With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

The companies on this annual list make a conscious effort to be supportive, inclusive workplaces.

2025 Best Large Workplaces for Women_Burlington Stores, Inc._US1__68a71ffe383bc91cadd06a8c_1

Employees say:"Burlington truly is a caring company that offers everyone an opportunity to grow and flourish and reach their full potential within the organization. Burlington actively invests in the growth and advancement of its team members. I am proud to work for a company who considers the well-being of their associates and provides such a supporting environment for personal and professional development."

100 Best Large Workplaces for Women

See which workplaces made this year's list.

2025_GPTW_Retail_Large_Burlington Stores, Inc._US1__685d56f6023fa8a02634236e_1

Best Large Workplaces in Retail

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

GPTW Retail Large 2024-Burlington Stores, Inc._US1__20240712204823_6

Employees say:"All ideas are valued and heard. Senior leadership exudes the company's culture and encourages us to step out of our comfort zone. I have autonomy to make the decisions for my team and to take appropriate risks. My senior leadership truly listens and respects my opinions. We don't always agree, however I have never felt ashamed when redirected or my ideas were not implemented."

Industries included in the sector are automotive retail, general merchandisers, internet retail, and specialty retail.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Retailing

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

GPTW 2023 Best Workplaces Retail Large Burlington Stores, Inc_5

Employees say: 
 
"All ideas are valued and heard. Senior leadership exudes the company's culture and encourages us to step out of our comfort zone. I have autonomy to make the decisions for my team and to take appropriate risks. My senior leadership truly listens to my methodology and respects my opinions."

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

Great Places to Work in Retail Large- 2022-Burlington Stores, Inc._1400608-4

Employees say: 
 
“This is truly a diverse caring company. The organization is super flexible with work life and personal life and will help out in any they can to help you get the job done if you need support. Everyone that I've had the pleasure to work with are always smiling, they are kind, willing to help resolve questions or concerns. I feel very comfortable going to other internal departments to seek help when it's needed or just to get to know them and learn what they do it helps build strong relationships with my peers. It feels good when I walk down the hallway and I greet my peers and they greet back with a smile. I've learned so much working at Burlington and I love what I do. I look forward to many more years with them!”

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

Our 2021 list of the 100 best companies to work for, as ranked by their employees. See which companies made the list.

100 Best Companies 2021-70-Burlington Stores, Inc.

While off-price retailers like Burlington Stores are typically among the fastest-growing chains, not having e-commerce really dinged the company during the early weeks of the pandemic when stores were largely closed. But Burlington still paid employees who got sick from COVID up to two weeks’ pay while they quarantined. As stores reopened in early summer, Burlington brought back its furloughed employees and restored pay to initial levels.

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For

These companies foster supportive cultures, where employees find opportunities for growth with help from their colleagues.

Best Large Workplaces New York 2021-Burlington-Stores

Employees say: 
 
“The people here were all super nice and welcoming when I first started. At Burlington, the managers are super nice and see mistakes as learning opportunities and as a part of doing business.”

Best Large Workplaces in New York

See which retailers made this year's list.

Best-Workplaces-Retail-2021-Burlington-Stores

Employees say: 
 
“This is a very welcoming company. They don't judge people and their value based on "titles" and there are many opportunities to improve and grow. Our associates are very friendly, fun, welcoming and diverse making Burlington such a fun place to work.”

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-471-Burlington Stores

2020 was a brutal year for retail and Burlington Stores was no exception. The company reported a loss of $216.5 million in net income for 2020 and a 21% decrease in total sales compared to 2019. Yet, as bargain hunters emerge from their pandemic-induced hibernation, the New Jersey-based off-price retailer could benefit; in the first quarter of 2021, the company reported a 35% year-over-year sales increase.

Best-Workplaces-Retail-2020-Burlington

Employees say: 
 
"Very impressed with our opening after COVID. Not only was management ready to deal with the unexpected possibilities of re-opening, but they were well organized for the additional responsibilities of our 50% off sale."

The companies on this year's list make a conscious effort to be supportive, inclusive workplaces.

Best Workplaces Women 2020-Burlington Stores, Inc

Employees say: 
 
“There are a lot of women in management. Makes me feel like they take the role of women in the workplace seriously.”

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-424-Burlington-Stores

Discount apparel retailer Burlington Stores has recently tacked against prevailing trends in its industry. It opened 76 new physical locations in 2019, and it announced in March 2020 that it would wind down its ecommerce operations.

From groceries to apparel to home decor, see which companies made the list.

Burlington Stores-Best Workplaces in Retail 2019

Employees say: 
“There is a smile on most associates' faces and the offices in general have a upbeat nature to it. We are given the opportunity to grow and it shows through Burlington's efforts to engage and develop employees.”

