Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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All right, folks, Levi Strauss shares, they are trading slightly lower today after dropping as much as 14% on Friday. This is after the company's upgraded earnings guidance still fell short of higher investor expectations, following the stocks more than 40% rally heading into that earnings print. Now, one key disappointment, at least
According to analysts out on the street, is earnings growth failing to match the pace of sales expansion due to tariff and distribution costs? Meantime, got to say, Bailey, you did have TD Coin raising its price target on the stock to 26 from 22 a share, and they've got their buy rating.
Yeah, staying bullish. And you look at the street, 13 analysts, 10 of them buys. So is it a sell the news event, price to perfection? We see.
It's a really good point. So let's see what one of the company's members of the C-suite have to say. Harmeet Singh is with us, Chief Financial and Growth Officer at Levi Strauss. He joins us from our San Francisco bureau. Harmeet, it's so good to have you here with us. How are you and how is the consumer doing?
Well, thanks for having me, Carol and Bailey. It's great to be here again. You know, we had a real strong quarter, four consecutive quarters of high single-digit growth and record gross margins, as well as the fact that we were able to raise our full year guidance, as well as gross margin and EPS expectations.
Overall, as a company, we're a stronger and a higher performing company defined by accelerated growth, expanding margins, and higher return on invested capital. To your question about the consumer, the consumer is largely being resilient. Our products are really well segmented. We have BlueTab, which is our premium high pinnacle product, and that's doing well. We've introduced that in the US.
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Chapter 2: What are the latest earnings updates from Levi Strauss?
And that's for, you know, lower-income consumers. So consumer strength really strong. That's where we were able to raise the fuller guidance. And our product pipeline hasn't been stronger. Now, if you go outside the U.S., international business was up in the high single digit. And so Asia had a strong quarter, consumer strong.
Europe had a decent quarter, consumer in a better place, and so is Latin America.
Well, I'm just going to lay it out for you. I think I bought my first pair of Levi's in a long time, just a couple of months ago. My daughter, who's 22, so much younger than me, has been buying Levi's for a while. So, Bailey, I mean, they're back. I go into the store in downtown in the village, and, yeah, it's packed.
Well, you get a partnership with Beyonce, all the marketing you guys are spending in terms of targeting both young and older generations. But Harmeet, I want to ask about tariffs. So Levi expects tariffs from China about 30 percent, but increased expectations to 20 percent from the rest of the world. Where are you sourcing your jeans materials?
Is it more are you more exposed to that doubling in terms of are you getting materials from Vietnam in place of China?
Yeah, so overall, we're taking a holistic approach as we are able to offset the tariff impact. You know, as you think about this year, we raised guidance in the top line and the bottom line and gross margin. So, you know, we've been able to withstand that. To your specific question, Bailey, we source about 1% we import into the U.S. from China, a little over a percent from India.
Most of Vietnam is in the mid to high single digits. So most of our imports are from the Southeast Asian countries. Think Bangladesh, think Pakistan, and the rest of Asia. The way we think about our supply chain, it's fairly well diversified. We import from about 20 countries into the US. 60% of our business is outside the US. And so we are well positioned to mitigate and offset tariffs.
And the way we are thinking about the holistic approach, given that volume is driving a big piece of our revenue momentum, and we have tenured vendor relationships. We're working with our vendors. We're looking at different cost efficiencies across our organization, as well as being very thoughtful about pricing.
So let me just ask you, though, you guys did, you know, you mentioned you raised your full-year outlook. You did warn that tariffs are starting to bite. Profitability to measure by gross margins improves. So these are the good stuff, but again, that tariffs are starting to bite. Harmeet, can you tell us what that means, the bite of tariffs? When, how much, you know, any color around that?
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Chapter 3: How is Levi Strauss performing in international markets?
I say to everybody I work, I walk in with jeans every morning.
Yeah, and Bailey and Carol, now we've got the blue tab. It's a fuller jacket. You can definitely wear it to office depending on the, you know, dress environment at Bloomberg. I walked in here fairly casual. So, you know, it's something that we are now beginning to offer. We should make your wardrobe at some stage.
Hey, one last question. Does it feel like, God, Harmeet, it's been a crazy year and a lot of stuff coming at everybody, investors, the world at large. Does it feel like things are starting to calm down on a day when we've talked about what seems like progress in a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas?
Yeah, you know, as I mentioned earlier, you know, we have lived through uncertainty. You know, the good news for us is the category is strong. We have real business momentum. The brand's never been stronger. And we have a product pipeline that has never been fuller, especially as we head towards holiday. Our focus right now is making sure our product is on the floor.
Because what we have seen, Carol, is consumers gravitate to newness and gravitate to what's relevant. And our view is if we can offer the right product and build a brand experience. And that's where we've got real focus on our direct-to-consumer business while complementing growth with our wholesale business. So this quarter, both DDC and wholesale was up.
We've had, in the US, five consecutive quarters of high growth, and it's fueled by both the channels.
All right, well, Harmeet, when you talk with your design team, I like high waist, buttons, kind of slim through the legs, and then a little flare. I'm just going to put it out there, a little stretch in there, too. It's kind of my favorite, my favorite, my favorite. You are a gem.
Thank you. And I'll take that feedback, Karen. I sincerely believe feedback is a gift. And getting feedback from consumers like yourself is something that I'll take upon myself to feedback to our designers.
All right, I'm going to hold you to it. All right, good stuff. Harmeet, thank you so much. Harmeet Singh, Chief Financial and Growth Officer over at Levi Strauss, joining us from our bureau in San Francisco.
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Chapter 4: How are tariffs affecting Levi Strauss's profitability?
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