하버티스(HVT) 2026년 3분기 실적 발표회: 매출 성장 및 마진 가이던스 상향
하버티스는 2026년 3분기 순매출이 전년 동기 대비 4.5% 증가한 2억 320만 달러, 동일 매장 매출은 4.1% 증가했다고 발표했습니다. 관세 환급금 320만 달러에 힘입어 매출총이익률은 62.3%로 상승했으며, 이를 제외할 경우 60.7%를 기록했습니다. 희석 주당순이익(EPS)은 0.39달러로 상승했습니다. 방문객 수는 5% 안팎 감소했으나 가격 인상으로 객단가가 7.4% 증가했습니다. 경영진은 관세 환급을 반영해 2026년 매출총이익률 가이던스를 61.3%~61.5%로 상향 조정했으나, 운송 및 신용 비용 증가를 이유로 가변 판매관리비 전망치는 높였습니다. 분기 말 현금은 1억 2,030만 달러이며 차입 부채는 없습니다.
핵심 요약
- 하버티스는 2026년 3분기 순매출이 전년 동기 대비 4.5% 증가한 2억 320만 달러를 기록했으며, 동일 매장 매출은 4.1% 증가했다고 발표했습니다.
- 매출총이익률은 320만 달러의 관세 환급금에 힘입어 200베이시스포인트(bp) 확대된 62.3%를 기록했습니다. 관세 환급금을 제외한 매출총이익률은 60.7%였습니다.
- 희석 주당순이익(EPS)은 0.28달러에서 0.39달러로 상승했습니다. 관세 환급금을 제외한 순이익은 400만 달러(희석 주당 0.25달러)였습니다.
- 방문객 수는 5% 안팎 감소했으나 구매 전환율은 안정적인 수준을 유지했으며, 주로 가격 인상에 힘입어 객단가가 7.4% 증가했습니다.
- 경영진은 2026년 매출총이익률 가이던스를 61.3%~61.5%로 상향 조정했으나, 배송, 운송 및 제3자 신용 비용 증가를 이유로 가변 판매관리비 전망치를 높였습니다.
- 하버티스는 분기 말 기준 1억 2,030만 달러의 현금을 보유하고 있으며, 차입 부채가 없고 회전한도 대출을 통해 1억 달러를 이용할 수 있습니다.
핵심 재무 데이터
| 지표 | 2026년 3분기 | 전년 동기 대비 비교 / 비고 |
|---|---|---|
| 순매출 | 2억 320만 달러 | 4.5% 증가 |
| 동일 매장 매출 | — | 4.1% 증가 |
| 총 수주 매출 | — | 2.8% 증가 |
| 동일 매장 수주 매출 | — | 2.3% 증가 |
| 매출총이익률 | 62.3% | 60.3%에서 상승 |
| 관세 환급금 제외 매출총이익률 | 60.7% | 60.3% 대비 |
| 관세 환급금 및 LIFO 제외 조정 매출총이익률 | 61.3% | 60.6% 대비 |
| 판매관리비(SG&A) | 1억 1,900만 달러 | 670만 달러(6%) 증가 |
| 세전이익 | 860만 달러 | 640만 달러 대비 |
| 순이익 | 630만 달러 | 470만 달러 대비 |
| 희석 EPS | $0.39 | 0.28달러 대비 |
| 관세 환급금 제외 순이익 | 400만 달러 | 희석 주당 0.25달러 |
| 분기 말 재고 | 8,670만 달러 | 전년 동기 대비 570만 달러 감소 |
| 현금 및 현금성 자산 | 1억 2,030만 달러 | 차입 부채 없음 |
매출 대비 판매관리비(SG&A) 비중은 57.8%에서 58.6%로 상승했습니다. 수수료 기반 보상, 제3자 신용 비용, 주식 기반 보상, 성과급 및 단체 보험 비용 증가가 상승을 견인했습니다. 경영진은 일반관리비(G&A) 증가분 중 약 200만 달러는 주식 보상 조기 베스팅이 반영된 것이며 단기적으로 재발하지 않을 것이라고 밝혔습니다.