At the Best Workplaces for Women, company leaders foster mentorship and career growth.

Burlington Stores-Best Large Workplaces for Women 2019

An employee supervisor says: 
 
"They hire people because their potential as an employee - they don't care what preference you have in your personal life, or gender, or nationality. They recognize you as a good employee and encourage you to keep growing with the company." 
 
Read the Great Place to Work review .

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

Best Large Workplaces for Women 2018_Burlington Stores

Employees say: 
 
&nbsp; 
 
"A wonder management team of women who make it fun and engaging for all the employees." 
 
&nbsp; 
 
Read the Great Place to Work review .

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

Fortune’s annual list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women highlights companies with generous benefits, flexible schedules, and an emphasis on balancing work and life. 

Best Workplaces for WomenBurlington Stores, Inc.

Employees say: "We are a retailer that has a strong focus on being a caring company and serving a purpose in the community. It's great to be able to provide our customers with great values, but it's especially heartwarming to be part of something bigger and make a difference in our local communities nationwide." 
 
&nbsp; 
 
"Upper level management cares and interacts with all employees. Your voice counts. " Read the .

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

Best Companies

Years on list

U.S. employees

U.S. job openings

Year founded

Perks

100% health coverage

Unlimited sick days

Telecommuting

Job sharing

Subsidized childcare

Compressed work weeks

Fully-paid sabbaticals

On-site fitness/subsidized gym

On-site medical care facility

Non-discrimination policy includes sexual orientation

Sick days for part-timers

College tuition reimbursement

Student loan debt repayment

Paid Time Off: Full-time Employees

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Best Workplaces In Retail

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EPS % Change (10 year annual rate)

Total Return

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Total Return to Investors (10 year, annualized)

Burlington Stores, which operates the Burlington Coat Factory chain, is an off-price retailer of high-quality branded merchandise at deep discounts, typically selling items for 60% off department store prices. Its first store opened in Burlington, N.J., in 1972. It now has around 1,100 stores in 46 states, and its merchandise assortment has expanded to include women’s ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, beauty products, and more. Like rival businesses including Ross Stores and TJX, Burlington not only sells close-out items that went unsold at department stores; it also offers merchandise made by top brands, which sell them directly to Burlington Stores.

Q2 2027

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Q4 2026

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Q4 2025

Q3 2025

Burlington Stores (BURL): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Burlington Stores

burlington stores

Good morning, and welcome to Burlington Stores, Inc 2Q 2026 earnings webcast. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If you would like to ask a question during this time, just press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, just press star one again, and please limit to one question and one follow-up. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to David Glick, Group Senior Vice President. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate everyone's participation in today's conference call to discuss Burlington's fiscal 2026 second quarter operating results. Our presenters today are Michael O'Sullivan, our Chief Executive Officer, and Kristin Wolfe, our EVP and Chief Financial Officer. Before I turn the call over to Michael, I would like to inform listeners that this call may not be transcribed, recorded, or broadcast without our express permission. A replay of the call will be available until September 3rd, 2026. We take no responsibility for inaccuracies that may appear in transcripts of this call by third parties. Our remarks in the Q and A that follows are copyrighted today by Burlington Stores. Remarks made on this call concerning future expectations, events, strategies, objectives, trends, or projected financial results are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those that are projected in such forward-looking statements.

Such risks and uncertainties include those that are described in the company's 10-K and in our other filings with the SEC, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Please note that the financial results and expectations we discuss today are on a continuing operations basis. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures we discuss today to GAAP measures are included in today's press release. As a reminder, as indicated in this morning's press release, all historical and forward-looking profitability metrics discussed on this call exclude costs associated with bankruptcy acquired leases. These pre-tax costs amounted to $4 million and $11 million during the fiscal second quarters of 2026 and 2025, respectively, and $16 million and $35 million for the full fiscal years 2026 and 2025, respectively. Now, here's Michael.

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I would like to cover three topics this morning. Firstly, I will talk about tariff refunds. Secondly, I will review our second quarter results. Finally, I will discuss our updated guidance. After that, Kristin will walk through the financial details. Okay, let's start with tariff refunds. In the second quarter, we received approximately $55 million in tariff refunds. These refunds are included in our reported earnings and provided a $0.64 benefit to our second quarter earnings per share. We intend to fully reinvest these refunds into the business in the back half to deliver even sharper values to our customers. So we expect the direct impact of these tariff refunds to be neutral to full-year earnings. I want to be explicit about the decision that we have made here.

