, but now we're really studying it. And it's really great because I would say social trends have picked up and amplified even faster in the past year. And you can do that across everything from like food to room decor to fashion and beauty and toys. And so that's been amazing to have our attention and our curiosity really peaked by what's out there. And instead of waiting for the next cycle, we chase it. And our ability to chase, go after things, try to be first to market or a fast follower is at the heart of what our buying teams do. I also think there's a lot more opportunity in terms of leveraging AI and trend detection, and we're excited to keep exploring those options. The last thing I will say is, I would love to say that we created the dumpling trend. The dumpling trend is something that we've -- it's an item in our assortment for about 5 years, we started seeing it pop up with social. What we did was amplify what was becoming hot. That is a special scale, and I do think we can use it to then create trends on a go-forward basis. So lots in our toolkit that we're developing this year and that we can apply to future.

The next question will come from Randy Konik with Jefferies.

I just want to go back to the squish dumpling impact on the business. I think you said that it negatively impacted basket size yet, but you're talking to this idea that there's a lot of breadth in the business, which kind of makes sense. So do you think that when you look at, let's say, if you hindsight the company, think about years assets fidget spinners and other things that kind of positively impacted the business in the past. Can you kind of give us some perspective of how you looked at how the business kind of performed on, let's say, a trend like that in a big way in the past to say, 10 years ago, whatever it was, and how you kind of see that as different today, and how you're getting more attachment in the business versus maybe you didn't in the past. I'm just curious if you've done that highisighting and looked at a prior trend that was huge back in the day and look at it, and how it's different today versus the past? That would be super helpful on how you've seen that and how you think about that going forward?

Yes. It's a great question, Randy. I think what our teams have done in terms of analyzing the trend and the trends of the past, it's pretty remarkable. We've got a lot of data, and we've got a lot of different through lines on trends in the past, be it fidget spinners, rainbow loans, or Squishmallows. So we have most those curves to see what demand looks like and when did they peak and when do they climb down? We've looked at seasonality of trends. I think what was unique about the squish dumpling trend is, one, it is bigger and hotter than the other trends. And I think in part because of social media. The exposure of this trend on social and engagement by the community has been tremendous. And the virality of that trend has made the demand peak in a very, very consistent and high way. And then for us, it was interesting just engaging in social media with creators and with our customers. The dumpling of that was meat because we tease the campaign in social. We could really get the news out. We could get the excitement out. And that, again, is a skill and a toolkit that will take away from it. With that said, we have worked very hard to try and build an assortment business that goes beyond a single trend and a single item. And so I really see it as a portfolio. And portfolio management suggests that like we just need to make sure we've got lots of little trends [indiscernible] and to listen to and perhaps amplify as we see these trends hit their peak and start to die down. The last thing I'll say about squish dumplings is that what makes them unique was; one, the rare; number two, the element of surprise. And so some of those ingredients and what makes it special or also ingredients will look forward in terms of new products that come to the line that we think are trend worthy. Hope that answers your question. Thanks, Randy.

And that will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Ms. Winnie Park for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thanks so much. As you've heard, we're making really good progress in executing our customer-centric strategy, and we're really excited for the rest of the year. I want to offer a huge thank you to the Five Below crew, who put so much hard work and heart into our brand. And I want to thank you all for joining us on this call today, and I hope to see you in our stores this summer. Thanks so much.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good day, and welcome to the Five Below Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call.

[Operator Instructions]

Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Christiane Pelz, VP, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today for Five Below's Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. On today's call are Winnie Park, Chief Executive Officer; and Dan Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.

After management has made their formal remarks, we will open the call to questions. I need to remind you that certain comments made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Those risks and uncertainties are described in the press release and our SEC filings. The forward-looking statements today are as of the date of this call, and we do not undertake any obligation to update our forward-looking statements.

In this presentation, we will refer to our SG&A expenses. For us, SG&A means selling, general and administrative expenses, including payroll and other compensation, marketing and advertising expense, depreciation and amortization expense and other selling and administrative expense. Additionally, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these items to U.S. GAAP are included in today's press release. If you do not have a copy of today's press release, you may obtain one by visiting the Investor Relations page of our website at fivebelow.com.

I will now turn the call over to Winnie.

Thank you, Christiane. Hello, and thank you all for joining us this afternoon. We're excited to share our outstanding fourth quarter results that capped off a transformational year for Five Below, one that reaffirmed that Five Below is the destination for the kid and the kid in all of us. We are a unique brand and our incredible financial results in 2025 tell only part of the story because what made this year truly exceptional is how we achieved the results. We made a fundamental shift in how we operate, how we engage with our customers and how we strategize and deliver growth of the business and the brand. And our maniacal focus on our target customer has pushed us to be more agile in delivering newness at great value and as importantly, communicating with our customers in the social media channels they live in.

In 2025, we invested in curated product stories bought with authority. Better in-stock position supported by a store labor model focused on replenishing product and serving customers during peak periods led to a better experience for our customers and drove sales. For the year, we delivered sales growth of 23% to over $4.7 billion, a comp of 12.8%, operating margin expansion of 70 bps to nearly 10% and adjusted EPS growth of 32%. We grew our store count by 8.5%, opening 150 net new stores with strong results, capped by 8 record-breaking grand openings in the Pacific Northwest in the fourth quarter. This performance was achieved during a challenging macro environment that required tremendous urgency and agility from our incredible crew, who are the real secret to our success in 2025.

These results incorporate a better-than-expected end to the year with our strongest holiday performance since becoming a public company. We delivered fourth quarter sales growth of 24%, including a 15.4% comparable sales increase. Importantly, this growth was both broad and balanced as we further strengthen our position as a portfolio-driven product business. We saw strength across all our merchandising worlds, and we grew in all 170 districts, all vintages of stores and across all income cohorts. We drove both traffic and ticket growth resulting from improved marketing, amazing new product packed with compelling value, better in-store execution and positive customer response to our simplified pricing strategy. I'm so proud of our crew for their focus and dedication in producing these results. I'm equally grateful for their hard work and commitment as we united and embraced change.

It was a year of transformation as we successfully delivered 6 hard nut moments with a new go-to-market process focused on storytelling and product newness. Tackled tariffs, overhauled our marketing to focus on social media, expanded our omnichannel capabilities with third-party delivery service and bolstered the executive team with new leaders in marketing, finance and merchandising, all of which has laid the foundation for continued growth. And most importantly, over the past year, we defined and executed our new strategy, which is underpinned by 3 pillars: a maniacal focus on the target customer, delivering a connected customer journey from social to in-store and collaborating cross-functionally to enhance execution throughout the year.

Our strategy reinforces our position as the true destination for the kid and the kid and all of us. First, we further defined our target customers, sharpening our focus on Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennial moms and ensuring our product, marketing and store experience resonate with their needs and more importantly, what is trending and what they are following. Second, we met our customers where they are, namely in social, where we can dynamically engage with creator content and amplify viral moments like the current Squishy Dumpling craze. Speaking to our customers in social channels and following up through targeted content and direct communications by capturing customer records will drive even more resonance and repeat visits as we develop our CRM capabilities. And third, changing how we work. We aligned merchandising, marketing, supply chain, IT and store teams around 6 curtain-up moments. operating with urgency and discipline to ensure a seamless flow of content and newness to our stores.

This structural change through a disciplined cross-functional go-to-market process has activated our flywheel of delivering timely newness, compelling storytelling and great in-store experiences like events and curtain-up floor sets. The result is an improved customer experience, generating more visits from new and existing customers. On merchandise, we have systematically delivered relevant newness throughout our world with curated assortments at great value. We continue to focus on differentiating our offer through amazing price value for the quality we provide from the hottest license lines to viral trends in beauty, fashion, candy and collectibles. We've also launched exclusive licensed product for our old favorites like Stitch as well as newer franchises like Wicked. This holiday, we aspire to be the greatest little toy store in America. And to this end, we offered everything from LEGO to cracking kits and remote control cars, all at amazing value.

In addition to compelling gifts from toys to beauty sets and yummy holiday PJs to ginger bread house kits, we offer customers a one-stop shop for holiday decor, gift wrap and party essentials.

Value remains a critical linchpin for our offering, and we demonstrated that we can effectively provide exceptional value at $5 and below as well as at $7, $10, $15 and beyond. Customers recognize the compelling value across the assortment and at all price points and their receptivity to our expanded offering above $5 reinforces our belief in the tremendous relative value that our products provide. Moving to more rounded price points also helps simplify and improve the shopping experience for our customers and the crew.

In terms of marketing, we redirected spend towards social and creator content so that we could be faster and more agile in communicating newness and amplifying viral moments that customers were generating on their own. We have just begun building a customer database, which will sharpen our ability to direct personalized social and direct marketing content to better engage with our customers and develop a relationship with them. While we're still in very early innings with the strategy, we are very pleased with how it drove traffic and sales growth, both online and in stores throughout the year.

On to the store experience. We bought into newness and trend with conviction, delivering improved in-stock levels. We also invested in labor at peak periods to ensure that our shelves were restocked and customers' needs were met. We met -- we made our store easier to shop for our customers by beginning to move Five Beyond products in line with the categories where they logically belonged. As we simplified operations and improved communication and collaboration, our crew was even more engaged, leading to better execution and attentiveness to our customer, the boss. Providing a terrific experience for our customers while also driving greater productivity in our stores remains a priority.

We also became more planful in our approach to new stores. We dialed back the pace of unit expansion to sharpen focus on the quality of locations and ensure that grand openings were brilliantly executed. With our customer-centric strategy well underway, strong comp performance and accelerating new store productivity, we're confident in the long runway of growth ahead.

The results of 2025 offer clear proof points that our transformation is gaining traction, and we have more runway. As we enter 2026, we believe the business is well positioned for consistent, durable top and bottom line growth. Continuing to execute on our customer-centric strategy provides us great opportunity to further strengthen the Five Below brand and deepen the competitive moat that our unique retail concept provides. With our growing scale, we are focused on expanding our brand and customer reach across our communities, bringing joy to kids, adults and parents as we help them to play, live, give and celebrate. As we evolve, I am confident that we will retain our strong customer-focused and entrepreneurial culture and remain unrelenting in our commitment to provide unmatched value to our customers.

With that, I'll turn it over to Dan.

Thanks, Winnie. Good afternoon, everyone. I'll begin my remarks with a review of our fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 results and then discuss our outlook for the first quarter and full year of fiscal 2026. My comments will refer to results on an adjusted or non-GAAP basis. As Winnie mentioned, we were very pleased to end the year on a strong note with sales and profit exceeding our expectations. In January, we saw stronger-than-expected traffic growth, which converted well and broad basket growth that was fueled by AUR expansion. For the fourth quarter, net sales increased 24% to $1.7 billion, supported by a strong comparable sales increase of just over 15%, which was driven by growth in comparable ticket of 8% and comparable transactions of 7%.

Importantly, operating profit grew ahead of comp sales growth, further evidencing the strength and efficiency of our business model. We are operating in a highly dynamic environment, and the end-to-end execution of our crew was noteworthy. In the fourth quarter, we opened 14 net new stores across 8 states compared to 22 net new stores in the fourth quarter last year. In 2025, we grew our store count by 8.5% and ended the year with 1,921 stores in 46 states, including the 2 new states of Oregon and Washington. Adjusted gross profit increased 24% to $697 million or 40.3% in rate of sale, a decrease of approximately 20 basis points compared to the fourth quarter last year. This was primarily driven by transitory tariff costs of 160 basis points, which were mostly mitigated by fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales and improved shrink results.

For shrink, the results of the physical inventory accounts we conducted in January were actualized and trued up for all stores for a total benefit of 50 basis points year-over-year. Adjusted SG&A expenses totaled $385 million in Q4 or 22.3% in rate of sale, which was consistent to last year's fourth quarter rate. The benefit of fixed cost leverage fully offset increased incentive costs and the incremental investment in labor hours that we made in the stores during the peak holiday period. Adjusted operating income grew 23% in the fourth quarter to $313 million, and adjusted operating margin decreased approximately 10 basis points to 18.1%. Net interest income was about $6 million for the fourth quarter or approximately $2 million higher than last year due primarily to a higher average cash balance throughout the quarter.

Adjusted net income grew 25% to $240 million and adjusted earnings per share increased 24% to $4.31 per share. For the full year, net sales increased 23% to $4.8 billion, driven by a strong comparable sales increase of nearly 13% that was largely equally driven by both transactions and ticket growth. Adjusted gross profit for the year increased 25% to $1.7 billion or 36.1% in rate of sales, an increase of approximately 50 basis points compared to last year. Adjusted gross margin accretion was primarily driven by fixed cost leverage and improved shrink results, partially offset by the net impact of unmitigated transitory tariff costs. Adjusted SG&A totaled $1.2 billion in fiscal '25 or 26% in rate of sale, which represented a 20 basis point decrease compared to last fiscal year. This was driven by fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales, largely offset by higher incentive costs and investments in store labor during the holiday.

