Brandon Dietz Profile picture
Mar 12, 2022 18 tweets 6 min read Read on X
1/ Floor & Décor (FND)
Looking forward to the $FND analyst day on Wed 3/16. $FND, is a high-quality business compounding LT over 20%/yr. Shares are off -36% from 11/21 and I’m currently re-underwriting $FND for my portfolio. This thread discusses key items around the $FND model. Image
2/Overview
$FND is a specialty retailer that operates 160 large (~75k sq/ft) warehouse stores across 33 states selling tile, stone, wood, laminate, vinyl and other flooring products. Generated $3.4bln in ’21 revenue, $485mln in EBITDA (14.1% margin) and has a ~$10bln mkt cap
3/Comp Advantage [1]
$FND primarily competes vs. home improvement centers ( $HD, $LOW, #Menards), specialty flooring ( $TTS), and local independents/mom & pops.

$FND has:
(1) larger box at ~75k sq/ft vs. $HD/ $LOW 3k-5k sq/ft flooring dept. and specialty/indep <20k avg. box
4/Comp Advantage [2]
(2) superior product breadth/depth and availability - $FND has >4k total SKU’s, many multiples of peers who have more limited assortments and lower store/regional level in stock quantities Image
5/Comp Advantage [3]
(3) scale - $FND regional DC’s, direct sourcing, and large size gives it superior economies of scale/purchasing scale
(4) low prices – $FND cuts out middlemen and intermediaries, goes direct to suppliers and passes through large cost savings to customers Image
6/Unit Growth
$FND has grown its store base consistently at ~20%/yr. over ’13-’21 (except ’20- Covid) from 39 to 160 stores. Has an 8-10yr target of 500 stores (up from 400) by ‘29-‘31. Plans to grow units 20% in ’22 and at ~20%/yr. for the next “several years”. Image
7/Market Share Gains
$FND's superior scale, low prices, and ~20%/yr. unit growth is driving strong market share gains. $FND share has increased ~4x over '12-'21 from ~2% to ~8% as revenue grew ~30%/yr. ('12-'21), 3-5x industry growth.
8/Maturation
5yr new store maturation cycle. Go from $15mln of sales in yr1 to $26mln in yr5. MSD mature comps. Store EBITDA margins ramp from 17% in yr1 to 25% in yr5. With $9mln in initial investment, $FND achieves a 2.5yr pre-tax payback with 50% cash on cash returns by yr3 Image
9/Comp Waterfall
$FND store maturation drives consistent strength in same store sales. New stores ramping from yr1-yr5 sales of $15mln to $26mln equates to a 15%/yr CAGR for new stores. Over ’13-’21 realized on a consolidated basis ~15%/yr in avg quarterly same store sales comps Image
10/Vintages
$FND store base still has >50% of stores <5yrs old. 20%-unit growth constantly replenishes stores reaching maturity (5yr) allowing for a stable mix of mature vs. new stores. This allows $FND to sustain its comp waterfall drop through to consolidated same store sales Image
11/Mature
Mature stores have 25% EBITDA store level margins. $FND has 2.5%/sales in other supply chain costs and 4% in corp exp. Foots to 18.5% mature margins. Less 3% in D&A equals 15% op margins. vs. ’21 EBITDA margins of 14% & op margins of 10% $FND has large LT margin upside Image
12/Self-Funding
CFO largely covers required CAPEX to sustain 20%-unit growth. $FND on avg spends 3% on maint CAPEX and 6-9% on new stores. Sums to 10-13% CAPEX/sales vs. 12-13% CFO margins (12% ’21,13% ’22e). CAPEX/sales is increasing via shift to more owned vs. leased stores Image
13/ROIC
$FND has solid pre-tax lease adj (22% ’21) and non-lease adj (27% ’21) #ROIC’s with after-tax lease adj (17% ‘21) and non-lease adj (21% ’21) #ROIC. These are diluted by new stores. At maturity pre-tax lease adj. (28%) and non-lease adj. (38%) ROIC would be 5-11% higher
14/Growth Algorithm
Effectively $FND can recycle ~100% of CFO back into the business at well over >20% ROIC’s. $FND’s guided growth algorithm is 20%/yr. unit growth (over the next “several yrs”) + op leverage = ~25%/yr. profit growth (on a 3yr CAGR basis).
15/ Management
At the helm of $FND is CEO Tom Taylor who is an ex $HD alumni. Tom worked at $HD since he was 16 and worked his way up over a 23yr career to eventually serve as EVP of ops and merchandising for 2,200 stores. Left for PE in 2006 and joined $FND in 2012.
16/Supply Chain (SC)
Global SC constraints negatively impacted $FND gross margins in 2H’21 which declined -124bps in ’21 (Q3’21 -135bps, Q4’21 -372bps). Mgmt. expects continued pressure into 1H’21 (guide -331bps Q1’22) with gross margins exiting ’22 at ~41% (’21 41.4%).
17/Valuation
$FND shares have declined -36% off Nov/’21 highs on both supply chain issues and the current Russia/Ukraine conflict. $FND now trades at ~16x NTM EBITDA (~27x in Nov/21) with multiples back to pre-covid levels seen in ’18-’19. Image
18/End
Overall, $FND is a high-quality business with a long growth runway. Near term supply chain, geopolitical, and recession concerns have weighted on $FND shares. More to follow after $FND’s investor day.