사업 및 영업 실적
분기 방문객 수는 5% 안팎 감소했으나, 안정적인 구매 전환율과 객단가 7.4% 증가가 매출 성장을 뒷받침했습니다. 경영진은 건당 판매 수량은 전반적으로 변동이 없었던 반면, 가격 인상이 객단가 상승의 주요 원인으로 작용했다고 설명했습니다.
디자이너 사업 부문은 4% 성장하며 전체 사업의 34.6%를 차지했습니다. 디자이너 객단가는 7.2% 증가했습니다. 맞춤 주문은 16.9% 증가해 천 소파/업홀스터리 매출의 31.4%를 차지했습니다.
카테고리별로는 천 소파/업홀스터리 수주 매출이 5% 안팎 증가했습니다. 소형 가구(Occasional), 침실 및 식탁 가구 매출은 1~3% 증가한 반면, 매트리스 및 인테리어 소품은 1~3% 감소했습니다. 전자상거래 수주 매출은 오가닉 웹사이트 트래픽 개선에 힘입어 다시 한번 두 자릿수 성장을 기록했습니다.
재고자산은 2분기 말 1억 50만 달러에서 3분기 말 8,670만 달러로 감소했습니다. 경영진은 재고 감축이 다소 과도했다고 언급하며, 고객 배송 요구를 충족하기 위해 연말 재고 수준을 9,000만~1억 달러로 예상한다고 밝혔습니다.
하버티스는 129개 매장으로 3분기를 마감했으며 2026년 말에는 133개 매장을 보유할 것으로 예상합니다. 당사는 이번 분기 버지니아주 프레더릭스버그에 신규 진출했으며, 해당 매장의 방문객 수와 판매량이 기대치를 상회하고 있다고 밝혔습니다. 피츠버그 매장 오픈으로 18번째 주에 진출하게 되었으며, 4분기 추가 활동에는 맥키니, 스넬빌, 베이타운, 리치먼드에서의 신규 오픈 및 매장 이전이 포함됩니다.
경영진 가이던스
하버티스는 관세 환급에 따라 2026년 매출총이익률 전망치를 61.3%~61.5%로 기존보다 상향 조정했습니다. 이 전망에는 2026년 11월 4일 기준으로 발효 중인 관세가 포함되지만, 간접 조달 제품에 대한 향후 잠재적 환급금은 제외되어 있습니다.
고정 및 재량 판매관리비는 3억 700만 달러에서 3억 900만 달러 사이를 유지할 것으로 예상됩니다. 가변 판매관리비는 연료 관련 배송 및 운송 비용 증가와 제3자 신용 비용 상승을 반영하여 19.2%~19.4%로 전망됩니다.
경영진은 2026년 계획된 자본 지출(CAPEX)을 3,400만 달러로 유지했습니다. 이에는 신규 또는 교체 매장, 리모델링 및 확장에 2,770만 달러, 물류망에 320만 달러, 정보 기술(IT)에 약 310만 달러가 포함됩니다. 예상 실효 세율은 주식 보상 베스팅 효과 및 잠재적인 신규 세법 개정을 제외하고 26%를 유지하고 있습니다.
리스크 및 주시 영역
- 벙커유 가격 상승으로 컨테이너 운임이 25%~30% 증가했으며, 갤런당 약 6달러인 디젤 가격이 배송, 운송 및 자재 비용을 압박하고 있습니다.
- LIFO(후입선출법), 건강보험 및 소비자 금융 비용이 지속적으로 상승하고 있습니다. 하버티스는 주요 프로모션 기간 외에는 장기 무이자 프로모션 적용을 제한하고 선택적인 소매 가격 조정을 실시하고 있습니다.
- 당사는 천 소파/목재 가구에 대한 무역확장법 232조 관세의 변경 가능성과 미국-베트남 상호 관세 협정을 둘러싼 불확실성을 모니터링하고 있습니다.
- 컨테이너 확보 가능성, 미국 세관국경보호국(CBP)의 검사 강화, 베트남의 노동력 확보 가능성 및 2027년 1월 1일로 예정된 베트남의 7% 임금 인상 의무화는 리드 타임을 연장시킬 수 있습니다.