Adjusted operating income grew 33% for the year to $472 million and adjusted operating margin increased 70 basis points to approximately 10%. Net interest income was about $23 million for fiscal 2025 or approximately $8 million above last year due mostly to a higher average cash balance throughout the year. Adjusted net income for fiscal 2025 grew 33% to $370 million, and adjusted earnings per share increased 32% to $6.67 per share. We ended the year in a strong cash position with approximately $932 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments. Inventory was approximately $847 million at the end of the year, an increase of 28% with a commensurate 18% increase in units versus last year. The increase in inventory reflects both the higher store count and the impact of tariffs on average unit costs. Average per store units were up about 9% at year-end, reflecting the pull forward of inventory and our commitment to driving higher in-stock positions in store in support of our growth objectives.

Capital expenditures, excluding the impact of tenant allowances, were approximately $175 million or 3.7% of net sales, which includes 115 net new store openings and investments in technology and infrastructure. We continue to allocate capital in support of growth with a clear view towards delivering the best return on that investment and with each dollar we deploy competing for the highest return. We generated strong free cash flow and plan to continue to focus on reducing our working capital in fiscal 2026 as we cycle the impact of tariffs.

Overall, 2025 proved to be a year of transformation for our business and the successful execution of our strategy delivered outsized top and bottom line growth. In a challenging and dynamic macro environment, we operated with both urgency and discipline and with maniacal focus on the needs of our customers.

Now on to our outlook for fiscal 2026. We're operating in a highly dynamic and increasingly complex macro environment with significant geopolitical uncertainties and difficult to predict implications for the consumer. We believe this backdrop provides the rationale for a measured, prudent outlook. This year also has a few nuances, primarily related to the cadence of sales and the impact of tariffs. With respect to tariff rates specifically, for 2026, we have assumed that the global tariff rates that were in place as we entered this fiscal year will remain in place all year. Our outlook, therefore, does not contemplate the impact of the recently enacted Section 122 tariffs, which are only in place for 150 days.

Now with respect to our outlook for the year. Sales are expected to be in the range of $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion, an increase of 10% at the midpoint and comparable sales growth is expected to be between 3% and 5% or approximately 17% on a 2-year stack basis at the midpoint. Adjusted operating margin at the midpoint is expected to increase 100 basis points to 10.9%, driven by gross margin expansion, net of increased marketing investments. Adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to be $8 at the midpoint or growth of 20% versus 2025 on 55.7 million shares outstanding. As a reminder, our outlook does not include the impact of share repurchases.

We expect net interest income of approximately $26 million and a full year effective tax rate of approximately 26%. Capital expenditures are expected to be between $230 million and $250 million, excluding the impact of tenant allowances, which reflects approximately 150 net new store openings and increased investments in technology and infrastructure.

On to the guidance for the first quarter of 2026. We expect total sales in the range of $1.18 billion to $1.2 billion or growth of 23% at the midpoint versus last year's first quarter, with comparable sales growth of between 14% and 16%. The first quarter is expected to be our highest comping quarter of the year, in part due to the un-anniversaried benefits of the rounded price simplification strategy that we implemented last year. We expect to open approximately 45 net new stores across 24 states in the quarter. Gross margin in the first quarter is benefiting primarily from fixed cost leverage on the strong comps, higher merchandise margins related to the net benefit of pricing and lower shrink. Adjusted operating margin at the midpoint is expected to be 9.7% versus 6.1% in the first quarter last year, with the majority of the 360 basis point increase driven by gross margin expansion and to a lesser degree, leverage over SG&A expenses.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share at the midpoint is expected to be $1.63 per share or growth of 90% versus last year. In summary, we're very pleased with the underlying performance of the business and the continued execution of our customer-centric strategy underpins our confidence in this outlook for 2026. We remain focused on executing at a high level and continuing to deliver on our top and bottom line growth for the business.

With that, I'll hand the call back over to the operator to start the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions]

The first question will come from Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

Congrats on a great quarter and the continued momentum. So Winnie, could you help by breaking down the drivers behind the magnitude of comps that you're seeing near term, mid-teens comps the last 2 quarters? And if you could speak to the acceleration that you've seen in the first quarter or maybe even larger picture, if you could just walk through the structural changes to the organization and maybe some of the new customer acquisition metrics that support this as durable or drivers off of a higher revenue base from here?

Thanks so much, Matt. It has been a tremendous quarter, and we're excited to see that momentum continue. And really, I would say that there is one word that characterizes our success, and that is our crew. And I say that because what we've done is we have basically taken a year of pretty significant change and driven amazing results of that change and that transformation. The change started with a real focus on the customer and getting back to our roots and focusing on the kid and specifically Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennial parents, who love to reward their kids with the trip to Five Below.

The second piece is really focusing in on how our customers basically become aware of us and how they get to us and how we announce newness to them and creating what we're calling a connected customer journey. And we're meeting our customers where they live, which is in social media. So we redirected our marketing to focus on social media. We've also just begun the journey of actually capturing their records so that we can continue a dialogue with them and invite them back, which we think is going to be a major lever for growth in the future, just driven off of repeat visits and again, engagement on new content.

The last piece is the team pulled together and executed brilliantly. And I call this the flywheel effect, and it really was about cross-functional collaboration across the organization. We honed in on the 6 curtain-up moments or new floor sets. But instead of just passing the baton between the merchants and marketers and stores, we basically start the season together, really hindsighting together what just happened. And then as we move forward through the season, being connected throughout. And that culminates in a call with our 1,900 stores to really tell them what is, number one, the newness that we're bringing forth. Two, what is the marketing message, what are we going to be activating in stores and beyond and then staying really connected in terms of how we drive the product into the stores and ensuring that they've got, honestly, good in-stock positions.

So it is a bit of retail 101, but executed really, really well. And I think that moving forward, this is early innings. I joined a year ago, so we've just started executing against the strategy, and the team has executed very well. But we've got more growth ahead of us that I think is incredibly durable. And one of the things that makes it so relevant is the fact that we've got a unique retail concept. So we're operating as a differentiated specialty store for kids, but with the discipline of an extreme value retailer. So all very good. Thank you so much, Matt.

The next question will come from Edward Kelly with Wells Fargo.

I'd like to add my congratulations. I would like to ask you about just the comp momentum, and there's a lot of excitement about what you've been seeing so far in Q1. And I was hoping that you could maybe talk about what you think is driving that, particularly from a trend standpoint. And then as you take a step back and think about the Q1 comp guidance versus the full year comp guidance, can you just sort of help us bridge the way you're thinking about full year given the robust start out of the gate?

Thanks so much, Ed. I'm going to kick us off and talk to you about like the business that we're seeing now and then also have Dan lean in and talk about how we're going to bridge quarter-to-quarter. So we're really excited. I think what we saw in consecutive quarters last year continues this year. We really do have right now in Q1, broad-based growth. And it's across our entire assortment. We're excited that our worlds are all comping, and we have been very intentional to take more of an assortment approach as opposed to relying on a single item. So what you do is you take that growth across all of our worlds that's being kind of driven by great traffic, great transactions, also AUR. But then you layer on top of that some compelling trends that are happening right now.

And in the past, when those trends happened, we weren't communicating directly with the customer vis-a-vis the channels that they live in like social. Today, we can engage directly. We see something pop on social like the squishy trend. And what's really nice is that we can amplify that through, honestly, what we say and do, but also watch it carefully. And we've got a whole community of stores that's also engaging as well as brands. So it's been really nice to see that, and we're enjoying that in this quarter in particular.

And I'm going to let Dan step in and just help us bridge a bit.

Yes. Thanks for the question. You're right. We're off to a good start here in the quarter that we're in, and I think you all see the same data that we see. There's great momentum coming out of the holiday, which we're super excited about. And the midpoint of our Q1 guide on comps puts us right smack in line with run rate trend, which we think is appropriate. As we go to sort of the balance of the year and to give you a little bit of the thinking on how we constructed the guide, I think the most important thing that I would highlight is what we're up against as we think about Q2, 3 and 4. We're going to start comping some really, really tough growth quarters. And I think just pure math, when you think about a Q2 last year at plus 12%, all the way up to plus 14% in Q3 and plus 16% in Q4, that's real, right? That's math and that matters. And so that obviously factors in.

I think the second thing I would highlight is just the state of the consumer and the macro environment in which we're operating. And we just don't think it gets easier from here, whether it's the prices at the pump or this sticky inflation that seems to be hanging around or a job market that is somewhat sluggish. We think the environment here is going to continue to be challenging. And so we sort of factored that in as we thought about the plans that we have, the execution and the newness and the strategy that Winnie referred to and then ultimately, what we're up against in terms of back half of the year and trend.

The last thing I'll say is when you look at Q2, 3 and 4 of our business on a 2-year stack, which is, I think, really important because it takes the noise out of a moment in time. Over those quarters, you're seeing mid-double-digit growth consistently Q2, Q3, Q4. So that tells us we're still in a real strong growth position, and I think we've put the guide together in a pretty constructive way.

The next question will come from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

This is Pedro Gil on for Simeon. Great quarter, fantastic momentum. Congratulations. My first question is for Winnie. In your prior roles, have you experienced a period of such strong growth as you're seeing right now? And what are the learnings that you take from those positions, from those roles that you can apply to comp the comp here into 2026? And then I have a follow-up.

Thanks so much for the question. So I actually have seen strong growth in my past life, especially when I was engaged in international and in international luxury. What's nice though about Five Below is that we really think we've got I guess, a toolkit for durable growth as we move forward. And we think the strategy is compelling. I mean you really start with the fact that we have a unique retail concept that's focused on kids. And I think that, that's compelling here in other places.

The second piece of this is our execution is really, really strong. And I think you can have a brilliant strategy, but if you can't execute, and with our teams and our crew, the execution is about collaboration and being really one team, one dream, being very close in terms of the trends that we're seeing and reacting quickly. And I would say the last piece of this is we're just really excited to be able to engage directly with the customer. The customer is responding well, I think, in part because we're talking to them. And it's not a one-way dialogue, traditional advertising where you just put it out there. We're engaging with them constantly. And through our new marketing efforts through social media, we can be incredibly agile. If something is popping, we can immediately react.

And the other piece of it is we've got a rich source of information because we can see what's trending out there and again, react. So I would say that all of those things give us a lot of confidence. And I do think this growth is special, but it's also durable. Thanks so much for your question.

The next question will come from Michael Lasser with UBS.

It's really on investments that you can make in order to sustain this momentum moving forward, and it comes in 2 parts. First, Dan, you mentioned that you're expecting 100 basis points of gross margin expansion this year. How would you break that down from factors that are unique to this year versus letting more of the goodness flow to the bottom line rather than reinvesting in? And does that create some tension over the long term if Five Below is not reinvesting all of the scale and other benefits it gets from being a bigger organization?

And then as part of that, if you could just talk about how we should be modeling the contribution margin if indeed you are able to sustain this comp momentum above and beyond your guidance, would you choose to reinvest some of this outperformance back to be able to sustain this comp beyond 2026?

Michael, thank you very much for the thoughtful question. So look, if you look at 2026 as a whole, we've got actually 130 basis points of gross margin accretion year-over-year and about 100 basis points of operating profit accretion. That's the model that we've built, and that's on the 3% to 5% comp that we put together. The way we get there, to answer your first question on sort of what's driving that margin, taking away sort of the leverage point and the shrink point, I think you've got 3 fundamental drivers. You've got price, which we won't anniversary until late in 2Q. You've got the cycling of the transitory tariff headwinds of a year ago. and you've got a structurally lower tariff rate versus a year ago, mostly related to the reduction in the fentanyl tariff in China. Those are the predominant drivers of the gross margin accretion, and they'll play differently between half 1 and half 2.

I think to your second question on the investment stance of this business, look, we feel really good that we are remaining committed to a growth stance for the business. That growth stance shows up, in my opinion, in a few different ways. We are incrementally investing in marketing this year, and you've heard Winnie talk a lot about the vision for how we want to engage, how we want to build awareness for this beautiful brand and talk to our customers in a different way. That's about 20 to 25 basis points of incremental year-over-year investment. We are continuing to invest in labor. We have seen the benefit of what happens when we put the right profile on the shop floor at our busiest times. And so we're committed to getting that model continue to be optimized.

And then thirdly, we're going to continue to lean in on capital and support the growth of this business, both in new stores, but also in capacity within our distribution network to make sure that we're ready not only for 2026, but beyond. So I think we've got the right balance here of fueling and funding this growth, but also being thoughtful about what flows to the bottom line.

Look, to your second question, what happens if we outperform this? That's a long way away for us. We would love to entertain that. We're certainly thinking about that every day, but we'll have more to say about that should that situation arise.

The next question will come from Scot Ciccarelli with Truist Securities.

Dan, I think you mentioned you're seeing the same data that we're seeing on the outside. But I think what we're seeing on the outside would suggest you're providing a relatively conservative guide, at least at this point for the first quarter. Is that based on just conservatism? Is it because we still have Easter ahead, et cetera? If you just could provide more clarity around kind of the thinking on that.