Rather than taking a one-time boost to earnings, we are planning to use the refunds to deliver sharper values for our customers. Over the last few years, the rising cost of living has made life difficult for many moderate and low-income families. At Burlington, we already offer great deals. Our plan is to use these tariff refunds to further sharpen values across our assortment. Okay, let's move on to our second quarter results. As I mentioned a moment ago, these results include $55 million of tariff refunds. For the purposes of this morning's discussion, we are going to strip out this impact. The headline is that even after you strip out the favorable impact of tariff refunds, the underlying earnings momentum in our business is extremely robust. In Q2, we delivered yet another quarter of very strong earnings growth.

EPS increased 38% in the quarter, and this was on top of 39% growth last year. These very strong results further demonstrate our ability to convert sales growth into margin expansion and strong earnings flow-through. Let's talk about sales. Total sales grew 11% on top of 10% growth last year. New stores are a major driver of this growth. In Q2, we opened 51 gross new stores. After store relocations and closures, this represents a net increase of 45 new stores. As we mentioned at the start of the year, the strength of our new store pipeline has enabled us to front-load new store openings this year with two-thirds opening in the spring and one-third scheduled for the fall. This means that on a trailing 12-month basis, we have opened an extraordinary 178 gross new stores, translating to 149 net new stores after relocations and closures.

We are very pleased with the pace, quality, productivity, and profitability of these new store openings. Let's move on to comp stores. Comp sales increased 2% in Q2 on top of 5% comp growth last year. Our merchant and operating teams executed well in the second quarter, and I am pleased with our solid 7% two-year comp stack. I should add that the relatively higher number of new store openings in the last 12 months means the comp headwind from cannibalization by new stores is slightly elevated. As a reminder, whenever we approve a new store location, we analyze and estimate the potential cannibalization impact on nearby stores, and we build this into our economic modeling. For the last couple of years, this impact has been running at about 1 percentage point of comp.

Given the large number of new store openings in the past 12 months, it was worth about 1.5 percentage points of comp in Q2. We expect this to continue through the rest of this year. Again, to be clear, the net sales lift and the overall economics of our new store program are extremely attractive and easily exceed this impact on comp growth. Okay, moving on to earnings. As I mentioned a moment ago, we were very pleased with our earnings growth in Q2. To reiterate, the numbers that I am going to quote exclude the favorable impact of tariff refunds. Operating margin expanded 100 basis points, well above the high end of our guidance for 60 basis points of expansion. As previously mentioned, adjusted EPS increased 38% on top of 39% for the same period last year.

This was a high-quality earnings beat driven by stronger merchandise margin as well as supply chain and SG&A leverage. Once again, these results demonstrate our ability to drive strong margin expansion and earnings growth even on relatively modest comp store sales increases. Before we move on to the outlook for the rest of the year, I think it is worth taking a moment to put our second quarter results into context. Sometimes it can be misleading to read too much into a single quarter. Let me talk about the last four quarters. Over that period, and again, excluding tariff refunds, we have driven EPS growth of 24% on total sales growth of 11% and comp store sales growth of 3%.

Going back even further, over the last eight quarters, we have driven EPS growth of 51% on 19% total sales growth and 6% comp sales growth on a two-year stack basis. Against any relevant benchmarks, these results are hugely impressive. I could keep going back further, but you get the idea. At Burlington, we have a tremendous track record of driving consistent margin expansion and earnings flow-through on our total and comp store sales growth. Okay. Now, let's talk about the outlook for the rest of the year. I will start with our full year guidance and then work backwards. We are taking up our earnings guidance to pass along the entire earnings beat from Q2. As described earlier, we received $55 million in tariff refunds in Q2, and we plan to use these to sharpen values in the back half.

For the full year, the direct impact of these refunds is expected to be neutral. Let's talk specifically about the back half. Excluding the impact of tariff refund investments, our earnings guidance for the back half is unchanged. Our sales guidance for the back half is also unchanged, but let me offer some editorial commentary. We continue to feel good about our sales upside potential. We will be lapping weather-related issues in Q3 and tariff-related supply constraints in Q3 and Q4. Add to that, as discussed, we will be using the favorability from tariff refunds to further sharpen merchandise values. We feel like we are set up for success in the back half. That said, there are external risks. For now, we have chosen to maintain sales guidance.

Our playbook, which has served us well and has contributed to our strong track record of earnings growth, is to maintain discipline and to manage our business in a tightly controlled way. As we have done in the past, we will chase the sales trend if it is stronger. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Kristin to provide additional financial details. Kristin?

Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone. I will start with some additional color on the second quarter. Then, I will share details on our guidance for Q3, Q4, and for the full year. The second quarter profitability metrics I will share exclude the benefit of the $55 million in tariff refunds received in the second quarter. These were recognized as a reduction to cost of goods sold and added $0.64 to Q2 earnings per share. As Michael just discussed, our guidance for Q3 and Q4 assumes we reinvest all of the $55 million in tariff refunds across both the third and fourth quarters in order to deliver even sharper value. Turning back to the second quarter results, total sales grew 11%, while comp store sales increased 2%, which was at the midpoint of our guidance range of 1%-3% comp growth.

The gross margin rate for the second quarter was 44.3%, an increase of 60 basis points versus last year. This was driven by a 70 basis point increase in merchandise margin, which was partially offset by a 10 basis point increase in freight expenses. Product sourcing costs were $226 million versus $209 million in the second quarter of 2025. Product sourcing costs decreased 20 basis points as a percentage of sales versus last year. Supply chain was the driver of the leverage as we continue to execute on our productivity and cost savings initiatives. We achieved leverage in supply chain despite the startup of our new state-of-the-art Savannah distribution center. Adjusted SG&A costs in Q2 decreased 50 basis points versus last year. This was primarily driven by lower store-related costs and leverage on total sales growth.

Q2 adjusted EBIT margin was 7%, 100 basis points higher than last year, which was well above our guidance range of an increase of 30 basis points-60 basis points. Our Q2 adjusted earnings per share was $2.37, which also came in above our guidance range of $2.05-$2.20. This represents a 38% increase in earnings per share on top of a 39% increase in Q2 of last year and demonstrates our continued ability to convert top-line growth into even stronger earnings growth. At the end of the quarter, comparable store inventories increased 11% versus the end of the second quarter of 2025. Our reserve inventory was 43% of our total inventory versus 50% of our inventory last year. We are very happy with the quality of the merchandise and the values we have in reserve.

We ended the quarter with approximately $1.6 billion in total liquidity, which consisted of $704 million in cash and $942 million in availability on our ABL. We had no outstanding borrowings at the end of the quarter on the ABL. During the quarter, we repurchased $87 million in common stock. We have repurchased $167 million of common stock fiscal year to date. At the end of Q2, we had $218 million remaining on our share repurchase authorization, which expires in May of 2027. In the second quarter, we opened 51 new stores and relocated six stores. This resulted in the addition of 45 net new stores in Q2, bringing our store count at the end of the quarter to 1,287 stores. Moving to our updated fiscal 2026 full year guidance. This guidance excludes approximately $16 million of costs associated with bankruptcy acquired leases versus $35 million in 2025.

For the full year, our guidance includes the benefit of the $55 million in tariff refunds received in Q2 and the corresponding reinvestment of those dollars across Q3 and Q4. Therefore, the net impact of tariff refunds on our full year guidance is neutral. For the full year 2026, we are increasing our earnings outlook, passing through the entire second quarter underlying earnings beat to the full year. For the full year, total sales are now expected to increase 10%-11%. We expect comp store sales to increase in the range of 3%-4%, and our adjusted EBIT margin to expand by 20 basis points to 40 basis points versus last year. Passing through the entire Q2 EPS upside results in adjusted earnings per share guidance in the range of $11.77-$11.97, up 16%-18% versus fiscal 2025, and well above our initial FY 2026 guidance.

Moving now to our third quarter guidance, which excludes approximately $2 million of expenses associated with bankruptcy acquired leases versus $11 million in Q3 of 2025. Consistent with our prior fall guidance, we are guiding Q3 comp sales to be up 1%-3% and total sales to increase 9%-11%. Our quarter to date trend is within this comp store sales guidance range. Of course, we are only three weeks into the quarter, and the important transitional fall selling season is still ahead of us. As noted, we plan to reinvest approximately 40% of the tariff refunds into Better Value in Q3 and 60% in Q4. Excluding these reinvestments, our fall guidance assumptions for EBIT margin improvement and earnings growth are unchanged versus our prior guidance, which called for EBIT margin improvement of 10 basis points-30 basis points and EPS growth of 7%-10%.

As we noted earlier, we believe it's important to drive an even stronger value offering in fall. Factoring in the reinvestment, we are guiding Q3 operating margin to decrease 80 basis points to 60 basis points versus the third quarter of 2025. This translates to an adjusted earnings per share outlook in the range of $1.60-$1.70, compared to last year's third quarter EPS of $1.80. Excluding planned tariff refund reinvestments, we estimate Q3 operating margin would increase modestly versus last year. For the fourth quarter, we expect comp store sales to be up 1%-3% and total sales to increase 7%-9%. We are guiding Q4 operating margin to decrease in the range of down 60 basis points to down 40 basis points, driven by the planned reinvestment of tariff refunds.