- 경영진은 지금까지 공급망 차질이 미미했다고 밝혔으나, 2027년 초 춘절이 다가옴에 따라 상황을 주시할 것이라고 덧붙였습니다.
애널리스트 Q&A 하이라이트
경영진은 3분기 동향에서 눈에 띄는 지역적 차이는 없었다고 보고했습니다. 객단가 상승의 대부분은 가격 인상 덕분이며, 디자인 프로그램 참여 고객 비율을 현재 약 17%에서 약 25%까지 확대함에 따라 추가 성장 잠재력이 있다고 보고 있습니다.
하버티스는 선거 관련 정치 광고로 인해 일부 TV 광고 배정이 밀려난 후, 4분기 잔여 기간 및 2027년까지 적극적인 마케팅을 유지할 계획입니다. 경영진은 그 영향을 수치화하지는 않았습니다.
소비자 건전성과 관련해 하버티스는 금융 승인율이 견조하게 유지되었다고 설명했습니다. 싱크로니(Synchrony)를 이용하는 고객 중 신용점수 750점 이상인 오프라인 매장 신청자의 거의 90%가 승인되었습니다. 전체 고객의 약 3분의 1이 싱크로니 금융을 이용하고 있습니다.
당사는 인플레이션 압력을 상쇄하기 위해 선택적 가격 인상과 판촉용 금융 프로모션에 대한 엄격한 통제를 적용하고 있습니다. 경영진은 현재 고객 배송비 인상은 고려하지 않고 있다고 밝혔습니다.
실적 발표 콘퍼런스 콜 전문
전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록
경영진 발표
Operator
Welcome to the Havertys Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Tiffany Hinkle, Assistant Vice President of Financial Reporting and Investor Relations. Thank you, Tiffany. You may begin.
Tiffany Hinkle
Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter earnings call. I'm here today with our President and CEO, Steve Burdette; and Executive Vice President and CFO, Richard Hare. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that today's conference call may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties.
Actual results may differ materially from those made or implied in such statements, which we speak only as of the date they are made and which we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include economic and competitive conditions and other uncertainties detailed in the company's reports filed with the SEC.
We will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings release. A replay of this call will be available on our Investor Relations website this afternoon. For commentary about our business, I will now turn the call over to Steve.
Steven Burdette
Thank you, Tiffany. Good morning, and thank you for joining our 2026 third quarter conference call. Q3 was another strong quarter with increases in written and delivered comp sales against tougher year-over-year comps. Net sales were $203.2 million, up 4.5% with comp sales up 4.1%. Total written sales increased 2.8% with written comp sales up 2.3%. Additional tariff refunds received during the quarter contributed to gross margin expanding to 62.3% compared with 60.3% last year.
Pretax income was $8.6 million or 4.2% of sales compared with $6.4 million or 3.3% of sales a year ago. Earnings per share was $0.39 versus $0.28 a year ago. Richard will discuss the impact of tariff refunds on gross margins, higher interest rates on credit costs, increase in stock expenses and higher oil prices on delivery, transportation and material costs.
Quarterly traffic declined by mid-single digits, but conversion rates held steady and average ticket rose 7.4%. Written sales varied monthly with the Labor Day event calendar shift. Our July 4 weekend sales started slowly with traffic and sales down during the first 6 days.
The decline can be attributed to many nationwide celebrations of our country's 250th anniversary and July 4 itself falling on a Saturday. Traffic and written sales improved through the rest of July with written sales ending the month up 5.1%.
Given the 1-week calendar shift in Labor Day, we believe August and September are best viewed together. Across those 2 months, traffic remained down mid-single digits, while business increased 1.7%. The 2-week Labor Day event experienced weaker traffic, but we were able to end the 2-week promotion with flat sales compared to last year due to a strong average ticket and steady conversion rates.