Absolutely, Scot. Thanks for the question. Look, we're seeing the same data. You're seeing -- we're thrilled with what's happening out there. I think we've got to put context here, though, as well. We're 7, 8 weeks into the quarter. These are relatively low volume weeks. And I think that's important to note. It doesn't take away from the performance. But I think this quarter is going to be delivered based on what's in front of us, not what's behind us. Easter is a big deal. Those are 2 really important selling weeks for us. It's an early Easter this year, which is not ideal, but survivable.

And we've got to get that right, and we know we will. I think the second thing I'll go back to Winnie and I both talked about it is, look, the state of the consumer is not as strong as when we exited the year. And I think we have to be thoughtful about that as well. There's a threshold here in terms of wallet and the consumer is under a lot of pressure. And so I don't think we're trying to be conservative. It's not our intent. I think we're trying to be thoughtful halfway through the quarter, knowing we've got a lot left to do, particularly around Easter to land the quarter. So hopefully, that answers your question.

The next question will come from Paul Lejuez with Citi.

Can you talk about your AUR and ticket assumptions for the first quarter versus transactions? And then I'm curious, as we think about 2Q to 4Q, are you looking at those quarters as being consistent on a 1-year basis as you move throughout the year? Or are you looking at them as being consistent on a 2-year basis? Or are you building in a stronger second quarter coming down a little bit, decelerating as we move throughout? Anything you could share on that second quarter to fourth quarter cadence and the AUR ticket and transaction assumptions?

Great. Thanks for the question, Paul. Yes, look, let's start at the macro level. We've got comp growth built into every quarter in the year. So I want to reinforce that point. I think we made it in the opening remarks, but I think that's important to note. Obviously, yes, you're right, the sequential growth will slow as the cycling effect is more pronounced. And '25 got stronger as the year went on. which means the cycling challenge is harder in '26 as the year goes on. In terms of how we thought about sort of ticket and AUR, I would sort of maybe ladder up and just think about it in terms of half 1 and half 2.

We've modeled very consistent trends that we saw coming out of the year, particularly in Q1 around ticket growth and AUR-driven ticket growth. It's what we saw in the fourth quarter. It's what we expect to see in Q1. That will obviously moderate as we move into Q2 and we anniversary the price increase. And then over the back half of the year, yes, you're going to see a little bit more balanced, a little bit more moderated growth between both ticket and transaction. We do expect growth in both, but it will be more modest given what we're cycling against.

The next question will come from Robby Ohmes with Bank of America.

I was just curious on the first quarter and the strength you have there, and it might be hard to see behind it. But is there any -- was there any storm impact coming in the first quarter? Does early Easter mean anything for you guys? And maybe to call out historically, how has tax refunds helped or not helped Five Below's business? And are they helping right now?

Yes. So all that certainly went into how we thought about the first quarter. There is certainly tax proceeds in the market. They came a bit earlier than what we've seen previously. We think that's a bit behind what we're seeing in the early results in the quarter. That's been favorable. Look, I think in general, an early Easter is less advantageous than a late Easter. It sets up that post-Easter time line where it's still unfortunately a bit cold and you don't get the full spring/summer sets going. But that's de minimis. That's probably on the rounding. I think at the end of the day, Easter is still a pronounced piece of the quarter for us earlier or later. It's a big piece of how we think about the quarter.

And so yes, you've got a bit of tax funding that's worked its way through earlier than maybe we would have expected. You've got Easter out there. I think all of that has factored into how we constructed the first quarter comp guide.

The next question will come from Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

Can you guys unpack the traffic between new and existing customers? And then separately, on store growth, what it would take to accelerate unit expansion from here in '26 -- sorry, in '27 and '28? I guess what are you guys looking for given how strong NSP has been over the past year?

So we've seen growth in both new and existing at equivalent levels and actually at really, really great levels that we haven't seen in the past. As I mentioned before, I think that the marketing strategies that we've deployed are -- they're very effective. They're working. And as we gather customer records, I think that we'll be able to see further growth, especially with that existing customer base and hopefully, growth in that customer lifetime value, especially as kids enter and they grow up, see us at college and maybe one day become parents and come back to us.

So really, really good potential out there. In terms of store growth, I think overall, we've taken a position of being incredibly disciplined. I think that's the difference in the past year. And that discipline means evaluating the best locations and more importantly, opening with maximum impact. So ensuring that we've got the right level of inventory, ensuring that we've got a crew who are well trained and really, I think, bringing back grand opening marketing and shouting to the community that we're there has worked.

And so we really want to focus on the number of stores. I think there's a lot of white space out there for us, but it's more important that we get the right ones and the right level of execution against them. Thanks so much, Chuck.

The next question will come from Zhihan Ma with Bernstein.

Winnie, I wanted to follow up on your comment about pricing and various price points above $5 to $7, $10, $15. Now it's not the first time that Five Below is going beyond the $5 price point. What do you think has changed in terms of you seeing the customers giving you the permission to realize more pricing power this time around beyond the $5 point?

Thanks so much, Zhihan. So a couple of things have changed fundamentally. One thing remains the same. We remain very committed to delivering as much value and as much assortment at $5 and below. It represents about 80% of our business in terms of units sold. We're very excited about that number. We're proud of it. We want to be a resource for customers where the price of entry is $1. And so building in great value is always going to be central to what we do.

We took a very different approach to pricing above $5. A couple of things. One, we evaluated every single product and really looked at if you're going to bring in a price point above $5, does it deserve to be at $7, $10 or $15. And so an example over holiday was really compelling gift sets and bundled products that were at $10. That makes a big difference. And again, focus on relative value and also making sure that we are honestly priced better than competition. So that all goes in the mix. The other aspect of how we think we've gotten permission from the customer is we basically merchandise the store the way they shop. In the past, all of these goods would be in the back of store in the Five Beyond area. And we work very hard to actually try and expand that and actually put these really compelling wow value items in the zones where the customer is shopping.

So I'll give you the example of a great speaker and the speaker table. You don't need that to be in the back of store. If you put it in the tech section with the other speakers, the customer sees the value in it. And so I think really leaning into how the customer shops, ensuring that they're getting great relative value and remaining very, very focused on what the competition is pricing at versus what we price at has been tremendous. The last thing I'll say about Five Below that's really great is we're about newness. And so as we introduce new products at higher price points, they're not comped to old products that were in the price -- in the line. So we can really step out and do something unique. And the customer has responded well and is giving us permission to do more at different price points. Thanks for your question.

The next question will come from Brian Nagel with Oppenheimer.

Great quarter. Congratulations. So the question I want to ask, focusing on sales, and look, we have laid out the guidance. I mean you talked about continued strength through the year, but really in the first quarter. But as we think about 2026, how should we -- are there factors that are beyond what you're already doing, new factors that should amount to key sales drivers for the year that we maybe did not see in 2025?

So Brian, thanks so much for your question. Honestly, I would say that in 2025, we planted a lot of seeds for growth, and we see a lot of green shoots. And so our intention during the course of the year is actually to amplify what we've already planted and started to read. And I will give you the example of our ability to actually react to trends as one of those ideas. So in the past, there could be trends that were really hot, especially for kids. And we were passive. We were able to provide the product, but we weren't able to engage with the customer and amplify those trends.

Today, we've got a different toolkit. So we really can actually build community and engage with the customer about what's hot and also react much faster than in the past at addressing that trend. We also are going to take permission to look at those trends and introduce new trends along with that. So I think that, that is something we're beginning to exercise and we'll exercise throughout the year. We also -- honestly, last year, we had the tariffs hit us. And so we weren't able to actually buy or attain all the products that we wanted to fill out some of our worlds.

And this year, that is not an object. We've worked very hard to diversify our store space to negotiate. We do have the benefit of being able to price at great value above $5. All of this is going to lead to greater range and greater growth in certain categories that we weren't able to really service last year. I hope that answers your question.

The next question will come from Jeremy Hamblin with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

And I'll add my congratulations on the success. First, just a clarifying question on the embedded tariffs in guidance. So I think what you said was that you're modeling actually like, for example, for China, what the ending 2025 tariff rate would be like 20% for China and not the 10% for the current global tariff rates. So just a clarification on that.

And then my other question is, if you think about the long-term model here, and you guys for a very long time, for a decade did roughly an 11% to 12% EBIT margin every year. And you've been building back towards that through a combination of improved operations and clearly higher AUVs. Where do you think you would need to comp at? Or what do you think the average unit volumes would need to get to get back to that 11% to 12% EBIT margin?

Thanks, Jeremy. Let me take the tariff question first, and then we'll talk about the business model. And maybe I'll just take a step back and confirm for the group, how have we thought about tariffs in total in this outlook. First of all, and I think you were in the right place to start. We have essentially assumed that the tariff rates that were in place as we started the fiscal year on February 1, remain in place. So in rough terms, that means that the IEEPA tariffs that were eventually struck down later in February, we have assumed those are still in place for the year. We think that's the best proxy in a very, very uncertain world given the comments that we've seen from the administration to get back to that level. So that's what's embedded in our outlook. Equally, we have not contemplated the impact in our guidance of this 150-day 10% global tariff rate, the infamous Section 122 tariffs. We have not factored that into our guidance. We don't believe that, that impact is material to the guidance. So that's how we thought about tariffs.

On the business model question that you're asking, look, I think we're not running this business to achieve a certain number, 12%, 13% op profit. What we're doing is designing a model that provides durable growth. And I think this year is a great example of that. The ability to comp on top of 2025 speaks to the durable growth. We're going to be super smart and drive margin accretion and that margin accretion is going to balance reinvestment and bottom line operating profit growth. How that model plays out and over time, what does that balance look like between reinvest versus grow the bottom line? I think that's what we will ultimately decide as we engage over the years.

But I think it all starts with a trusted, durable growth profile that based on the strategy and to Winnie's comments, the way we're executing the strategy, we feel really, really good about our ability to do that. And then I think over time, we will get the mechanism right and the balance right of reinvest to continue to fuel that growth versus grow the EBIT margin line. And that's what we will do over time.

The next question will come from Krisztina Katai with Deutsche Bank.

Congrats on a great quarter. So Winnie, I wanted to ask on the 6 pertinent moments that delivered newness and the great in-store experience that you talked about. Just how many curtain-up moments are planned for 2026? If you could talk about the expected percentage of newness within the assortment that you aim to achieve through these? And then just lastly, some of the key categories that you anticipate driving the most excitement in the coming year.

Krisztina, so we will also feature 6 curtain-up moments this year like we did in 2025. And they really are the seasonal moments that our customers focused on, be it New Year's, followed by Valentine's through to spring, Easter, et cetera. So it really is their moments. And what's really nice is that between those moments, we can always layer in newness. And we actually have newness in each of our worlds that occurs between those moments, and we have the ability to now talk to the customer about when those moments deliver.

The key to our business success this past year has been getting the right product at the right price. And I think that, again, it begins and ends with the focus on the customer. And when we talk about key categories that we think are important, we set off last year with a mission to really be the destination for the kid and the kid and all of us. And with that, really doubling down on games, toys and crafting those thought processes that we really stand out, both in terms of our position but also in terms of our unique concept. We've got 9,000 square feet on average. It's a fun place to shop, and it's a fun place to host kids.

And then beyond that, really looking at teens and tweens. And so we continue to fuel our businesses like beauty as well as our lounge business and accessories. And so -- and then this year, I think we are really excited about doing more in terms of room and dorm. And so lots of great newness throughout our categories and our worlds. But again, with that focus on the kids and what they care about.

The next question will come from Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital.

I guess I have a quick one for Winnie. This has just been such an amazing first year. Are you sure your first name is Winnie and not Winning?

Anthony, that's very kind. It's Winnie, like the Pooh. Which is also a great product in the line right now.

The next question will come from David Bellinger with Mizuho.

I don't really know how to follow that one. But my question is on social media. I mean, Winnie, you mentioned some of the influencer, TikTok, Instagram marketing. Are you looking at those sales as truly incremental at this point? And just can you help us think through any of the economics around that? Do you pay for a post to the influencers, participate in any upside? Just help us understand the economics and the incrementality at this point.

Yes. So David, what we've done is basically redirect what used to be spent on traditional TV commercials into social media. And it's a whole range. It's both engagement in terms of creator content with creators and influencers. But it's also just ensuring that if you're watching -- if you're on social and your Gen Alpha and you're watching a great video about Stitch and your interest in Stitch product, we're serving up the right content to you. And so it's a multipronged strategy. It's not as simple as just going out and paying for influencers. I think that what's been really, really great, especially this year as we look at the first quarter is that it's less about influencer content, and it's much more about our ability to amplify what is user-generated that's out there.

People are talking about these products. We're able to lean in and say, we've got those products, we've got you. Even our stores are engaged and talking about like this product just landed. So I think it just gives us access to a remarkable channel that, again, is agile, incredibly effective in terms of return on ad spend. And honestly, the last piece of this is compelling. It's something that the customers want to engage in. And so all those pieces give us courage to do more, but we always have a test, learn and ramp approach on anything we do. And so I've been really excited by what we've seen thus far.

