“Our gross margin is expected to be approximately 33.4%, essentially flat compared to fiscal 2024.”

In context

“ending long-term debt and equity for the trailing 12 months, return on invested capital was 31.3%, down from 37.1% in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Now I will comment on our outlook for fiscal 2025. Excluding the unplanned FX rate pressure, our performance during the first quarter was inline with our expectations. The customer engagement we saw in the back half of 2024 continued into the first quarter and through the first two weeks of the second quarter. In addition, we are confident that we will be able to effectively navigate the environment as it stands today. As a result, we are reaffirming our fiscal 2025 guidance. We expect total sales growth to outpace sales comp with sales growth of approximately 2.8% and comp sales growth of approximately positive 1% compared to fiscal 2024. Our gross margin is expected to be approximately 33.4%, essentially flat compared to fiscal 2024. Further, we expect operating margin of approximately 13% and adjusted operating margin of approximately 13.4%. This primarily reflects natural de-leverage from sales and continued investments across the business as well as reflecting the mixed impact from the SRS acquisition. Our effective tax rate is targeted at approximately 24.5%. We expect net interest expense of approximately $2.2 billion. We expect our diluted earnings per share to decline approximately 3% compared to fiscal 2024 when comparing the 52 weeks in fiscal 2025 to the 53 weeks in fiscal 2024. And we expect our adjusted diluted earnings per share to decline approximately 2% compared to fiscal 2024. On a 52-week basis, adjusted diluted earnings per share would be essentially flat compared to fiscal 2024. We plan to continue”