Our designer business grew 4% for the quarter, accounting for 34.6% of our business with designer average ticket growing 7.2%. Custom orders rose to 31.4% of our upholstery business, increasing 16.9% over last year. From a category perspective, our written business saw upholstery rise mid-single digits with occasional, bedroom and dining up low single digits and mattresses and decor were down low single digits.
Our merchandising and supply chain teams continue to push to bring in new exciting projects -- products across the merchandise assortment. We are hearing that container availability, Custom Border Protection's enhanced inspections and in Vietnam, the labor availability, along with the government's required 7% wage increase on January 1, 2027, are becoming issues.
We are seeing lead times getting pushed out but we have seen minimal impact on our partners and our supply chain network at this point. As we approach Chinese New Year in early 2027, we will be watching closely for any further disruptions and adjust our ordering patterns accordingly.
Our inventories dropped from $100.5 million at the end of Q2 to $86.7 million at the end of Q3. The efforts by our supply chain to get control of our inventories took a pendulum swing too far during the quarter. We expect to end the year somewhere between $90 million and $100 million, depending on product flow and sales. This is the level of inventory needed to meet our customers' delivery expectations.
Regarding tariffs, all things remain consistent from Q2 with the new Section 301 tariffs implemented in July. However, we are waiting for confirmation from the administration if Section 232 tariffs on upholstered wood furniture will go from 25% to 30% effective January 1, 2027.
Also, we are hearing rumors that the governments of Vietnam and the U.S. have had meetings to finalize the reciprocal agreement between the countries that would remove the current Section 301 tariff of 12.5% imposed in July for a potential higher tariff percentage.
We will make the necessary targeted adjustments in our pricing if these changes occur, but we'll not get ahead of ourselves as this is a fluid situation. As discussed on our Q2 conference call, bunker fuel rates remain high, causing a 25% to 30% increase in our container rates. Diesel fuel at roughly $6 per gallon impacts home delivery and transportation costs as well as material costs, which are up mid-single digits.
LIFO costs are not slowing. Health insurance costs continue to rise and credit costs are becoming more expensive due to usage and interest rate increases. The tariff refunds of $3.2 million helped to offset some of these increases during the quarter.
Our ability to leverage these increases is becoming more difficult in this environment. However, we continue to get more from our marketing spend, which was slightly lower for the quarter. Organic traffic to our site keeps improving, driving double-digit growth in written e-commerce sales for another quarter.
To stay competitive, we continue to offer aggressive no-interest credit promotions such as 48-month and 60-month terms during the promotional periods. But we are implementing tighter controls on their use outside of the promotional periods by raising the average ticket amounts allowed for each promotion.
Our use of AI continues to expand into more customer-facing areas, including customer chat, sales and designer interfaces, marketing, supply chain and home delivery. We believe this helps our team quickly share the most relevant and accurate information with customers, creating a better overall experience.
Ultimately, the way we engage with every customer along their journey creates unmatched value and sets Havertys apart from our competition. We ended the quarter with 129 stores. During the quarter, we opened a new market in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which we are pleased to report is outperforming our traffic and volume expectations.
We plan to open 5 new stores in Q4 and close one that will be a relocation. McKinney, Texas, a suburb of Dallas opened October 30. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will be opening tomorrow, marking our entry into our 18th state. Snellville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta will be relocated to a larger and better location next week and Baytown and Richmond, Texas, both suburbs of Houston, opened in late November and early December, giving us 5 stores in the market.
Also, we finalized the closing of our College Station, Texas store on August 31. The ongoing refresh of our mattress departments and design centers remains on track for completion in all stores in 2027. These improvements provide us with big opportunities to grow these 2 important categories.
We will continue to evaluate our existing leases and locations so that we are reinvesting our capital to create the biggest return for our shareholders. We expect to end the year with 133 stores, and we have several new stores in lease negotiations for 2027 that we hope to be able to announce on our next call.
We are optimistic about finishing the year strong. While many headwinds remain, today, we have turned the page on what we believe has been our biggest headwind over the last few months, the midterm elections. Hotly contested races in Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, where roughly 2/3 of our stores are located, created disruptions in our marketing plans.