The next question will come from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim.

Winnie, a quick question. I know in the past, you guys would run events in stores on the weekends. Your thought on that, the labor required for that? And then could you do birthday parties and other related parties or that's too complicated labor-wise?

Yes. John, great question. So first of all, on events, we continue to host events. We just had an amazing Pokémon event. We've been really pleased. And I think part of it is those events are incredibly sticky and create community. And it's something that certainly our brands and vendors want to help activate. So it's a 1 plus 1 equals 3 equation. And the sales that we generate in general, really do fund -- more than fund any labor that we put towards the events. I do think it's an interesting and compelling question with regards to birthday parties and other activations. We haven't contemplated that really fully.

However, what we are trying to lean into is try to be a one-stop destination for your birthday needs. And so we're excited about our balloon business. We don't aspire to be all of balloons, but the best of balloons and really think about our target customer and then offering really great party celebration items that complement what we've always done, which is party favors and gifts. So those are some thoughts. But certainly, as we focus in on kids, we look at all avenues of potential growth and what that could do for us.

The next question will come from Michael Montani with Evercore ISI.

I was going to ask, could you just summarize for the year where tariff headwinds ended up falling out for you? And then I believe in the first round of tariffs, it was roughly 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 offset from pricing, cost out and then vendor leverage. So I'm just wondering if you could provide an update on how that has played out so far.

Yes. Thanks, Mike. So we ended up largely where we thought we would a quarter ago, about 90 basis points full year headwind in 2025. In terms of sort of what we -- how we addressed those impacts, I go back to what I think is like a really important point with this business, which is we offset tariffs penny for penny at the item unit level. And that's obviously super important to the economics, and you see the benefit of that in 2026. because some of the gross margin tailwinds that we are getting right now is as tariffs have eased, we've got unit economics in a great place, and we've got margin accretion.

So I think it's noteworthy that the team was able to offset all of the tariff headwinds at the item level. How they did it, I think you've got the 3 buckets, right, in terms of the pricing benefit, the ability to negotiate and the ability to reengineer and redesign product. I think all of that factored in. I don't know that I would size it 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. I think pricing was probably a bit more, but I'll leave it at that for now because I think you've got all 3 of the right levers.

The next question will come from Brad Thomas with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

What a great year. Question on the step-up in CapEx, Dan, just what's that going towards? Any interesting technology or supply chain opportunities? And how are you thinking about perhaps getting back into some of the store refresh store remodel programs that have been in the past?

Yes. Thanks for the question. And you're right, it is a bit of a step-up year-over-year in CapEx. We plan to be somewhere just over 4% of net sales in capital, which is slightly higher than where we ended 2025. I think the capital is largely going to continue to be focused on the network and the stores and building out the next round of 150-ish new stores. That's obviously the priority.

The second piece, and you're right, we are making investments in the distribution network. We've got to build for more capacity to support this growth. And so that process begins in 2026, and we've allocated capital for that. And then we are putting a bit more capital behind technology. We're seeing real opportunity here structurally to enhance technology. We talked earlier about our digital business and the website. We've talked about how do we make the merch teams more efficient and optimize end-to-end management of this business. So there's a technology investment.

And so you've got the new stores, you've got investments in the network and in capacity, and you've got a bit more going towards technology to support the growth.

The next question will come from -- sorry, go ahead.

I was just thinking, Brad.

The next question will come from Phillip Blee with William Blair.

Congrats on a great quarter. So Winnie, you've spoken a lot about the contribution of the crew and incremental investments in labor over the past few quarters, how that's led to better conversion and in-stock levels. Do you think stores are appropriately staffed now? Or do you think that there's room for further increases in either hours or headcount, particularly as you ramp up omnichannel efforts? And then if so, how do you think about the opportunity to make additional gains in conversion? What kind of contribution could that have? Or has most of the low-hanging fruit been taken already here now?

Yes. Thanks for your question, Phillip. Great question. It's interesting because I think last year, we made an initial investment in terms of labor to ensure that we could do kind of the basics, which is to get product -- move product from the back to the front and to drive the conversion. And as the quarters progressed and we started to hit peak periods like holiday, we took a really thoughtful approach to match up peak traffic, peak days with recovery in our stores and ensuring that not only did the customer see the product on the shelf, but they got a better level of service.

And so we will continue with that model. And as it relates to kind of future endeavors like omnichannel, we are very much in a test, learn and ramp mode. We have initiated buy online, pick up in store. We've seen actually big, big growth with third-party delivery. And so we're going to continue to look at those avenues because we've got to meet the customer where they are. And I think particularly for the younger customers, specifically Gen Z, convenience is critical. And we think there's -- it's actually an opportunity to acquire new customers who may not have considered us or walk away just because it's not convenient.

And so we'll take a test, learn and ramp approach in terms of how we look at that. But we think that turning on omnichannel is just going to actually lead to greater acquisition and greater conversion moving forward. Thanks for your question.

The next question will come from Spencer Hanus with Wolfe Research.

Just curious what you're seeing in terms of growth from like new and then existing customers. And then any change in how the recent results are just impacting your view on where this business can comp like durably out in the future? Like has your expectations moved up about sort of where comps land sort of in '27 and '28?

So Spencer, in terms of new and existing customers, we actually had what I would call a banner year in terms of both acquisition as well as repeat visits. And I would attribute that to more effective marketing and really, again, meeting customers where they are. I talked about the fact that we've just started collecting records for customers. And we think that our ability to, again, get additional repeat and to drive our current customer base in terms of their value is much higher as we move through the year, and that's one of our major initiatives for the year. We will also continue to focus on new customers and driving our brand awareness. So all really, really good stuff.

And then I'm going to pass it on to Dan to talk about comp in the future.

Yes. Look, we're super bullish on the growth profile of this business, right? You have to be -- you look at the comp growth that we have delivered, you look at the new store growth. We haven't talked about it on this call, but what we've seen in 8 new stores in new markets in the Pacific Northwest. So we've got a business that we think has an optimal opportunity to comp strongly with a lot of white space. And that is a very, very unique concept within retail. And so that's how we feel about it. I think going back to Winnie's earlier comments, we've got a compelling strategy. We're executing at an incredibly high level with a talented crew, and there are so many things left to do here. We have not scratched the surface on what's possible.

And so you put all that together, I'm going to stop short of putting a number to it. But certainly, we are bullish with the growth aspects that this business offers us, particularly with this strategy. Thanks for the question.

The next question will come from -- and the final question will come from Joe Feldman with Telsey Advisory Group.

I pressed late, I guess. But I did want to ask you guys because I know you've talked about with maybe thinking about a new format for the store now that you've brought out the Five Beyond items back into the aisles and have a more fluid merchandise flow, I was just wondering if you guys have been playing around with a newer format and what you're thinking there.

Joe. I think we're always looking at ways to make the shopping experience that much more inspiring and frankly, just easier. And certainly, with the evolution, I would say, of the Five Beyond area, we have opportunity to take the back of store and make it even that much more productive. And so we are looking at how to create better flow within the store without that Five Beyond area in the back and testing how we honestly convert stores in the network, but then also looking at new format work that allows us to really truly bring to life this idea of these worlds that customers can shop in and move from.

And we are serving some distinct customer groups, the youngest customers with Gen Alpha, Gen Z, more teens, tweens and young adults and millennial moms, and they have very different needs. And so we're thinking through how do we optimize the experience for each of those cohorts. So more to come on that, but thanks for your question.

This will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Winnie Park for any closing remarks.

First and foremost, thank you all so much for your support, and we hope to see everyone in our stores for all your spring break and Easter essentials. We appreciate you. Please convert with us, and thank you for your attention on the call.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

I am Michael Lasser, the Hardlines, Broadlines & Food Retail analyst from UBS, and I could not be more thrilled to be spending a little time with 2 fantastic people and a third sitting in the front row. Winnie Park is the CEO of Five Below, having just surpassed her 13th month in this role. Boy, how time flies when you're having fun. And Dan Sullivan has just surpassed his 3-month tenure at Five Below, and everybody knows Christiane Pelz. She does not need an introduction as the incredible Head of Investor Relations at Five.

I don't know that there's been a management team that's had more of a boom coming out of the gate than Five Below over the last year. So it's been pretty fun to watch. We'll get into the holiday performance. But Winnie, where I want to start is you've been in this role, as I mentioned, for a year. The business has returned to really compelling growth capped by quite a remarkable holiday season. What, in your mind, has driven this really notable turnaround over the last year?

Thank you so much, Michael. And gosh, I can't believe that we just were reminiscing about being here a year ago. And I think the thing that's so compelling about Five Below is the journey I took with the brand as a customer when I started shopping Five Below 10 years ago. And that was with the kid, my daughter. She's 10 years old. And I think that our true North Star is that focus on the customer and reclaiming our position as a destination for the kid and the kid in all of us. It's a special place in retail. There's not a lot of us out there that are focused on the kid and really doubling down on that in every way, getting close to the customer, their needs, getting close to their trends, which are actually multifaceted, it's not about a single item and getting the team geared to really, really understand that the customer is our boss. I'm not the boss. The customer is our boss.

So in service of that kid, we also did a second thing this past year when I started, which is, let's speak to them in a relevant channel. And that's really looking at the fact that we've got Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennials. They're digital natives, but they're really social natives. And so when we communicate and create that connected customer journey, the journey has got to start in social. It's got to start with storytelling and curated storytelling that's compelling.

And from there, greet them at the store with the same stories, which leads us to kind of the third pillar of the strategy for growth, and that is how we work. It's not just what you do, but it's how you do it. And collaboration and cross-functional alignment has been so key. I come from years in the fashion industry. We take go-to-market very seriously and bringing the disciplined go-to-market with our 6 curtain-up moments where it is around merchandising, working very closely with marketing upfront in terms of what's trending, what's hot, what's new, how are we going to talk about it. But also, we take that same information to the stores.

Before we deliver the product, we have a curtain-up call with all of our associates, so they really get a feel for what's coming their way. And then, of course, that tight coordination between allocations, our distribution and our stores, that means everything. So when the customer gets there, curtain up, you're walking into holiday, you're walking into Halloween and it's compelling. Retail is the last great team sport outside of football, and we mean to play and leave it out in the field.

Well, I will stay away from the football comparison given what happened with Philadelphia last night. But Dan, would you say that...

We won't speak of these things.

Yes. Dan, would you say that part of the reason why you got hired was because of your TikTok presence? Or will -- that is enough...

Not entirely.

It has nothing to do with it. Winnie, so if I were to summarize what you had mentioned, it's, number one, reframing of the business back on the core teen, preteen consumer; two, speaking to that customer in a more current relevant way through social media; and three, really unifying the organization. And those are 3 areas that you've focused on. Presumably, all those 3 have led to some of the benefits that you saw during the holiday. Were there other factors that drove the holiday result?

And you spoke to this not being one particular trend, which I think is important because as you get into next year, there's a constant dialogue from this community, which is, oh, they're going to lap X, they're going to lap Y. But given the diversity of the trends, doesn't that give you a little bit more confidence moving into next year, coupled with the momentum of the business?

Absolutely. I think what was terrific about holiday, you take that strategy focus on those 3 Cs, but then the way we executed it is to deliver assortments. It wasn't about a single item and delivering really compelling statements across a number of different businesses and worlds and customer worlds as we like to call it. And the trends are now not just about one thing, there are multiple trends, and we're constantly chasing them. And now we have the discipline of test, learn and ramp. We want to get fewer, bigger and better ideas and really go after them. That is a way of working that we've brought into Five Below, not just for this holiday, but beyond.

The other piece around holiday is we are very intentional and strategic in our investments. We invested in the inventory and in the merchandise. We had full shelves of the right product. We invested in marketing. We made sure that we got the news out there, starting with our holiday toy catalog, which delivered in November, and our vendor community was so wonderful in helping to participate in that.

And then the final thing is we invested in the labor in the store experience. If the product is in the back room, they can't see it, they won't buy it. So making sure that we were replenished every day, especially those critical 14 days leading up to Christmas. And so all of those things, it's, again, a discipline that we apply, and we'll continue to apply that to comp the comp.

Got you. Well, we'll talk about that in just a minute because that's top of mind for folks. Dan, I want to bring you into this conversation. Coming in, this has probably been an eye-opening experience on a number of levels. But as you look more and reflect on over the last 8 weeks during this holiday period, what outperformed? Because essentially, you doubled up what -- or Five Below doubled up what you expected to do? Is this across all categories where there standouts from a geographic perspective? Anything that you think is important to identify?

Yes. We obviously had a terrific holiday. Look, I think a couple of things jump out to me. One, as you've heard Winnie say, we are a differentiated retail concept. That is who we are. Two, we've got a pretty compelling strategy, the Chief Architect of it is sitting to my left. And three, we've executed at a really high level. And so when those 3 things happen, you're going to tend to perform. The way I think about holiday is 2 words: breadth of growth and balance of growth.

