Cabela’s Incorporated (NYSE:CAB) today reported financial results for the first quarter fiscal 2017.

For the quarter, on a GAAP basis, total revenue decreased 3.4% to $834.9 million, revenue from retail store sales decreased 3.9% to $542.0 million, Internet and catalog sales decreased 12.6% to $136.1 million, and Financial Services revenue increased 6.5% to $150.0 million. For the quarter, U.S. comparable store sales decreased 9.1% and consolidated comparable store sales decreased 8.9%.

For the quarter, net income decreased 16.7% to $19.1 million compared to $22.9 million in the year ago quarter, and earnings per diluted share were $0.28 compared to $0.33 in the year ago quarter. Adjusted for certain items, the Company reported first quarter net income of $27.6 million and earnings per diluted share of $0.40 as compared to net income of $29.5 million and earnings per diluted share of $0.43 in the year ago quarter. First quarter 2017 GAAP results included impairment and restructuring charges and other items totaling a $0.12 reduction in earnings per diluted share. See the supporting schedules to this earnings release labeled “Reconciliation of GAAP Reported to Non-GAAP Adjusted Financial Measures” for a reconciliation of the GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures.

“While we were disappointed with our merchandise sales in the first quarter, we were very pleased with the excellent performance of our Cabela’s CLUB Visa program and our focus on expense management, which continued to provide meaningful contributions to profitability,” said Tommy Millner, Cabela’s Chief Executive Officer. “Similar to broader retail industry trends, we continued to experience challenging traffic patterns in the first quarter. Our growth in average ticket was more than offset by continued decreases in transactions.”

For the quarter, consolidated comparable store sales decreased 8.9% and U.S. comparable store sales decreased 9.1% as compared to the same quarter a year ago. The decrease in comparable store sales was attributable to several specific events. Firearms and ammunition have faced several headwinds including the election and the tough comparisons from the San Bernardino tragedy a year ago. The home and gifts category was challenged by difficult comparisons related to a significant spike in demand for specific items in the first quarter a year ago. While apparel categories comped negatively for the quarter, they have shown signs of improvement and were down less than the consolidated comp.

Merchandise gross margin decreased by 80 basis points in the quarter to 31.4% compared to 32.2% in the same quarter a year ago. This decrease was primarily attributable to the impacts of increased sales discounts and promotional activity as well as merchandise mix. Sales discounts and promotional activity were responsible for approximately 70 basis points of the decrease and the merchandise mix impact was approximately 10 basis points of the overall decrease for the quarter.

Expense management initiatives continued to generate meaningful contributions to profitability. For the quarter, GAAP basis SD&A expenses decreased by $1.3 million to $327.9 million as compared to $329.2 million in the same quarter a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, SD&A expenses decreased $3.1 million to $318.6 million as compared to $321.7 million in the same quarter a year ago. Expense reductions were primarily related to efficiencies in labor and a decrease in certain marketing expenses.

“We continue to be very pleased with the results of our expense and process improvement initiatives,” Millner said. “We are particularly encouraged by the sustainable impact of these initiatives from their implementation in 2015 through the first quarter. I commend our teams for executing these profitability enhancing improvements throughout the business.”

The Cabela’s CLUB Visa program had another excellent quarter. For the quarter, growth in the average number of active credit card accounts was 2.4% and growth in average balance per active credit card account was 8.3% as compared to the same period a year ago. The average balance of credit card loans grew 11.0% to approximately $5.4 billion as compared to $4.9 billion in the year ago quarter. For the quarter, net charge-offs were 3.18%. First quarter Financial Services revenue increased 6.5% over the year ago quarter. This increase was primarily driven by increases in interest and fee income, which was largely offset by increases in the provision for loan losses as well as interest expense. During the quarter, the allowance for loan losses was reduced by $6.2 million as compared to a reduction of $1.2 million in the same quarter a year ago. For the quarter, the reduction in the allowance for loan losses was due to improvements in the roll rates for early stage delinquencies from the end of the fourth quarter of 2016 to the end of the first quarter of 2017.

As a reminder, Cabela’s will not host a conference call with analysts and investors or provide guidance in connection with the results and does not plan to do so for future quarters while the acquisition of the Company by Bass Pro Shops is pending.