This translates to an adjusted EPS outlook in the range of $5.05-$5.15, compared to last year's fourth quarter EPS of $4.99. Operating margin in Q4, excluding those tariff refund reinvestments, would be up versus last year. As we noted, the net impact of tariff refunds on our full year guidance is neutral. We plan to reinvest the $0.64 benefit we saw in Q2 into Q3 and Q4. Excluding these reinvestments, our underlying fall guidance of $7.30-$7.50, an EBIT margin up 10 basis points-30 basis points, is unchanged from the guidance we issued on our Q1 earnings call in May. I will now turn the call back over to Michael.

Thank you, Kristin. Before I hand it back to the operator for your questions, let me summarize two key messages from this morning's call. Firstly, we are very pleased with our second quarter results. Total sales increased 11% in the quarter on top of 10% last year. Comp store sales increased 2% on top of 5% last year, resulting in a solid two-year comp stack of 7%. Most importantly, even after stripping out the favorable impact of tariff refunds, our operating margin expanded 100 basis points and our adjusted EPS increased 38% on top of 39% last year. Our results in Q2 add to an already impressive and consistent track record of strong operating margin expansion and earnings flow-through. Secondly, we believe that we are set up for success in the back half of the year.

We think that there may be potential sales upside as we lap specific issues in Q3 and Q4 of last year and as we deploy tariff refunds to deliver even sharper values to our customers. That said, we recognize that there are risks. So we are going to stay disciplined and execute the off-price playbook. We are maintaining our sales guidance for Q3 and Q4, and we will be ready to chase if the sales trend turns out to be stronger. Now I would like to turn the call over for your questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question at this time, just press star, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, just press star one again. Please limit to one question and one follow-up. We will pause for a moment to compile a Q and A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Matthew Boss with JPMorgan. Matthew, please go ahead.

Michael, on tariff refunds, could you elaborate on your decision to use the refunds to sharpen your prices and values, particularly relative to some retailers that are using them for favorability to earnings and others that are using them to offset expense pressures?

Well, good morning, Matt. Thank you for the question. It's a good question. For us, this was actually an easy decision, and there were, I would say, two main drivers that led us there. Number one, it feels like the right thing to do for our customers. Over the last few years, many households, especially moderate to lower income families, have struggled with the higher cost of living. Higher prices on essentials like groceries, rent, gas prices, et cetera. Our goal is to use the tariff refunds to give our customers a break. We already offer great value at Burlington, but by reinvesting the tariff refunds into lower prices, we should be able to sharpen those values further and to offer the customer an even better deal. The second thing that I would say, and this one is a bit more technical, so let me try and explain.

We think it makes sense that different retailers have made different choices on this. Our tariff refunds are worth $55 million. In dollar terms and as a percentage of sales, that is much lower than many of our retail peers and competitors. One of the reasons for that is because in the back half of last year, we pivoted away from categories where the impact of tariffs was very high. As you'll remember, that hurt our sales trend in the back half of last year, but it meant that we were still able to drive very strong earnings growth because we suffered less impact from tariffs. There were other retailers who made a different decision. They stayed in those tariff impacted categories. That meant they saw stronger sales than us, but weaker earnings. Anyway, scroll forward to the back half of this year.

Now relative to our peers, we're sitting on a higher base of earnings from last year, and our current earnings momentum is also very strong. We're confident that we can hit our earnings targets even without the assistance of tariff refunds. For some other retailers, that calculus may be different. For them, the refunds may be an opportunity to catch back up on earnings that they missed out on in the second half of last year. Anyway, I guess I would sum up my answer by reiterating that for us, this was an easy decision. Reinvesting the refunds into sharper values feels like the right thing to do for our customers, and at the same time, we're confident that we can hit our targets without flowing these refunds to earnings.

That's great color. Kristin, to Michael's point, 100 basis points of second quarter margin expansion and 38% earnings growth. That's impressive flow-through on only a 2% comp. Could you elaborate on the drivers of the margin upside?

Good morning, Matt. Yes. We feel very good about our ability to continue to drive operating margins higher, drive strong EPS growth, even on the 2% comp, as you said in your question. That 38% EPS growth we saw in Q2 was on top of 39% EPS growth in Q2 of last year. So we think this consistent earnings growth is worth calling attention to. On the Q2 margin expansion, specifically, I'd call out a few key drivers. First, our merch margin was up 70 basis points. This was better than we planned. It was primarily driven by better markup with less tariff pressure compared to last year. The timing of markdowns from Q1, as well as a lower shortage rate, also drove some additional leverage in merch margin in the quarter. The second area is in supply chain.