The breadth means we grew just about everywhere. We operate in about 170 districts here in the U.S. We grew in all of those districts. We saw consistent growth across every store vintage we operate, across all income cohorts, across all demos, 14 of the 18 departments we operate in grew. So this notion that we are relying on a single trend, a single item is simply not what we've seen. And this isn't unique to the holiday, by the way. We saw this over the course of the second half of the year. So that's the breadth piece of the discussion.

Then you get to the balance side of it and you unpack that comp, 14.5% comp is what you all would have read this morning. That was our single best holiday performance since we become a public company. And it was driven in a really balanced way. About 8 points of that came from ticket, which means about 6 came from transactions. And so as Winnie talked, as we invest in marketing dollars, we drive traffic. As we get good in-stock position, good labor deployed on the store, we convert well. All of that came together in the holiday period. Super, super proud of the team and the work that they did and obviously excited for the path forward for our business.

Very helpful. If there is a debate or a question, it's how are you going to be able to sustain this momentum? Winnie, you've been able to identify some key areas of opportunity early in your tenure as the leader of this business. Where does Five Below stand on this journey, whether it's using social media, making changes to the store experience? And one of the hallmarks of what you've done early in your tenure was to move some of the Five Beyond product from -- out of the back of the store and move it into relevant sections throughout the store. Those are really interesting and useful examples of giving us a sense of how much more there is to go. So how do you see that from here?

We are early days; very, very early days. I truly have only been here a year. We just assembled the team, Dan joining us in October; Michelle, our Chief Merchant, joining us in October. So from a team perspective, we've got the team, we've got the right team. And then beyond that, I will say that what we've done is institute a system in terms of product and product newness that goes after trends. And the trends are not about one thing, it goes across the assortment. And again, it's that test, learn and ramp approach to how we do things that's so critical.

We have, because of the tariffs, never waste a crisis, really taken the opportunity to broaden our source base, invite more vendors to help us identify the trends, really diversify our source base in terms of country of origin, look at goods outside of China. And so all of that helps us with more information in to identify what's right and what's going to happen, what's new.

And then I will say that price has been such an important component of us driving comps this year and sales growth. But we were incredibly strategic about where we took price. Again, the tariffs basically forced me to look at every single item. I sat down with the MP&A teams. We spent weeks going item by item so I could understand the role it played in the assortment, literally the volumes, and then, again, price value, how much are we paying for it and how much are we going to put it out in the market for? We walked away from some things, and then we went after others.

When we came out of that exercise, we built an assortment and we said, okay, let's go test this. But let's test whole price points, let's simplify the shopping experience. When I got to Five Below and I was interviewing, there were something like 77 different price points. There were 25 endings, 55 endings. We got rid of all of that. We went to whole dollars and then we pushed the envelope. If you're going to go above Five, you better pack a lot of value in those products. And we tested it. Frankly, we rolled it out in Q2. And what was amazing is that the resistance to the price increases were not what we expected. Customers responded because the product was just so good.

From there, in the third and fourth quarters, what we did was we said, let's get rid of Five Beyond. Let's put those items in line because that's how the customer shops. If I'm looking for room decor, I do not need to go to the back of store to find a $35 gilt mirror. Let's go ahead and put it in line with the rest of room decor. That paid dividends. It made it easier. We saw those items being picked up better, and it freed up space so we can get more productivity out of the box. We were able to have 2 curtain-up moments, both in the front of store and back of store starting with Halloween, and we continue that through the holidays.

So all of those things are, again, things that we're going to leverage and continue to grow. We've just started understanding the customer. We just started in social. Of the hundreds of millions of customers who shop us, we only capture a few of them via e-mail. So that work is now just beginning, creating customer database, understanding things like recency, frequency, monetary value, so -- and finally, omni just started to scratch the surface. So we've got a lot of dry powder in the arsenal that we started to look at this year, but we're ready to really bring it to the fore over the next few years.

It does seem like 2025 was a year where Five really solidified that the customer is willing to buy at higher price points. As long as the value is there, what comes to mind is the $45 skeleton, that's a little scary, by the way, I will add...

The scarier, the better.

Scarier, the better. How far are you willing to push it? How far do you think the customer is willing to accept it?

I think the litmus test for us is how good is the product and relative value. So if that animatronic skeleton at $35 is out in the marketplace at $70, that's good value. If it works, great. If it's scary enough, that's good value. So that's our constant litmus test. And at Five Below, we are bred in the bone to not go above Five. Like literally, it is almost like tissue rejection. So it better be really damn good for us to push the price point and the value. And that discipline, again, is something that I really appreciate.

Yes. Got you. Dan, another key piece of the story is that Five is still in the middle stages of its life cycle in terms of unit growth. It's interesting now that you're expanding the aperture of what can be sold, does that influence how you think about the number of units that Five Below could ultimately operate? Right now, it stands -- the growth target is 3,000 plus. What's been your impression of that expectation as you've come in and studied it?

Yes. Super bullish on the opportunity here for further unit growth. 3,500 plus is sort of what we have said, super confident in that and quite informed by what we're seeing in recent new store performance. We just opened 8 stores in a new market for us, Pacific Northwest. Each of those 8 stores in and of themselves would have set a record for a grand opening. They happened to all launch at the same time. We continue to see robust response to the format and to the offering.

So definitely highly convicted upon what the growth could be and how we think about whether it's fill-in or whether it's new market entry. I think what has shifted a bit for us is the pace that we expect here. We're not going to chase a number. We're not going to chase a number of boxes. We're going to be super smart and disciplined. We've raised the bar on what it takes from market intelligence, site selection all the way through to when we open those doors. Every aspect of that has to work better for us. So we've anchored ourselves a bit.

The way we look at growth around high single-digit box growth is probably the right place for us in the near term. That's what we'll be this year, about 9% in new boxes. That's a pretty good proxy for us as we move forward. And again, setting ourselves up to think about what does really good execution look like, premium sites, great end-to-end execution and super grand openings. Those 8 stores that I mentioned, Pacific Northwest, just as an example, those are all former Party City boxes. So we're going to focus on premium location, good 4-wall economics, and then we're going to execute super well.

Shifting over to the model. One thing that was pretty remarkable in 2025 was how well not only Five performed from a top line perspective, but how well it was able to manage through the tariff environment? And given the sourcing that Five Below does, it was uniquely exposed to the tariffs. So Dan, give us a sense for how much the tariffs had an impact on the product cost, what was the mitigation strategies? And it's very likely that we're going to be in a dynamic tariff environment moving forward. What do you see as the opportunities and the risks from tariffs to Five's model moving forward?

Yes. This is Five Below at its best. The way this organization attacked tariffs and all that it could have been rewind the tape to what we were all thinking back in March and April. And this organization was proactive. It was aggressive. It was solution-oriented. And as a result of all of that work for the full year 2025, we're essentially offsetting all the tariff pressure at the unit economic level. Merch margins are essentially flat year-over-year. That is an incredible outcome.

We've done it through a number of different ways. Certainly, price strategy and price execution and importantly, less consumer pushback on some of the pricing that we've taken has been an important lever, but we've also done great work on the cost side in good hygiene around reengineer it, renegotiate it, put it into different countries of origin. Nothing was off the table in terms of the work that we've done. Now where we felt the pain, less at the unit economic level and more just in operating in a tariff environment, right?

Every aspect of supply chain and distribution and importation had some form of significant cost pressure to it. Surge pricing being a really good example of that. We see that as largely transitory here. It is not structural. We still have to work our way through a bit first half of 2026 because some of those costs are trapped in inventory and we will release as the product sells. But I think an important recognition of how this company operates is the work that was done to mitigate what could have been meaningful tariff pressure and then creating an environment where, to your point, Michael, this is fluid and changing and requires great agility, and that's how we operate the business.

And Dan the message, hey, let's look at what happened last year with respect to tariffs. Five Below was able to manage it in such a way, I think merch margins were flat, which is a remarkable accomplishment. And the message for folks should be, hey, no matter what happens, that should be a testament that we'll be able to manage through this under a variety of different scenarios.

Well, that's right. And you heard the CEO of the company spent her first weeks here tearing through item by item across the full portfolio. That tells you sort of the mindset of how we operate. So yes, I fully agree. It won't stay this way. That we know. There will be more change, more disruption, but we, as an organization, will stare into that.

With all due respect to any Eagles' fans, we already know that there's not going to be a repeat for one organization coming out of Philadelphia in '26. We are hopeful and confident that there can be a repeat for a different organization in 2026. Winnie, how do you comp the comp in 2026? How are you thinking about that?

So Michael, I've alluded to some of the things that we've got in play that we've just begun. And the thing that we did this year was set the base. We set the base. And we set the base not just to drive the growth and drive the year's comp, but to really think about multiyear how do we repeat this. And I think we've just begun to touch the potential with product and assortments. Some of the ideas that really shine this year like lounge went from 0 to 60 in the course of 9 months, and it was getting behind it.

And so I think there's a lot more we can do with regards to product trend. Again, price, thinking about how much more we can do with great value above $5 while keeping that screaming value at the center of how we go to market and who we represent to the customer. The last piece of this really is we've only begun to talk to our customers. We've only begun to talk to them via social. We've only begun to actually e-mail them and bring them back. And we know the value of a customer with an e-mail, and we know how much more we have to do there. And so before we even talk loyalty program, let's just get their names and start talking to them and asking them to come back for every curtain-up moment.

We also have an aspiration. You had mentioned earlier that, and you were there for the Five IPO, right? It was preteens and teens. I actually pushed this back to a younger customer. We're kids. And we have the ability to ladder up with that kids starting from when they get their first allowance at age 5, all the way through to self-expression at 12, 13 to college, decorate your dorm and when they become parents. And so monitoring that life cycle is something that there's a ton of opportunity in terms of customer lifetime value. And I would say that, that differentiates us from most of retail, even when we look at new store expansion, as we've been talking about beyond comping the comps, just pure growth, kid counts and communities, drive times for kid counts, how you actually delve into communities of kids. So there's a lot more for us to do.

Kids and kids at heart, too.

Kids and kids-at-hearts. We love our kidult.

Yes, I'm a kidult. Yes. Some people say I'm not even a kidult, but that's a different story. Dan, your stock has doubled in the last year. Part of the expectation is that profitability is going to continue to improve. At one point, Five had a 12% operating margin. How are you thinking about the profit profile for this business over the long run? And where are the biggest opportunities right now?

Yes. Well, look, we're a growth retailer. So any talk of operating margin is going to start with growth. You've heard Winnie, we're highly convicted that we will comp the comp next year, but more importantly, continue to deliver structural durable growth. We would expect that growth then is going to deliver leverage. That's how we operate the business. You see that in 2025 actually. Despite tariff pressures, other challenges on cost incentive and otherwise, we will deliver 40, 50 bps of op margin accretion this year. So we're going to grow.

We're going to thoughtfully reinvest, continue to direct our investments to where returns are the highest. We're going to stay maniacal on productivity and efficiency. All of that then creates op margin accretion and leverage. That's the model. That's how we operate it. Now I'm well aware of the 12% metric. I don't think about it personally as a moment in time or a number. I think the path at which we accrete, the path at which we drive that margin, we'll see, but it's going to start with growth, including in 2026 and then from there, deliver leverage.

The other thing I would say, just for 2026 purposes, remember, we will anniversary a lot of these onetime transitory costs. So the leverage requirement threshold, if you will, is a bit lower than it's been historically. That's a 2026 only comment. Long story short, Michael, highly convicted, we'll continue to grow this business. And as we do, we'll lever it at the operating profit.

That's awesome. I want to end where we started, which is, you're entering your second year as a leader of this remarkable organization. What are you most excited about? And what in your mind is just the opportunity here moving forward?

I think -- thank you for that, Michael. We have so much more potential. The potential for Five Below is big. And I keep going back to the point that we are a differentiated retailer. We're specialty retail geared towards kids that happens to operate at extreme value. That is an unstoppable combination. And so more to come, but I'm pretty excited. Dare I say, psyched and stoked about what we're going to deliver to the customer over the next couple of quarters. It's going to be good, amazing.

This was totally lit. On behalf of me and all the other kidults out there, thank you. Please join me in thanking the team from Five Below.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good day, and welcome to the Five Below Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Christiane Pelz, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today for Five Below's Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. On today's call are Winnie Park, Chief Executive Officer; and Daniel Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.

After management has made their formal remarks, we will open the call to questions. I need to remind you that certain comments made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Those risks and uncertainties are described in the press release and our SEC filings. The forward-looking statements today are as of the date of this call, and we do not undertake any obligation to update our forward-looking statements.

In this presentation, we will refer to our SG&A expenses. For us, SG&A means selling, general and administrative expenses, including payroll and other compensation, marketing and advertising expense, depreciation and amortization expense and other selling and administrative expenses. Additionally, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these items to U.S. GAAP are included in today's press release. If you do not have a copy of today's press release, you may obtain one by visiting the Investor Relations page of our website at fivebelow.com.