About Cabela’s Incorporated

Cabela’s Incorporated, headquartered in Sidney, Nebraska, is a leading specialty omni-channel retailer of hunting, fishing, camping, shooting sports, and related outdoor merchandise. Since the Company’s founding in 1961, Cabela’s® has grown to become one of the most well-known outdoor recreation brands in the world, and has long been recognized as the World’s Foremost Outfitter®. Cabela’s offers a wide and distinctive selection of high-quality outdoor products at competitive prices while providing superior customer service. Cabela’s also issues the Cabela’s CLUB® Visa credit card, which serves as its primary customer loyalty rewards program. Cabela’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CAB”.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that are based on the Company’s beliefs, assumptions, and expectations of future events, taking into account the information currently available to the Company. All statements other than statements of current or historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The words “believe,” “may,” “should,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “objective,” “seek,” “plan,” “confident,” and similar statements are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance, or financial condition to differ materially from the expectations of future results, performance, or financial condition that the Company expresses or implies in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the consummation of the proposed merger by and among Bass Pro Group, LLC, Prairie Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bass Pro Group, LLC, and the Company, including, without limitation, the receipt of stockholder and regulatory approvals, including as a result of the inability of Synovus Bank to timely obtain regulatory approvals for its consummation of its purchase of the assets of World’s Foremost Bank; unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to the proposed merger; legal proceedings, judgments, or settlements, including those that may be instituted against the Company, the Company’s board of directors, executive officers, and others following the announcement of the proposed merger; disruptions of current plans and operations caused by the announcement and pendency of the proposed merger; potential difficulties in employee retention due to the announcement and pendency of the proposed merger; the response of customers, suppliers, business partners, and regulators to the announcement of the proposed merger; the state of the economy and the level of discretionary consumer spending, including changes in consumer preferences, demand for firearms and ammunition, and demographic trends; adverse changes in the capital and credit markets or the availability of capital and credit; the Company’s ability to successfully execute its omni-channel strategy; increasing competition in the outdoor sporting goods industry and for credit card products and reward programs; the cost of the Company’s products, including increases in fuel prices; the availability of the Company’s products due to political or financial instability in countries where the goods the Company sells are manufactured; supply and delivery shortages or interruptions, and other interruptions or disruptions to the Company’s systems, processes, or controls, caused by system changes or other factors; increased or adverse government regulations, including regulations relating to firearms and ammunition; the Company’s ability to protect its brand, intellectual property, and reputation; the Company’s ability to prevent cybersecurity breaches and mitigate cybersecurity risks; the outcome of litigation, administrative, and/or regulatory matters (including the ongoing audits by tax authorities and compliance examinations by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation); the Company’s ability to manage credit, liquidity, interest rate, operational, legal, regulatory capital, and compliance risks; the Company’s ability to increase credit card receivables while managing credit quality; the Company’s ability to securitize its credit card receivables at acceptable rates or access the deposits market at acceptable rates; the impact of legislation, regulation, and supervisory regulatory actions in the financial services industry; and other risks, relevant factors, and uncertainties identified in the Company’s filings with the SEC (including the information set forth in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016), which filings are available at the Company’s website at www.cabelas.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Given the risks and uncertainties surrounding forward-looking statements, you should not place undue reliance on these statements. The Company’s forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Other than as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Financial Services revenue consists of activity from the Company’s credit card operations and is comprised of interest and fee income, interchange income, other non-interest income, interest expense, provision for loan losses, and customer rewards costs. The following table details the components and amounts of Financial Services revenue as reported for the periods presented below.

The following table sets forth the components of Financial Services revenue as reported as a percentage of average total credit card loans, including any accrued interest and fees, for the periods presented below.

The following table show key statistics reflecting the performance of the Financial Services business for the periods presented below.

To supplement our consolidated statements of income presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we are providing non-GAAP adjusted financial measures of operating results that exclude certain items. Selling, distribution, and administrative expenses; impairment and restructuring charges; operating income; income before provision for income taxes; provision for income taxes; net income; and earnings per diluted share are presented below both as GAAP reported and non-GAAP financial measures excluding (i) consulting fees and certain expenses primarily related to our corporate restructuring initiative and the pending merger; (ii) a charge recognized pursuant to a lawsuit settlement; (iii) charges related to the early extinguishment of certain certificates of deposit; (iv) impairment and restructuring charges; and (v) an adjustment to the provision for income taxes for nondeductible expenses primarily to facilitate the acquisition of the Company. In light of the nature and magnitude, we believe these items should be presented separately to enhance a reader’s overall understanding of the Company’s ongoing operations. These non-GAAP adjusted financial measures should be considered in conjunction with the GAAP financial measures.

We believe these non-GAAP adjusted financial measures provide useful supplemental information to investors regarding the underlying business trends and performance of our ongoing operations and are useful for year-over-year comparisons of such operations. In addition, we evaluate results using non-GAAP adjusted operating income, adjusted net income, and adjusted earnings per diluted share. These non-GAAP adjusted financial measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating income, net income, earnings per diluted share, or any other measure calculated in accordance with GAAP. The following tables reconcile these financial measures to the related GAAP adjusted financial measures for the periods presented.

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