More broadly, the news cycle over the last 60 days across our entire footprint was a disruption, but the elections are over. As the country moves forward, we expect our customers to quickly put the midterms behind them and focus on their future.
Looking ahead, our optimism rests on 4 things: first, our people, who share the belief that we must outserve our competition. Second, our design program, which inspires customers and gives them confidence in their decisions with tremendous upside potential. Third, our organic store growth strategy of opening 5 stores a year, which further strengthens and expands the brand; and fourth, our execution with roughly 2,400 team members across 18 states whose hard work, dedication and passion for serving customers, fellow team members and shareholders is contagious and appreciated. I will now turn the call over to Richard.
Richard Hare
Thank you, Steve, and good morning. In the third quarter of 2026, net sales were $203.2 million, a 4.5% increase over the prior year quarter. Comparable store sales were up 4.1% over the prior year period. Our gross profit margin increased 200 basis points to 62.3% from 60.3%. Excluding the impact of approximately $3.2 million in tariff refunds recognized in the quarter, our gross profit margin was 60.7% in the third quarter of 2026 compared to 60.3% in the prior year quarter.
Further, excluding the impact of LIFO, a $1 million expense in the third quarter of 2026 and a $624,000 expense in the prior year quarter, our adjusted gross profit margin was 61.3% in the third quarter of 2026 and 60.6% in the prior year quarter.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $6.7 million or 6% to $119 million. As a percentage of sales, these costs approximated 58.6% of sales, up from 57.8% in the prior year's quarter. We experienced an increase in selling expense of $1.8 million, primarily due to higher commission-based compensation and third-party credit costs and an increase in administrative expenses of $4.1 million, primarily from stock-based compensation subject to acceleration recognition, performance-based incentive compensation and increased group insurance costs.
Other income expense in the third quarter of 2026 was $20,000 and interest income was approximately $983,000 in the third quarter of 2026. Income before interest and income taxes increased $2.3 million to $7.6 million. Our tax expense was $2.2 million for the third quarter of 2026, which resulted in an effective tax rate of 26% versus 26.4% in the prior year period.
The primary difference in the effective tax rate and the statutory rate is due to state income taxes and the impact of vesting on stock awards. Net income for the third quarter of 2026 was $6.3 million or $0.39 per diluted share on our common stock compared to net income of $4.7 million or $0.28 per share in the comparable quarter last year.
During the third quarter, we recognized approximately $3.2 million in tariff refunds related to our indirect import programs as a reduction in cost of sales. Year-to-date through September 30, 2026, we have received approximately $5.4 million in tariff refunds related to our direct and indirect programs, of which $4.7 million was recorded as a reduction to cost of goods sold, $170,000 was recorded as a reduction to inventory and $67,000 was recorded as interest income and the remainder was rebated to certain supplier partners.
Excluding the impact of the tariff refunds on our income statement, our net income for the quarter was $4 million or $0.25 per diluted share. Now turning to our balance sheet. At the end of the third quarter, our inventories were $86.7 million, which was down $9.5 million from December 31, 2025, and down $5.7 million versus Q3 of 2025.
At the end of the third quarter, our customer deposits were $46.2 million, which was up $10.7 million from December 31, 2025, and up $2.4 million from Q3 2025. We ended the quarter with $120.3 million of cash and cash equivalents. We have no funded debt on our balance sheet at the end of the third quarter of 2026, and we have credit availability of $100 million under our revolving credit facility.
Looking at some of the cash flow usage, capital expenditures totaled $23 million in the first 9 months of 2026, and we paid out $15.8 million of regular dividends year-to-date. We did not participate in our share repurchase program during the third quarter of 2026. On August 7, 2026, our Board of Directors authorized an additional $15 million of buyback capacity.
We have approximately $16.0 million of remaining authorization under our buyback program. Our earnings release list out several additional forward-looking statements indicating our future expectations of certain financial metrics. I will highlight a few, but please refer to our press release for additional commentary.
Our 2026 guidance includes tariffs currently in effect as of November 4, 2026, but excludes any future tariff refunds that may be received from indirectly sourced products. We are closely monitoring the tariff developments to manage our exposure and minimize the impact on our business.