I will now turn the call over to Winnie.

Hello, and thanks so much for joining us. We're excited to share our third quarter results, which exceeded our expectations. Before we do, I want to extend a warm welcome to our 2 new leaders Dan Sullivan, our Chief Financial Officer, who you'll hear from shortly; and Michelle Israel, a Chief Merchandising Officer, both of whom joined us in early October, Dan and Michelle are seasoned, highly experienced executives who have integrated into our amazing Five Below management team incredibly well. We're excited to support their contribution as we continue to grow and redouble our efforts to amplify our unique value proposition.

I would also like to thank Ken Bull, who served as interim CFO for his amazing partnership. We are excited to have Ken transition back into his role as COO as we enter the critical holiday season. Now turning to our fantastic results. In Q3, we delivered our second consecutive quarter of over $1 billion in sales and double-digit comparable sales growth. Our customers continue to recognize Five Below as the destination for the kid and the kid in all of us.

I'm really proud of the work our teams are doing in support of our boss the customer. We are seeing clear proof points that our customer-centric strategy is working. And as a result, we've taken up our outlook for the remainder of the year, which Dan will discuss in more detail shortly. In Q3, net sales grew 23%, with comparable sales growth of over 14%, driven by both transactions and ticket. With disciplined expense management, adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 62% over last year to $0.68.

Store growth continued to be strong at 9% over last year. We welcome 49 net new stores, the Five Below family, including our new store in Rogers, Arkansas, which became our best ever fall grand opening. And we ended the quarter with over 1,900 stores. The success of our new store openings continued into the fourth quarter with our entry into the Pacific Northwest or each of our 8 new stores set all-time grand opening records.

Notably, all these grand openings were supported by marketing and in-store activations that drew thousands of customers on opening day. The strong positive reception to Five Below in these new markets strengthens the conviction we have for the significant growth ahead of us. The results in the quarter again exceeded our expectations and we were very excited to see broad-based growth across merchandising departments and our entire network of stores. This growth is the result of maniacally executing our customer-centric strategy, which is supported by 3 core pillars. The first pillar is a sharpened focus on the customer, the kid, and for us, this means understanding the trends, life stages and how to influence Gen Alpha, Gen Z and Millennials. We deepened our understanding of what our customer wants, how we can build connections with them and ultimately, how they shop our stores. This relationship with the customer is our true north and underpins our merchandising, marketing and store operations approach.

The second pillar is delivering a connected customer journey, acknowledging that awareness begins on digital channels and social media and ends with an amazing in-store experience. By curating compelling stories in social that lead our customers to pre-shop on our website, culminating in a trip to our stores. The customer should see our big ideas come to life with a consistent look and feel.

The third pillar is coordinated cross-functional execution in our go-to-market for our 6 Curtnet moments from New Year's and Valentine's to holiday. The way we work has fundamentally changed as the team aligns earlier, resulting in the full engagement of our 1,900-plus store managers prior to launch on merchandising, marketing and the critical flow of newness to our stores. Underpinning these pillars is a mindset of operating with urgency and discipline as we saw in our tariff mitigation efforts earlier in the year while also remaining relentless in our focus on efficiency. We now operate with an approach of test, learn and ramp to quickly introduce new products, price points and processes.

Test, learning ramp ensures that our bias towards action is also informed by insights and analysis. To achieve our results, the crew across Five Below pulled together as a unit, a true team who shared one focus, the customer, our boss. I'm incredibly grateful for our team's passion, grit and all-in engagement on working cross-functionally in service of our customers. Their hard work and commitment delivered these results. Thank you, Five Below crew.

In Q3, our customer-centric strategy allowed us to deliver a sharpened value proposition. Our merchandising teams were unleashed to deliver a continuous flow of newness across product categories. We weren't reliant on a single trend as the majority of our departments comped positive. Also, we took a disciplined approach to curation and managing the breadth and depth of our buys, resulting in better in-stocks for our big ideas throughout the season, like Halloween decor. With the focus on big ideas such as Hero license programs, the merchandising teams coordinated to deliver unified statements like Wicked, which incorporates products from nearly every merchandising category. Also, our merchandising teams are relentlessly focused on value and simplifying our pricing.

Today, value is not just about $5 and below. But ensuring we pack value into $7, $10 and $15 plus items. We are able to incorporate these multiple price points throughout the departments in the store to simplify the shopping experience. and our customers have responded well. This change allowed us to span the Five Beyond area and leverage this space to drive seasonal business. For example, we featured the last gas to summer in that area with back-to-school in the front when we kicked off the quarter. The newness and curated product stories that our teams merchandise were amplified by more effective marketing as we shifted our marketing channels and content to be more relevant for our target customers.

We increased our investment in social media, moving spend away from traditional channels, resulting in traffic growth, both online and in our stores. We also changed our content development strategy from studio produced to creator produce, engaging social influencers and amplifying user-generated content. We also renewed our creative online and in stores to deliver a single campaign with a distinct brand right look and feel.

The third quarter results are a real testament to our store crew. Who have embraced the mantra that the customer is our boss. The stores are where customer experiences come to life. We improved the store experience in several ways, namely better collaboration with our store teams, garnering better feedback from customers, simplifying operations and investing in labor to ensure our shelves are stocked, enabling the product stories to come to life. The execution of our strategy accelerated from Q2 to Q3. This flywheel effect is evidenced in our sales results, which were driven by growth in transactions and ticket. We packed the quarter with 2 big curtain moments Back-to-school and Halloween. We flowed newness throughout the store with a focus on ideas we're able to test and ramp.

Again, the key to our execution is the way we work cross-functionally with tight coordination between merchandising, supply chain distribution, marketing and stores. This type coordination also made the difference in our growth by new stores. Our 2025 fleet is exceeding expectations as we worked as a close-knit team for the ultimate curtain up, a store brand opening. We invested in grand opening marketing and activations in stores that were fully merchandise and crews who are well staffed and better trained. Looking ahead, the strong performance over the previous 3 quarters serves as a valuable proof point that our customer-centric strategies are starting to work.

As we prepare for the holidays, we will continue to surprise and delight our customers with unbelievable deals for decor, gifts and stocking stuffers, from gingerbread houses and advent calendars to an army of large nutcrackers, beauty bundles, toys and candy. Our performance is a testament that our unique place in retail of being the destination for the kid and the kid and all of us is a compelling, sustainable value proposition. While we are at the early stages of our journey, our progress to date is clear. And the team and I are highly committed to and extremely excited for the growth that lies ahead for our business.

With that, I will turn it over to Dan to discuss more details about our results and updated outlook for the fourth quarter and year. Take it away, Dan.

Thanks, Winnie, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm thrilled to join the Five Below team and excited to contribute to its continued success. I look forward to working with everyone on this call as well as our investor community. I'll begin my remarks with a review of our third quarter 2025 results and then discuss our outlook for the fourth quarter and full year. My comments will refer to results on an adjusted GAAP basis. As Winnie mentioned, we were very pleased with our third quarter performance, which exceeded our expectations for both the top and bottom line.

In the quarter, we saw accelerated comparable sales growth that was driven fairly equally by transaction and ticket gains. Importantly, the improving effectiveness of our marketing spend was evidenced in our traffic gains, which accelerated as we exited the quarter. Operational execution across our stores and distribution centers was also strong. And we saw the benefit of better inventory flow and improved in-stock positions on shelf. We allocated additional labor, both in support of the stronger growth and as a part of our preholiday preparations. We also saw a solid improvement in shrink results from our August counts, reflecting the initial benefits from our broader mitigation initiatives. The heightened sales growth converted well, delivering 110 basis points of adjusted operating income margin gains and 62% adjusted earnings per share growth year-over-year.

Now turning to the results for the quarter. Net sales increased 23% to just over $1 billion, underpinned by a strong comparable sales increase of over 14%. We were pleased to see this growth was led equally by increases in both comparable transactions and comparable tickets. In the quarter, we successfully drove more traffic to our stores, which led to better-than-expected transaction growth. Comparable ticket growth was fueled by AUR gains, reflecting the successful execution of our rounded hole price strategy. While also curating great value above $5 as we move these items in line with their departments.

Our comparable sales growth was widespread. Across most departments, new and retained customers and all household income cohorts. Our new store performance was equally compelling, with productivity levels in the mid-80s, which was in line with our expectations. We opened 49 net new stores across 26 states compared to 82 new stores in the third quarter last year. Year-over-year, we grew our store count by 9% and ended the quarter with just over 1,900 stores. As our performance in Arkansas and even more recently in the Pacific Northwest of firms, we remain bullish about the growth opportunities that lie ahead. Adjusted gross profit increased 26% to $352 million or 33.9% in rate of sale, an increase of approximately 70 basis points compared to the third quarter last year. Adjusted gross margin accretion was driven primarily by fixed cost leverage and improved shrink results that were partially offset by the net impact of unmitigated tariffs. Adjusted SG&A expenses totaled $307 million in Q3 or 29.5% of sales, which represented a 40 basis point decrease compared to last year's third quarter.

This was driven by fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales, partially offset by higher incentive costs. Adjusted operating income grew over 63% in the third quarter to $45 million versus $28 million in the third quarter last year, and adjusted operating margin increased approximately 110 basis points to 4.3%. Net interest income was about $6 million for the third quarter or approximately $3 million above last year, due mostly to a higher average cash balance throughout the quarter. Adjusted net income was $38 million and adjusted earnings per share was $0.68, and both grew 62% year-over-year.

We ended the third quarter in a strong cash position with approximately $536 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments. Inventory was approximately $1.1 billion and average inventory on a per store basis increased nearly 25% versus the third quarter last year as we had expected. This increase was primarily due to our strategic decision to accelerate receipts in response to the global trade environment. We're very pleased with our inventory position as we head into the holiday season, and we expect that the growth in our average inventory per store will begin to moderate by the end of the fiscal year.

Now turning to our outlook. Based on our strong performance to date, we are increasing our outlook for the fourth quarter and full year. We now expect total sales in the range of $1.58 billion to $1.61 billion or growth of 14.7% at the midpoint versus last year's fourth quarter. Comparable sales are expected to increase between 6% and 8%. While it's early, we are pleased with the start to the holiday season, underpinned by Black Friday weekend sales that were in line with our expectations. Adjusted operating margin at the midpoint is expected to be 15.8%, inclusive of higher incentive costs and unmitigated tariff costs. We have not changed our assumptions for shrink associated with the results of the January physical inventory counts. Net interest income is expected to be approximately $5 million. Assuming an effective tax rate of about 26% at the respective midpoints, we expect adjusted net income to be $192 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share to be $3.45 and on 55.6 million diluted shares outstanding. As a reminder, this does not include the impact of share repurchases, if any.

For the full year, sales are now expected to be in the range of $4.62 billion to $4.65 billion, with a comparable sales increase of 9.4% to 10.1%. On a 2-year stack basis, this represents an approximate 7% comparable sales growth at the midpoint. Adjusted operating margin is expected to be approximately 8.9% at the midpoint. Net interest income is now expected to be approximately $22 million. With a 26% effective tax rate, adjusted diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2025 is now expected to be $5.80 at the midpoint. Representing growth of 15%. Capital expenditures, excluding the impact of tenant allowances, is expected to be approximately $200 million, which reflects 150 net new store openings and continued investments in systems and infrastructure. We're proud of the work the team has done over the past year to drive meaningful year-over-year top and bottom line growth and a much improved outlook for fiscal 2025 versus the beginning of the year. As we head into the critical holiday season, we are confident in our ability to execute our customer-centric strategy and continue to deliver growth in the years to come.

And with that, I'll turn the call back over to the operator to start the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question for today will come from Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

Congrats on a great quarter. Winnie, your sales per store are on track to hit about $2.4 million this year. That's getting you back to 2021 levels. Can you remind us how your best stores performed today on sales productivity and what opportunities you see to drive sales even higher in the coming years?

Chuck, thank you so much. We are very excited to see our average store productivity return to historic highs. And I think that for us, what's been exciting to see is that across our network of stores, we're actually seeing really great performance regardless of kind of age of store or type of store. And I would say that there's consistency in what we're seeing in terms of the broad-based growth and what's driving that growth within the stores. That broad-based growth is really being driven first by a focus on the customer. And with that focus on the customer comes a really great focus on what they want. And I think our assortments are geared towards younger customers, geared towards trends and again, I use the word assortment. It's not about a single item, but it goes across a broad range of categories and departments.

So we're excited for that. We finally have the ability to actually talk about it vis-a-vis marketing, and that's worked especially what we've planted within social media has driven traffic to the stores, and we've seen really nice traffic growth and growth both in new customers as well as retention. So that's been terrific. And then finally, I think that what's really worked in terms of growth is our expansion of the idea of what value looks like. We still curate a great assortment. It's roughly 80% of the assortments, $5 and below. But we took a lot of attention for those items that were above $5 and specifically packing a ton of value at $7, $10, $15. And we inserted those items in line and really disbanded the Five Beyond area. We're getting more productivity with the disbandonment of Five Beyond because we're able to offer more seasonal stories and other things are relevant to the customer. And we basically put the product in line with how they shop. So those are the real drivers of what's getting us to those great productivity levels.