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More from @EquiCompound

Dec 1, 2023
Investors in $FND should keep close tabs on store openings…

Due to a flurry of openings so far this qtr (+8), $FND is now at +25 new stores YTD vs. 2023 guidance for +32 new stores Image
Recall - $FND exited Q3 at +17 new stores, and has opened +8 additional stores since

+4 in October & +4 in November

$FND cadence needs to step up to another +7 new stores this month to reach FY guidance (+32)
This is a pretty formidable target, but not quite unprecedented - $FND succesfully opened +6 new stores in April & November last year Image
Read 9 tweets
Aug 28, 2023
Stuffed in the footnotes of their 10-K’s, some may not know that $HD & $LOW actually report their flooring department sales annually…

While their fiscal yr ends do lag $FND by a month, we can still derive good insights from their results

A few highlights… Image
$FND has massively outperformed $HD & $LOW since 2013…

Using 2013 as a base, $FND sales are up a cumulative +861%, around ~14x $HD (+62%) and $LOW's (+58%) flooring department growth
Image
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The bulk of $FND’s outperformance is due to new store growth, as $FND's store base is up nearly 5x from '13 (39) to '22 (191)

Even still, looking at total same store sales growth since '13, $FND's +206% comp growth crushed $HD (+62%) & $LOW (+58%), with nearly ~4x faster growth
Image
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Read 7 tweets
Aug 14, 2023
$DHR was the first company I came across that had a “business system” – a structured operating framework used to drive continuous growth & improvement

Many other companies have similar systems in place

Often these have proved to be exceptional businesses

Here’s 10 I've found Image
First up is Fortive $FTV

$DHR's framework unsurprisingly extended to its spun-off industrial business, which has a similar system – the “Fortive Business System”
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Novanta $NOVT – a ~10x bagger since 2016 – leverages its Novanta Growth System

$NOVT is a mfg of a wide suite of high precision lasers, sensors, robotics, motion control & other subsystem components used in advanced industrial & medical product applications Image
Read 11 tweets
Aug 1, 2023
$TREX is up +7% today on Q2 results which showed surprising resilience…in contrast to other outdoor living category players like $POOL...

$TREX's better than expected results have a positive read through for names like $FND $SITE $HD & $LOW

My key notes... Image
$TREX saw revenues decline just -5% (adj), well ahead of street & prior guidance for a -15-16% (adj) decline

Key driver was more resilient consumer demand for composite decking as $TREX saw +MSD growth in channel sell through, leading to higher channel sell in for $TREX Image
Q2 results are also a notable improvement vs. Q1 which saw a -MSD decline in sell through & a -27% decline in $TREX revenues
Read 17 tweets
Jul 31, 2023
$MHK Q2 earnings had some important read through for $FND $HD $LOW & peers

While last qtr mgmt had encouraging comments around a potential bottom in flooring, this qtr mgmt noted they still have yet to see a trough form but remain "hopeful" volumes are near a bottom

Some notes Image
Investors in $FND should keep close tabs on $MHK as it is…

1) the largest flooring manufacturer (~21% share)
2) $MHK's NA Flooring y/y results have very high correlation (~90%) with $FND total sales and SSS comp sales

Image
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While $MHK total sales posted a similar decline to last qtr. (Q2 -6.4% vs. Q1 -6.9%), NA Flooring softened a bit further, going from down -11.1% in Q1 to a -12.1% this qtr.

Unlike last qtr., further deceleration was despite much easier comps (10.6% to 1.7%)…
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Read 11 tweets
Jun 12, 2023
If you own $FND, or home improvement names like $HD or $LOW, Floor Covering Weekly is an excellent resource for industry data on the flooring industry

FCW recently put out its 2023 Top 50 Retailers report which had some great data points

Some key notes

floorcoveringweekly.com/main/research Image
First, the report title is a bit of a misnomer...

FCW reports est. sales & locations for the top 50, but also data on other retailer types – product specialists, direct sellers, home centers, etc

All in ~78 of the largest flooring retailers are covered Image
Takeaways…

$FND remains the 3rd largest retailer

While still ~1/2 $HD in size, $FND is within striking distance of eclipsing $LOW who is just ~15% larger

$FND is likely to surpass $LOW in ’24 based on ’23 guidance (+10%) Image
Read 14 tweets

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