As a reminder, the following guidance is for calendar year 2026. When we release our Q4 earnings, we will provide 2027 guidelines. We expect our gross margins for 2026 to be between 61.3% and 61.5%, which is an increase in our previous guidance due to the receipt of tariff refunds.
We anticipate gross profit margins will be impacted by our current estimates of product, freight and LIFO expenses. Our fixed and discretionary type SG&A expenses for 2026 are expected to remain in the $307 million to $309 million range. The variable type costs within SG&A for 2026 are expected to be in the range of 19.2% to 19.4%, which is an increase from our prior guidance due to higher delivery and transportation costs associated with higher fuel prices and increased third-party credit costs.
Our planned CapEx for 2026 remains at $34 million. Anticipated new or replacement stores, remodels and expansions account for $27.7 million. Investments in our distribution network are expected to be $3.2 million and investments in our information technology are expected to be approximately $3.1 million. Our anticipated effective tax rate for 2026 remains at 26%.
This projection excludes the impact of vesting of stock awards and any potential new tax legislation. This completes my financial commentary on the third quarter results. Operator, we would like to open the call for questions at this time.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Anthony Lebiedzinski from Sidoti & Co.
질의응답
Anthony Lebiedzinski
Certainly nice to see another quarter of sales and earnings growth here in 3Q. So I know you touched on a little bit as far as trends during the quarter. Were there any notable regional differences that you saw as you progressed from July through September? I'm just curious about that.
Steven Burdette
Not anything is notable, Anthony, that we've seen. I mean it's pretty much across the board, we're seeing the effect. Some are more so than the others, but nothing notable.
Anthony Lebiedzinski
Got you. And then in terms of the average ticket going up, how much of that you think was due to pricing versus unit volumes or mix? And do you think these average ticket increases are sustainable?
Steven Burdette
I'm still going to say it's probably still driven by price. We did see our units stay fairly flat per ticket overall, but we saw a little decrease in our designer deals on the unit numbers there. So I'm still going to say it's driven by price majority on that.
We do think there's opportunity to continue to maintain that and grow that with our design business as we want to try to grow that from being in that 17% range or so of customers that are participating and driving that upwards to the 25% or so that we think that will certainly will drive more of the average ticket will be a big contributor to that success.
Anthony Lebiedzinski
Got you. And then, Steve, you also mentioned in your remarks about just all the disruptions with the midterm elections, advertising and marketing spending. Can you perhaps give us some little bit more details as far as how disruptive you think this might have been? I mean October is typically not a seasonally strong month for furniture buying. But I mean, if you could just maybe kind of give us some color whether this was similar to the last election 2 years ago? Was it -- anything else you can add to that, that would be very helpful.
Steven Burdette
Yes. I'm not going to talk about October. So we're talking about Q3 on side of this. What we know so far, and it's still early, you know the political ads take precedence on any TV, and so you can get bumped with what you have. We have -- we saw that in the July 4 a little bit. We haven't gotten all the information for Labor Day yet on what happened there, but we suspect it was even more so or more prevalent during that time period as well.
But we will know that shortly in the next probably 30 to 45 days.
So as far as comparing it to 2024, I think this was very contentious. It was the biggest spend of any midterm ever. I think I heard a number of $12 billion was spent in advertising. I could be wrong, I heard that. So it definitely created -- I think there was a lot, as I talked about, a lot of anxiety, not just in the 5 states that make up 2/3 of our stores, but across the whole footprint. I mean there was anxiety.
You couldn't turn on an ad that you were hearing something -- and that doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on. There was just a lot of anxiety of what was going to happen. But as I said in my comments, it's over. And there is no questions, and we don't have to worry about it. It's not lingering. We're going to move forward, and I think our customers will as well.
Operator
Our next question is from Cristina Fernández with Telsey Advisory Group.
Cristina Fernandez
I wanted to follow up on this -- the last topic. You mentioned the midterms had an impact on your marketing expense and that it was down year-over-year. With the midterms behind now, do you plan to increase marketing expense in the fourth quarter? Or how are you thinking about using that as a lever to drive sales going forward?