Your next question will come from Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

Congrats on a great quarter. So Winnie, could you speak to the monthly progression of comps over the course of the quarter? Maybe help bridge the upside drivers to the 14% comp relative to the 5% to 7% guidance initially. And then if you could elaborate on the start to the fourth quarter and if there's the potential for a similar scenario, meaning guidance for the fourth quarter implies a sequential moderation. Have you seen that yet? Is that embedded over the rest of the holiday season?

Thanks so much for that question, Matt. Dan is going to lean in here.

Thank you for the question. I'll start with where you ended, which is how we thought about the fourth quarter. Largely, over the course of the quarter, the monthly year-over-year growth is fairly consistent, if you think about it relative to our guide range and our midpoint. You don't see month-over-month spikes. A lot of that, obviously, is what we're cycling from a year ago, but it's a fairly consistent growth pattern. That's number one. I would say number two, and we talked about this in the opening remarks, we're really pleased with the start to the season. That start is essentially month of November and then obviously, Black Friday weekend. And again, from a pure performance basis relative to how we're thinking about the holiday we're pleased.

So we sit here today, certainly not chasing anything that didn't happen over the weekend and a pretty consistent month-over-month comp growth profile. If I go backwards to the start of your question on Q3, you would see actually a very -- very similar trend in terms of comp growth. And I think what excites us the most is that our performance, and I'll define that particularly as I think about traffic growth, actually strengthened as the quarter went on. So we exited the quarter with traffic growth month-over-month at the highest level we had seen. So all in all, we're in a really good place, and we think we've got a really good view on fourth quarter.

Next question will come from Edward Kelly with Wells Fargo.

Congratulations on a great quarter. Winnie, I wanted to start, your results have been phenomenal, obviously. And it obviously begs the question around how you're thinking about lapping all of this next year. I know you talked about the strength being broad-based, but could you call out maybe some of the bigger trends that you think have been helping results? How you think about -- how those trends roll into next year and any continued benefit that you might see? And then what's out there that you're excited about? And I guess what I'm really kind of trying to ask at the end of the day is, do you think you could comp the comp, even against some of these results next year?

Thanks so much, Ed. Thanks for the question. And I want to start actually with what we put in place this year, and we've seen with each quarter an acceleration of this flywheel effect, it really starts with customer focus. And with the customer focus, I think what we've done is really leaned into broader trends and ideas that resonate with Gen Alpha, Gen Z as well as Millennials. So that it's really leaning into lifestyle statements as opposed to a single item. That thought process in terms of how we merchandise and how we go after trends has lifted across our departments, and it's something we will continue to pursue. And I think the second piece is when with that focus on the customer is being highly aware of the fact that their journey with our product and with our product stories in digital and online through social.

And so how do we -- we just started doing this. We started to redirect our marketing spend away from traditional channels into social. And as we learn more, and as we generate more content, both from users as well as influencers and align earlier between merchandising and marketing, we think we've seen this beautiful flywheel effect that has driven traffic to stores. As well as introduction to new customers. And so those 2 pieces is a 1 plus 1 equals 3. And I think next year, how much more can we do on that customer-connected journey, we haven't touched on one. We're really just beginning. And on marketing even getting down to the individual, we've just begun to capture customer records. And so we haven't really in earnest done anything in marketing in terms of reaching out one-to-one or personalization, much less really directing even, hey, new product launches.

You bought beauty last year, here something else that's happening. So those are the types of things that we have we're seeding for next year and that we've begun this year. And then I will finally say that the customers has given us license to play in price points beyond $5. And this was a concerted effort to move items above $5 back in line in their departments. And we really wanted to test and see what the receptivity would be, and it's been very good. We're excited about this. And as long as the team stays focused on relative value and packing a ton of value within the products that are above $5, $7, $10, $15. We think that there is a lot more we can do there in terms of customer giving us permission to really do more outside of the price bands we traditionally have played in. Thank you so much, Ed.

The next question will come from Michael Lasser with UBS.

Is there any scenario where you would start off the year next year guiding to a negative comp. And even if you started out the year thinking your comp was going to be flat given the performance this year, what would be the puts and takes of the model, especially as you anniversary and have to incorporate things like tariff off in the first half of next year? Is there a framework you can give us as we try and calibrate our models for 2026?

Michael, it's Dan. Thanks for the question. Look, it's obviously at this stage, premature to get ahead of ourselves for next year, let alone on a quarterly basis. But I totally appreciate your question. I would say a couple of things. One is just the principle at which we are operating this business, which is with a clear growth orientation. And I think you've heard in the prepared remarks and in Winnie's answers, the underlying drivers of that. Secondly, Winnie talked a lot about the importance of what this price action has signaled to us in terms of responsive customer, we also have to remember, we don't lap the price increase until half 2 of next year. So mechanically, that's going to be a tailwind for us for most of the first half of the year.

So look, we'll have a lot more to say about the business when we get to March and really talk in detail about next year. But I think where we sit today is confident in our ability to grow on top of growth. And you're right, we will navigate a tariff headwind as well in the first half, there's a lot of puts and takes that we're going to have to face into when we build the plan and and ultimately share the details. But I certainly want to emphasize the growth orientation we have and ultimately, the operating profit leverage that we expect that growth to deliver. And again, we'll have more to say on that in March.

Your next question will come from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

This is Lauren on for Simon. A question on traffic versus get you said you mentioned they were fairly equal for the third quarter. Can you share if the strength was driven by maybe new customers versus returning customers?

So actually, the growth was equal between transactions and ticket. And one of the drivers of transaction certainly was traffic growth. And we saw growth about equal between the new customers and our ability to retain customers and bring them back. So -- and we've seen that pattern actually in the last 2 quarters pretty consistently. And then beyond that, of course, I think that we've been really excited with the tickets increasing specifically with customers accepting price and really shopping across the range of price. It's been terrific to see that and not limiting themselves just items at $5 and below.

Next question will come from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

We wanted to ask a little bit more about licensing. It's very clear that licensing has a much bigger presence in the store across all different price points. And we just wondered if there was a way to quantify how much that's been integrated into the assortment, if it's attracting a different customer? And if any of these products are -- or how many of these products are exclusive to Five Below?

Thanks so much, Kate. Licensing has always played a really critical role in terms of adding not just a branded element, but something really special that the customer looks for within Five Below. I will say that what is different about how we approach licensing is looking at how we collaborate with licensees and bring full assortments across multiple types of product. So a good example of this is Wicked and the fact that you can find everything from beauty products to ready-to-wear products within the same assortment. And so this takes kind of working all the way back to the team at Wicked and Universal and thinking through with them how do we bring the story to life.

That's an approach, this collaborative approach that I think is going to be meaningful to us on a go-forward basis. And so for us, it's constantly monitoring, what new releases, especially with films and with shows are coming out. And then staying very, very close to other trend ideas and things that are happening out there. And I'm just -- the one thing I can say about my team is they get trend, they live on trend, and we now are kind of orchestrating all of that energy into single statements. Thank you so much, Kate.

Next question will come from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim.

Winnie, 2 things. Can you talk about sort of your product priorities over the next year, right? I know product development has been a key one. And then secondly, right, are you now finding vendors who -- or is there a big opportunity vendors who would not have sold to you before, either because now you've got brand awareness or scale and are now sourcing that product?

Thank you so much, John. So I'll start with your first question around product priorities. I am super excited to have Michelle Israel, to join the team, and I think that it's going to be wonderful to get a new perspective with an amazing team that I said lives and brief trend and has really, really close historical relationships with our vendors to kind of bring the best up to market. I think on a go-forward basis, our duty as merchants is really leaning into the broader lifestyle trends that we see out there and not getting caught being too reliant on a single item. And that really has been one of the underlying success factors of the quarter and will certainly be something that we want to pursue on a go-forward basis.

We also think there are new opportunities and new ideas that frankly, we house them currently, but we don't do a lot to distort them ideas like party and celebration. And so we're always looking for how better can we serve the customer and their needs. And with that as our beginning point, we're constantly curious about what's out there and what more we can do. And a good example, just this past quarter was lounge. It was a small idea that we distorted and it certainly has taken off. In terms of vendors, we are seeing -- like I've mentioned before, we've got some great relationships but we're definitely seeing more vendors come to the table with greater brand recognition and our ability to really do a 360 marketing effect so that we can play up new ideas. And it's not just about putting the product on the shelf, but it's great in-store displays. And it really works back from how we tell the story in digital and social and working in partnership with them. So we're really pleased with some of our new vendor introductions like LEGO and also, again, working more closely with licensed product. And so it's a journey, but there's a lot more to come. Thank you for your question, John.

The next question will come from Zhihan Ma with Bernstein.

So first on near-term question, just on Q4, can you talk about the near-term trends you're seeing relative to the guidance? Is there still an element of conservatism in the Q4 guide? And secondly, longer term, if the current trend continues, right, if you manage to comp the comp next year and going forward. Does that change your view on the pace of new store openings from here?

Yes. Thank you for the question. Look, no, I wouldn't say there's conservatism in the guide. I think what we've tried to -- to do here is be thoughtful. And what we're balancing is 2 distinct forces, right? A business with clear momentum that exited the third quarter with a pronounced growth profile to it. But we all know that the holidays are just different. The size and scale and magnitude of the business, the time period upon which it happens, the competitive lens, which this all needs to be viewed through and a bit of uncertainty around the ultimate consumer and where they are at as well and where will they be across the holiday.

So there's always going to be clear puts and takes within a guide, hence the range, but I wouldn't want to categorize anything at this point as conservative. We've tried to be really thoughtful. In terms of the new store growth plan for this business. I think what you're seeing right now is what really good execution looks like. And it's not about how many stores can we open. It's about how many great stores can we open. And when you see the results that we described in this quarter, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, which was just staggering what really, really good execution looks like and how the customer responds. That's what we're going after. We think that number is [ 150 ]. That's the number today could change, of course, but ultimately, we want to be great at launching new stores, and that's going to dictate the pace.

Your next question will come from Scott Ciccarelli with Truist.

One question and hopefully, one clarification. First, can you provide more details or maybe some examples around the marketing changes you've made? Because it sounds like there is a real step function change on that front. And then secondly, just one more question about the 4Q comp cadence you are not expecting much monthly volatility in your comp guide. Does that mean November was in that 6% to 8% range?

I'll take the second question, Scot, and then I'll hand it to Winnie on the marketing. The short answer is yes. The month in the holiday have lined up to where we would have expected them to be going into now the second half of the holiday season in line with our guide.

And then in terms of the marketing change, Scot, what we've done is actually redirect the spend into channels that we think are most relevant with young customers. And so while we were doing social, for instance, before, we've distorted the spend in social and really gone after better curated storytelling in conjunction with our merchandising team. So it's really merchandising and marketing working in unison. And so that has actually been terrific. We also tested a catalog for Q4 a toy catalog, which we're super excited about. It went to our best customers. And again, this is about marketing mix and evaluating what works, what resonates and getting the best possible [ ROAS ], and we're doing all those things currently. Thank you, Scott.

Your next question will come from Spencer Hanus with Wolf Research.

You mentioned the traffic accelerated as you exited the quarter. Can you just talk about what is driving that? And then in terms of elasticities from the price increases you've taken, have you seen any change in sort of the customer response to that? .

Yes. So I'll take the traffic question. So we have seen really great acceleration of traffic, and it is -- we started this journey with moving marketing spend into social and into digital, and it really was starting in Q2. And as we saw the results in the ROAS and actually a traffic increase week in, week out, we continue to pulse that. And that's really what we believe has driven the traffic. And it's not just about the level of spend but it really is about the content and generating good, good content. So we went from more studio produced content to creator content and again, seeing really great results. We also really pay attention to what's happening in social and user-generated content and play into things that consumers are excited about, like the rainbow challenge and leaning into this. So it's really trying to speak to Gen Alfa and Gen Z and Millennials in the most effective way.

And then to the second part of your question on unit performance over the quarter, we didn't see any real trends from what we saw in Q2. So said another way, the consumer response, the unit degradation, it remains well above what we had originally modeled, which is super encouraging for us and no material change from the second quarter.

And I will say the only difference in terms of what we saw was -- we did make the move this quarter in terms of inserting items that were above $5 in line and saw a good response to that as well.

Next question will come from Paul Lejuez with Citi.

Can you quantify the performance in products that are priced above $%, just curious about the year-over-year change. And then I think you mentioned that the majority of the departments comp positive with such a strong comp for the quarter. I was kind of surprised to hear that. So curious what was not comping positive? And then last, just curious how you're thinking about traffic versus ticket for the fourth quarter within that comp guidance?