We saw 20 basis points of leverage driven by productivity and cost savings initiatives in DCs, and this was despite the headwind of the Savannah startup in the quarter. Finally, we drove 50 basis points of SG&A leverage, primarily due to lower store-related costs, including lower occupancy and leverage on that 11% total sales growth. These drivers more than offset some pressure we had in freight from higher fuel, as well as some higher depreciation in the second quarter.

Our next question comes from the line of Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo. Ike, please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, Michael, Kristin, David. Michael, first question on sales guidance for the back half. Given that you're making this investment via the tariff refund to sharper the values this fall, just curious, why not be a little bit more aggressive on the sales guidance? It doesn't look like you're assuming much benefit from those sharper prices. Could you elaborate there?

Sure. Well, good morning, Ike. Thank you for the question. Let me start by saying that when we set guidance, it is not an exact science. We try to balance numerous competing factors and considerations. As we said in the prepared remarks, we feel very good about our sales guidance for the back half. In fact, we think there may be upside. We're going to be lapping weather-related issues in Q3 and tariff-related supply constraints in Q3 and Q4. As you mentioned in your question, the fact that we are reinvesting tariff refunds into sharper values should provide an additional tailwind to the sales trend. So all of those factors are causing us to be optimistic about the back half. But there are also some reasons to be a little cautious. From a macroeconomic perspective, gas prices rose in the first quarter, and that increase has not gone away.

As we look at the full range of retailer results that have been reported over the last couple of weeks, there are some exceptions, but overall, the comp results have been weak. All the commentary that we see and hear right now suggests that shoppers are under a lot of pressure. So that gives us some concern about the back half. One other point to make. We believe that reinvesting the tariff refunds into sharpening values will help drive our sales momentum. But we also recognize that we are not the only retailer in America, that there are other retailers who will be doing the same thing, and some of them much larger than us. So that further reinforces our decision to reinvest the tariff refunds in sharper values. But it may mean that any impact on our sales trend is somewhat muted.

I guess, let me wrap up my answer by saying that we're an off-price retailer. We believe in the discipline of the off-price model. That discipline has served us well, and it has certainly helped drive our earnings outperformance over the last few years. The way that the model works is that we manage our sales and inventories conservatively, and then we chase. So if our sales guidance turns out to be conservative, then you can be sure we'll be ready to chase the upside.

Got it. Makes sense. Then follow-up for Kristin, maybe just more color on the Q3 and Q4 margin guide. Just would be helpful to understand how exactly you're going to reinvest those dollars.

Good morning, Ike. Thanks for the question. We've said a couple of times today we're reinvesting the tariff refunds from Q2 into fall to offer even stronger value to our customers. So we expect these incremental investments to result in lower growth margins versus last year in both Q3 and in Q4. Again, that reinvestment approximately 40% into Q3 and 60% into Q4. These tariff refund reinvestments are the sole reason we're adjusting our Q3 and Q4 guidance and the sole reason we're guiding lower EBIT margins in both of those quarters. Excluding these reinvestments, our underlying fall guidance assumptions for EBIT margin expansion are unchanged versus our prior guidance, where we called for EBIT margin improvement of 10 basis points-30 basis points.

Underneath that, drivers of that underlying EBIT margin expansion in fall include continued savings in supply chain, as well as some additional leverage in SG&A, partially offset by some higher freight costs due to fuel. These are all embedded in our guidance for Q3 and Q4.

Our next question comes from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson with Bank of America. Lorraine, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning. Results across retail in the second quarter have been pretty mixed. Does this make you a little more cautious today about the consumer than you were on last quarter's call? Where do you think the consumer is, and what impact that may have on demand for the rest of the year?

Good morning, Lorraine. Thank you for the question. My direct answer to your question is yes. We are a little more cautious on the consumer. I would say there are a few reasons for that. Number one, as I mentioned earlier, there was a big spike in gas prices back in March because of the situation in the Middle East. At first, I think many observers thought that would be temporary, but it hasn't turned out to be temporary. I think that sort of adds to the general concern that consumers, especially moderate to low income households, are feeling stretched right now.

Number two, I mentioned this earlier, as we look at the full range of retailer results that have been reported in the last two weeks, there are a couple of notable exceptions, but in general, I would describe the Q2 comp results across the sector as having been underwhelming, even at large value-oriented retailers. Number three, let me talk about our own comp trend. In Q2, I think that our merchant and operating teams executed well. There are always opportunities for improvement, but I thought that our values and assortments were good. But we still only ran 2% comp growth. Of course, on a two-year basis, that's fine. It's a solid 7% two-year stack. Even more if you adjust for new store cannibalization. But candidly, I was hoping for more than a 2% comp in the second quarter.