Steven Burdette
Yes, Cristina, we've been pretty consistent with it all year. What we don't know is what didn't run. And that's the part I don't know in September. We get that after the fact and get credits back on that. So I'm covering with you what our expense was and what was planned.
What we are suspecting and what we've seen from July 4, that was more prevalent probably in Labor Day as the ads started ramping up that we were getting pushed out. So that's really kind of us thinking through it. I don't know it yet, but we're expecting that and all indications lead to that. So I can't quantify it.
Going forward, we're going to continue to push and promote. Obviously, we were -- as we look forward, we know the elections were only ramping up in October. That's behind us now. We've got Veterans Day and after Thanksgiving, we got moving into New Year's and after Christmas sales. So we will be back active and very aggressive to push through the remainder of Q4 and then head into 2027.
Cristina Fernandez
And on your prepared remarks, you cited a number of inflationary pressures. As you look ahead, are there any levers you can pull to offset these costs? Like, for example, do you plan to make changes in pricing, perhaps your delivery fees or change your financing offers? How are you looking at offsetting some of these costs to the extent you can?
Steven Burdette
Yes. I mentioned on the credit costs, we're looking to try to offset those by in the off promotional periods and looking at increasing the average ticket and where they can be used. And hopefully, that can lower that. LIFO costs are hitting us, and that's real. That's about material increases that are coming.
From those, we are making selective pricing changes, retail pricing changes, in order for us to maintain our margins and where we're going. And that would apply to also the bunker fuel. I hope the bunker fuel and diesel fuel increases will subside, but we've got to get this war behind us, I believe, before we're ever going to see that. And so that's kind of an unknown as to how long that's going to last at this point.
We are not entertaining right now any increases in delivery fees at this point to our customers as we move forward. So health insurance costs, I mean, those are coming at us and it will continue. Hopefully, we get a better performance going into next year, but that's just about the health of our team members and how well we're taking care of ourselves as we go forward.
Obviously, we're trying to promote that internally and make sure everybody is as healthy as they can be. So -- there's not a lot, as I told you, it's more difficult to leverage this, Cristina, on these costs as we go forward. We've got to produce volume to create the leverage on some of these ones that we're dealing with.
Cristina Fernandez
Yes. No, understood. And then lastly, just kind of big picture on your specific consumer. Up until recently, this consumer more affluent was in good health financially. Do you still feel like that's the case and the behavior you saw in the third quarter was a bit more temporary? Or how do you think this consumer is financially and their propensity to spend as you look at the next, let's say, 6 to 12 months?
Richard Hare
Cristina, just a couple of things on that. From what we're seeing from Synchrony who has the credit statistics on our consumers, about 1/3 of which use Synchrony to finance their product. We continue to see very strong approval rates, above 750 credit scores, almost 90% approval in stores.
So our consumer is holding up well. I just -- my personal opinion is there's some angst about the elections. That's behind us. The market is up today, which tells me the market thinks it's a good thing that all of it is behind us, and we're looking forward to the future.
I also want to just point out one other thing on G&A costs. About $2 million of the G&A cost increase related to accelerated vesting of stock awards, and that's just because certain individuals reach a certain age within the company. So that's more of a one-off. So all the increase is not permanent. At least $2 million of that is temporary and should not repeat itself in the near term.
Operator
We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Tiffany Hinkle for closing comments.
Tiffany Hinkle
Thank you for your participation in today's call. We look forward to talking to you in the future when we release our fourth quarter results. Have a great day, everyone.
Operator
This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
이 문서에는 사람이 검토한 AI 생성 콘텐츠 또는 AI 번역 콘텐츠가 포함될 수 있습니다. 이는 참고용 및 전반적인 정보를 제공용으로만 제공되며 투자 조언에 해당하지 않습니다.
추천 기사









코멘트 (0)
$ 버튼을 클릭하고, 종목 코드를 입력한 후 주식, ETF 또는 기타 티커를 연결합니다.