Yes. So I'll -- let me try to unpack it from where you ended. In the fourth quarter, we essentially expect current to continue. It will be a ticket-driven growth profile as a headline, I would say that first. I think transactions, though, will provide growth in the quarter, but it will be ticket led. And we've essentially contemplated a very similar trend is what I spoke about earlier. In terms of what drives the ticket and overall unit performance. So I'll start with that. Winnie, did you want to?

No, I was just going to respond to the point in terms of what didn't comp. So we had less than a handful of departments that didn't comp. And these were, in large part, intentional in terms of we were seeing that the resonance of these particular departments were down trending. And so we intentionally said, "You know what, we're going to go ahead and comp them down so that we can put the dollars into things that really work. The other piece of it was we were hit in certain areas by tariffs and where we couldn't source product that we thought had the right price value equation. And again, that landscape continues to change with the global trade environment and how it changes.

Next question will come from Michael Montani with Evercore ISI.

I just wanted to ask a 2 parter. First, if you could just unpack a little bit in the third quarter, the dynamics with shrink. We thought there could have been some upside to the reserve there. It doesn't sound like that happened. And then also SG&A in the quarter, we thought there might have been a bit more leverage, given the strong comp? And then for 4Q, for correct, it looks like 240 bps of EBIT margin contraction at the midpoint. And I think maybe tariffs could be 200 bps of that. But just wanted to see if there's any offset there from leverage, given the [ 7% ] comp is well above 3% that we think you'd need to lever?

Yes. Let me take them in order. So in terms of shrink, Mike, we did have a pickup in the third quarter. It was about 70 basis points of a tailwind in the quarter. which we're super encouraged by. That is a great initial indicator that a tremendous amount of energy and focus and effort of this organization -- bear some fruit in the quarter. It's early. Shrink is a challenge, of course. And we're going to stay on it, but we were really encouraged to see that performance. It was about 2/3 of our fleet that was counted in the quarter, and we'll hit the other [ 1/3 ] in January. So encouraged by that. In terms of the fourth quarter, look, I think we have to go back and sort of remind ourselves what was our initial view of the quarter. What we had initially profiled was low single-digit growth and with that low single-digit growth, about 320 basis points of year-over-year operating margin declines.

That was our initial view. We've updated that view now. We're calling for mid-single-digit growth and about, you're right, 240 basis points of year-over-year decline. So the 2 drivers of the decline are not news, of course, right? It's the higher incentive costs, which got higher in the fourth quarter. That's what that third quarter comp will do for you. And the tariff headwinds year-over-year, it's actually got a little bit better. So the way I would think about the fourth quarter is the year-over-year headwinds are not new. It's something we've -- we've certainly been transparent and talked about. We're now delivering about $70 million of incremental sales, and that $70 million is flowing through in the mid-30%, which we think is a really good number for us. So I'll leave it there, thanks.

Next question will come from Jeremy Hamblin with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

And I'll add my congratulations on the impressive results. Just want to come back here to the gross margins a little bit. So I think the 33.9% adjusted gross margins, maybe the best the company has ever had in a Q3 70 basis points year-over-year. I think you'd come into the quarter expecting a 160 basis point impact from tariffs. Just trying to understand, as we look forward and think about the implications here, and some drag for Q4, but the change we've also had change in tariff policy as it relates to China, and I think about 10 percentage points there of change. As we look ahead, has the gross margin outlook gotten a little bit better? And then just in terms of what's kind of gone on here in Q3 and record gross margins, just trying to understand that a little bit, given you haven't had kind of a pickup yet on the shrink accrual rates?

Yes. Great. Thank you for the question. I appreciate that. Look, let me start with the tariff piece of it because you're right, based on the executive order signed in early November, there is a 10% reduction the reciprocal tariff, if you will. That does not affect our 2025 results because we're obviously already baked in terms of products and what will flow through in COGS. So there will be no tailwind from that. I think your point is fair, though, on the margin profile itself. And I think what I would say is in both the third and the fourth quarter, the tariff headwinds, while meaningful year-over-year, we're a bit lower than what we had profiled and I think that speaks to the amazing work the team has done in attacking this topic both through the cost lever and through the strategic price discussion that Winnie mentioned.

And so we're really pleased with that. The overall tariff headwind is looking smaller than what we had profiled most recently let alone initially in the year. So you've got a lot of puts and takes happening in the margin profile. I think ultimately, what you saw in the third quarter is the shrink benefit run through. That's your 70 basis points of year-over-year gains. I think everything else leverage and some of these headwinds was a push. We don't have any shrink assumptions baked into our fourth quarter preview. So you're not seeing any pickup there nor are you seeing any headwinds. So that's the margin story. Hopefully, that's answered your question. Thank you.

The next question will come from Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets.

Congrats on a very, very strong quarter. I guess my question, so you said that the comp was roughly split between traffic and ticket, and maybe this is a difficult to parse on the ticket side. But how much of that was your price adjustments as opposed to maybe just like a mix shift to some of your higher-priced items, particularly the above $5 items?

So Anthony, thanks for your question. So yes, the pickup was in our comps was attributed to both increase in transactions and ticket that were about equal. On the ticket front, I should kind of unpack a little bit what we're seeing. We are seeing higher AURs and it's being driven by a mix of different factors. One is we did have a strategic pricing strategy that rounded up and down the simplification of price. Actually, we were able to maintain through that the same level of product that was being offered at [ $5 ] and below from the same quarter last year. So there was no change there. However, the receptivity at the [ $5 ] and above, we saw really nice momentum and growth. double-digit growth in terms of the pickup there. And it's thus leading to our higher AUR. And when you look at that, it really is coming from one smart decisions about where we did price up, packing enough value to the relative value of the items were really great.

And then secondly, again, putting those items in line. So if you're in the room department and you're shopping for pillows, you might see a $35 mirror. And by putting that in line as opposed to putting it in by beyond area in the back of store, the customer definitely responded better. And so those are some of the kind of strategic actions that we took and the customer voted for growth in those [ $5 ] and above items. I hope that answers your question.

The next question will come from Joe Feldman with Telsey Advisory Group.

I wanted to ask with -- where do you see opportunities in the merchandise mix? Like I'm curious now with the new Chief Merchant, Michelle Israel, coming in, what her initial feedback might be, like where there are some opportunities to lean in more, maybe pull back. If you could share any color on that would help?

Thank you so much, Joe. And we're excited to have Michelle on board. She started in October, so early days. And I think what's really exciting is the fact that the team, the merchandising team that we have here who are working with Michelle are really just experts in pros. They're amazing. And I think what we did with that team is something that Michelle will continue which is to unleash their energy and their excitement over chasing down the best trends in the market and the best value for money that they can find. And again, focus on that kid. And so early days in terms of where we'll take the assortment on a go-forward basis, but there are always opportunities within the current assortment that we've got in terms of levels of product looking at the depth of buys and refining that.

But we're just excited to see that the customer is again responding to so much of the assortment, and we really have taken much more of a broad-based approach as opposed to trying to hang our hat on one thing and a wide range of prices and value. And so we're going to continue to push the envelope on all those fronts. And the last piece I will say is the team has done a great job of bringing newness into the assortment in a disciplined fashion. And that constant flow of newness is what customers want. Thank you so much.

The next question will come from David Bellinger with Mizuho.

Thanks. Really nice results. I got the toy catalog by the way. So it says a lot about where my kids are spending our money. Another question on the branded items. You've seen much more of that in the stores lately, LEGO, Legal Stitch, SpongeBob. As you get more into those -- how do you think about the competitive forces, especially as you break above the $5 price point, so in $10, $15 items, can you start moving into this area where a Walmart or a Target does very well. So -- how do you plan to keep your edge versus those larger value-oriented players?

Thanks so much, David, and thank you for being a loyal customer. Thank your kids for that. branded items have always been part of the mix. I think what I'm really amazed by is the discipline with which our teams look at price value and relative value. And so for us, that is achieved through a lot of exclusives and working very, very closely with the vendors. And being very precise about if it's a LEGO, if it's a stitch, what do our customers want? What do they respond to? And then again, it's bringing a presentation together so that it's not just another item on a shelf, but really, there's a WOW statement. And we've been working very closely with the vendors to bring together visual merchandising, marketing, visual marketing in the stores that create presentations and ranges. So that approach, I think, is kind of our special sauce, and it really goes back to value and how to get that relative value and be the best value in the marketplace.

Next question will come from Seth Sigman with Barclays.

I wanted to ask about the trends that you're seeing throughout the quarter in terms of seasonal events versus just everyday business. Maybe help us understand the growth that you're seeing across through those different types of periods. And then I also just wanted to clarify on the quarter-to-date commentary. I think I heard a comment that traffic accelerated exiting the quarter, but then you also said quarter-to-date is in line with the comps range, the guidance for the fourth quarter, which would be a deceleration. So I think investors are just trying to reconcile that?

Seth, thanks for the question. I'll start, and then I'll hand it to Winnie. Two distinct comments, and I apologize if it was unclear. So what we were saying was the traffic performance across Q3 built month-over-month. We exited the quarter with traffic growth that had accelerated, and it was our biggest month-over-month traffic gain that we had seen. I was not making that comment about the holiday -- the fourth quarter that we're in, what I was saying with respect to the fourth quarter was now one month in and with Black Friday and Black Friday weekend behind us, I was answering the question that our performance is in line with our expectation and in fact, in line with how we had contemplated the guide. So hopefully, that clears that up. Winnie?

So trends in terms of seasonal events versus everyday business, we have these 6 current moments that really celebrate these moments in the customers' life, but we take advantage of those current net moments to really drive newness throughout the assortments. And so for us, it's less episodic about seasonal events and activations and much more about the everyday business. We know looking forward to the fourth quarter that we're a destination for that last-minute gift and the last-minute stocking stuffer. So we do -- we're looking forward to that surge in the last couple of weeks before the holiday, which is kind of a pattern that we've been able to repeat. So looking forward to all of that, but it's the everyday business that really drives us. Hope that answers your question. Thank you, Seth.

Your next question will come from Brian Nagel with Oppenheimer.

Great quarter, congratulations. So I'll ask 2 really quick questions here. The first, just with respect to tariffs. As we're looking to results now, are the tariffs or at least the tariffs that are now known are those fully reflected in what we're seeing in Transit Five Below? Then my second question, looking -- recognizing you've done a fantastic job of really repositioning a job, the business internally. But from an external standpoint, has there been any shift in the competitive environment that's helped to bolster results at Five Below Lily?

So I'll start with the tariff question. I want to make sure I understand it correctly. But look, our guide certainly contemplates further tariff pressures and headwinds in the fourth quarter. I think we put an original guide out that we expected that number to be about 225 basis points in the quarter. We think it will be slightly less than that now, going back to to the comments made earlier about the tremendous work the team has done to mitigate this. And of course, the great results we're seeing on receptivity to the price actions that we took. So it will be a bit less of a headwind. So it is contemplated in the quarter. I think as we're thinking about the future here, even in this operating environment, I would just remind everyone that while we have largely mitigated these tariff implications at the unit level, which is a tremendous result.

Some of the costs that we have incurred, are trapped in inventory obviously, and will release as we get into half one of next year. So we're not out of the tariff woods by any means, but it is fully reflected in both our actuals to date and in our fourth quarter outlook.

And then Brian, with regards to the external environment and the competitive environment, I think what has actually shifted is our approach. And we have redoubled our efforts to be a destination for kids. It is resonant in everything we do from product to marketing. And, I dare say there's not a player out there like us in retail that focuses on kids at great value. And I think that, that is a competitive differentiator that we're now shouting about, and we're telling the customers what we offer, and we're telling them in a way in which they listen. And so I think that's been a big shift for us, is adding that bit of marketing and doubling and doubling down on kids as our core.

Our next question will come from Phillip Blee with William Blair.

So it sounds like the improved inventory flow and in-stock levels has been a nice driver of some of the upside you've seen this year. How do you think about ways to further optimize inventory from here to keep that momentum rolling? And then should we be embedding some sort of more meaningful improvement in turns over the next year or so?

Thanks so much, Philip. We've been -- I'm really proud of the team in terms of what we've been able to do with inventory, especially in the back half of the year. Actually, throughout the year, the flow has gotten better and better. That's come through a lot of alignment between the teams, a live discussion about when we secure product and literally when does it land in the stores? And how is it going to land in the stores. And I think for us, there's always room for improvement. And we'll look at this even further. We are leveraging AI in terms of inventory management. But I think there's a lot more we could be doing even further upstream between merchandising and planning. And so that's part of, I think, what we're looking forward to with Michelle joining us is connecting all the dots along that journey. Thank you so much. And I think that was our last...

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Ms. Winnie Park for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you so much. We are really excited to bring the magic of Five Below home for the holidays. And I really believe that Five Below is the destination for the kid and the kit and all of us. We aspire to be the greatest little toy, candy and gift store in America this holiday. And we're also really proud to continue our partnership with Toys for Tots for the 16th year so that we can make holiday special for even more kids. I really want to thank all of you for your continued support. And we're looking forward to seeing all of you all in our stores and wish you and your family a wonderful holiday.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.