Anyway, again, the direct answer to your question is, yes, we are a little more cautious on the customer. Let me pivot and talk about what the action implications of that are for us. I would say that despite that caution, we still feel good about our sales guidance for the back half, and we still feel good about potential upside. As an off-price retailer, it makes sense to be cautious. We know that we can do well, even in a difficult retail environment, if we stay disciplined. So we plan to appropriately manage our open-to-buy, our receipts, and our inventory levels, and then be ready to chase if the trend turns out to be stronger.

Thank you. Kristin, comp store inventory levels were higher than we expected exiting the quarter. Can you walk through what drove that increase and why you're comfortable with that higher inventory level?

Good morning. Good morning, Lorraine. It's a great question. At the end of Q2, our comp store inventory was up 11%. This increase was a bit higher than what we typically see, and there were a few drivers. Let me walk through. First, we exited the quarter with higher home inventory versus last year's purposeful pullback in home due to the higher tariffs. In addition, we felt we had opportunity last year in the later back-to-school market, so we pulled forward some back-to-school receipts into late July to ensure we were well positioned there. There were also some tax-free shopping shifts that modestly influenced our back-to-school inventory levels at the end of the quarter. The last thing was, we mentioned this on last quarter's call, we have very selectively stepped up our investments in strong performing, fast turning categories like those in beauty and accessories.

Overall, for those three drivers, stepping back, we are comfortable with our inventory levels and how we exited the quarter.

Your next question comes from the line of Brooke Roach with Goldman Sachs. Brooke, please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for taking our question. Kristin, you finished the quarter at the midpoint of your comp guidance. Can you talk about how sales trended within the quarter and whether there were any meaningful changes in the business as the quarter progressed? What are you seeing in terms of the comp trend on an August month to date basis? Thank you.

Brooke, good morning. Thanks for the question. You may recall in our last earnings call in May, we shared that we were at the high end of our 1%-3% comp guidance range. As we progressed through the quarter, the trend in June was similar to that of May, and then it moderated in July. July represented our toughest comparison, and it is important to call out on a two-year stack basis, July was our strongest month in the quarter. For August, our quarter to date trend is within our 1%-3% Q3 comp guidance range. August does represent our toughest monthly compare in the third quarter, and those comparisons ease in September and October. The last point I would make here is that it is difficult to reliably extrapolate Q3 sales trends based on the first few weeks of August.

August is typically driven by back-to-school demand, while September and October are much more seasonal shopping periods. We see the largest sales opportunity in the latter months of the third quarter, particularly as we anniversary those tariff-related assortment gaps from last year.

That's great. Then maybe a follow-up from Michael, given those opportunities that you have this quarter, can you provide an update on the home business? What progress are you seeing, and how confident are you in the opportunity for home as the category becomes more important into the back half of the year?

Yeah. Good morning, Brooke. This is an important question. The headline is that we feel very good about the progress of our home business. As a reminder, going back a year ago, our home business was significantly impacted by tariffs, especially in Q3 and Q4. But when tariffs were first introduced in April of 2025, we moved very fast to remix our assortment and to take down sales and receipt plans in categories that were the most heavily impacted by tariffs. That turned out to be the right thing to do from a margin and earnings perspective, but it had a very significant impact on sales, especially in our home business in the back half of the year.

Now, in late Q2 of this year, in other words, over the last couple of months, we've started to lap that impact, and we are very happy with what we are seeing. In July, our home business out-comped the chain, and that trend has continued into August. As I said, that's very important because as you mentioned in your question, home becomes a larger proportion of our business later in the year, especially as we get into the fourth quarter. Now, just to add a little more color and spice, right now, we are seeing a lot of strength in categories like home furnishings, kitchen essentials, and toys. As we look forward, we are very happy with our on-order position and our reserve positions in gifting, toys, and holiday categories.

Overall, I feel like we are set up for success in home in the back half of the year.

Your next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Group. Dana, please go ahead.

Hi. Kristin, it sounds like you opened a record number of new stores over the last 12 months. Can you provide some more color on these openings? Then I have a follow-up. Thank you.

Good morning, Dana. Thanks for the question. Yes. Over the last 12 months, we've opened 178 gross new stores. This is the highest level of new store growth in Burlington's history for that time period. With the strength of our pipeline, we were able to front-load 2026 new stores more into the spring season, and this, in contrast, in 2025, when new stores were more back-weighted, more openings in fall. These gross new store openings after closures and relocations resulted in 149 net new stores open in the last 12 months. That's 13% growth in store count over the period. I'll provide just a little bit more detail on these stores. We've really been pleased with the quality of these stores, the pace, and the consistency of our execution. These stores average about 27,000 gross square feet. They're located in highly productive strip centers.

