Wendy L. Schoppert
Analyst
Thanks, Shelly. Good afternoon, everyone. There are 3 key topics I'll cover today. First, while our third quarter performance was below our expectations related to a more challenged economic and consumer environment, it represented improved trends from second quarter, with a return to market share growth. Second, given the current environment, we are lowering our outlook for the fourth quarter. We will update you on our 2014 and longer-term outlook during our year-end call in late January. And third, our balance sheet remains strong, with $164 million of cash and securities and no debt at quarter end, as we continue to progress our consumer growth strategies, while maintaining a frugal cost-conscious focus throughout the company. Third quarter EPS of $0.36 was 22% below prior year, which represented a step-up from the second quarter. Results were below our expectations, primarily due to lower than planned sales. Total net sales in the quarter increased 7% to $264 million, which represented a 6-point step up from 1% sales growth in the second quarter. Comparable sales within company-controlled channels were down 1%. On a 2-year stacked basis, comps were up 20%. Product innovation continues to be a contributor to our growth in the short term, with even greater potential for the long term with our current R&D pipeline. The 6% growth in company-controlled channel sales during the quarter included a 3% increase in ASP, driven by innovation, specifically, the introduction of DualTemp, as well as pricing actions over the past 12 months. On a 2-year stacked basis, ASP was up 20%. Mattress units also grew by 3%, a 5-point sequential improvement from Q2. On a 2-year stacked basis, mattress units were up 9%. Our local market development strategy remains on track, with store actions delivering an average payback of 12 to 18 months. New stores are averaging approximately $2 million of sales in their first year, with cannibalization that remains below 15% and they are outperforming the balance of chain in year 2. Relocations from mall to non-mall locations are producing particularly strong results, with double-digit top line lift versus balance of chain and greater than 30% increase in average 4-wall profit. Net new store additions over the past 12 months contributed 7 points of sales growth during the third quarter, and we remain on track to end 2013 with 435 to 445 stores. In the quarter, we added 16 new stores and closed 6, which included the relocation of 6 mall stores to new non-mall locations within the same trade area. We also remodeled 9 mall stores with our new store design, including improved locations and expansions. As Shelly stated, we increased market share during each of the last 4 months reported by ISPA as our growth rates in both sales and mattress units exceeded the industry average in May through August. Operating margin in the third quarter was 11.6% compared to 16.3% in the prior year. This year-over-year decline included a 370-basis-point increase in sales and marketing expenses, a 200-basis-point decrease in gross margin and a 20-basis-point increase in R&D, partially offset by a 120-basis-point decrease in G&A. Sales and marketing included 280 basis points of marketing deleverage, with 240 basis points driven by media and 90 basis points of selling expense deleverage with 60 basis points driven by incremental depreciation associated with new relocated and remodeled stores. Gross margin in the quarter of 63.1% was slightly below the 63.3% rate in the first half of the year. During our current year Labor Day event, we offered a limited edition bed model that had a lower gross margin rate than last year's limited edition model. As planned, third quarter gross margin rate was impacted by the inclusion of lower margin DualTemp sales. Gross margin was also negatively impacted by higher product returns, primarily due to a larger-than-expected impact from the customer focus decision to increase our 30-night trial policy to 100 nights. These factors were partially offset by supply-chain efficiencies. G&A leverage reflected discretionary cost-containment and lower performance-based compensation, partially offset by incremental depreciation associated with growth-related capital spending. As part of our cost reduction efforts in the quarter, we've cut over $2 million of planned discretionary spending out of G&A. Moving to our 2013 guidance. We have updated our full year GAAP EPS outlook to between $1.14 and $1.22. Our outlook for the fourth quarter of between $0.18 and $0.26 assumes at the midpoint low double-digit growth in total net sales and mid-single-digit comps against the backdrop of an easier comparison to prior year. We are providing a wider guidance range for the fourth quarter than in prior years, given the current level of uncertainty around the consumer environment. Regarding the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $164 million of cash and securities, down $13 million from year end. The change included year-to-date operating cash flow of $90 million, which was offset by year-to-date CapEx of $58 million, strategic investments of $19 million and stock repurchases of $30 million. Our capital allocation strategy continues to prioritize investments that further strengthen our competitive advantages, including proprietary product innovation, local market development and technology infrastructure. We continue to repurchase shares in the current quarter and we expect to end the year with a cash and securities balance well above our minimum target of $125 million. We also expect our balance sheet to remain debt free as our internally generated cash flow is sufficient to fund investments in growth. In closing, we remain confident in our long-term strategy, focused on further differentiating ourselves with our customer. Our updated full year outlook reflects performance trends in this more challenged consumer environment. It also includes additional cost reductions we have executed aimed at driving year-over-year growth and EPS. We look forward to updating you on our 2014 and long-term outlook during our year-end call in late January. I'll now turn it back over to Shelly for final comments.