We estimate these stores will be over $7 million in annual sales while delivering really great economic returns. We estimate a payback period of less than two years. From an operational standpoint, we're opening these stores on time and staffing them with experienced Burlington leadership teams. We're pleased with this execution. For full year 2026, we continue to expect 135 gross store openings or about 115 net new stores this year. Last point I'll make here is on the pipeline. We feel very, very good about our 2027 pipeline. 2028 pipeline is continuing to build really nicely, and we remain confident in our ability to open at least 110 net new stores annually and believe we're well positioned to reach and likely exceed the 1,500 store target by the end of 2028.

Great. Can you talk a little bit about the cannibalization impact of new stores on comp growth? Thank you.

Sure. As Michael discussed some of this in the prepared remarks, let me provide a little bit more color. We, of course, expect some level of cannibalization of nearby stores when we open a new store. That impact is incorporated into our site selection and our underwriting processes before we ever approve a new location. This level of cannibalization is not a surprise to us. Typically, over the years, we've seen cannibalization generally be about a 1% headwind to comp sales. Given that extraordinary pace we talked about just in the prior question, that headwind is now higher, running about 1.5 points in the second quarter. This, of course, is an impact we're happy to accept and absorb.

A new store may create a small cannibalization headwind in nearby locations, but the overall incremental sales generated by the new store are obviously significantly greater, and the overall economics to Burlington are very attractive. The last point I'll make on the cannibalization is the can we're seeing today is due to that unusual concentration I talked about in your first question. We expect this will continue through the rest of this year, and as that timing normalizes, we'll expect the cannibalization impact to moderate accordingly.

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Straton with Morgan Stanley. Alex, please go ahead.

Great. Thanks a lot. I've got one for Michael and then one for Kristin. Maybe starting with Michael, can you just give us some updated color on any trends you're seeing by demographic segment?

Sure. Well, good morning, Alex. Welcome back. So demographics. Yes. I guess I would say that the only important headline to share is that our stores that are in lower income trade areas continue to outperform the rest of the chain. As you'd expect, given my comments earlier about the macroeconomic environment, that metric is something we're watching very closely. What the data says is that in the second quarter, our stores in trade areas with lower median household income continued to have comp growth above the chain average. In other words, and I'm very happy to say it, we continue to see strong resilience among lower income shoppers. As for other demographic factors, there isn't much to call out. Maybe the only other thing to share is on Hispanic shoppers. In Q2, our stores that are in high Hispanic areas performed in line with the chain.

Again, we continue to feel good about that important demographic.

Great. Thanks a lot. Maybe for Kristin, do you expect to receive additional tariff refunds in the back half of the year, beyond what you already received in the second quarter?

Good morning, Alex. Thanks for the question. To answer it directly, we do not expect to receive any material additional tariff refunds beyond what we have already recognized. There may be some additional amounts received as various claims are finalized, but we expect those amounts to be relatively small and not meaningful to our financial results. It is worth reiterating what Michael said earlier. Both the dollar amount of our refund and the benefit as a percentage of sales were lower than what many retailers experienced. That is really a reflection of the actions we took last year as tariffs increased. In the back half of 2025, we deliberately pivoted away from some of the more heavily tariff-exposed categories, particularly in home.

That decision created pressure on sales, but it reduced our exposure to higher tariff costs and ultimately contributed to the strong earnings performance we delivered last year.

Your next question comes from the line of Adrienne Yih with Barclays. Adrienne, please go ahead.

Great. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Michael, I will start with you. The investments that you are making for the tariffs, they sound like they are almost exclusively going back into pricing. I am wondering if there is any opportunity or anything thought about from the marketing standpoint, just to highlight the values. What metrics are you watching to prove that these investments in price are not one time in nature and will result in loyalty and long-term customer value? Then a follow up for Kristin, I will just do it now. Can you talk about the ability to leverage your supply chain expenses? Pretty nice ability to do that. Then an update on your Savannah DC and when we can see productivity and efficiencies, how much of that is in the guidance in the back half? Thank you very much.

Well, good morning, Adrienne. First question on marketing. At Burlington, we have known for some time that we have a particular challenge or rather an opportunity in marketing. We do not have the same awareness levels as other retailers. When shoppers have heard of us, more often than not, they think of The Coat Factory. We need to raise our awareness levels and change perception at the same time. I would say that is a particular and unique challenge to us. We have been looking over the past, I would say 6-12 months, we have been looking at ways to really sort of step up our marketing and go after those opportunities. I would say, we are still experimenting, we are still trying some different things, but I would expect over the next few quarters, we will roll out some of those programs.

Burlington Stores (BURL) Q2 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

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