“That said, we face our easiest sales and earnings comparisons in the fourth quarter and are raising our guidance, given our third quarter sales momentum and improved holiday assortments.”

In context

“t by a 75 basis point decrease in buying costs, mainly from lower incentives. Lastly, pressure from domestic freight expenses eased in the third quarter and improved 20 basis points as we anniversaried the freight headwinds that began in the second half of last year. SG&A for the period improved by 70 basis points as deleverage from the negative comparable sales was more than offset by lower incentives. During the third quarter, we repurchased 2.8 million shares of common stock for an aggregate cost of $244 million. We remain on track to buy back a total of $950 million in stock for the year. Now let's discuss our fourth quarter guidance. We continue to expect a very promotional holiday selling season and ongoing inflationary headwinds to pressure our low- to moderate-income customers. That said, we face our easiest sales and earnings comparisons in the fourth quarter and are raising our guidance, given our third quarter sales momentum and improved holiday assortments. For the 13 weeks ending January 28, 2023, we now expect comparable store sales to be flat to down 2% on top of a 9% gain in the prior year. As a result, earnings per share are forecasted to be in the range of $1.13 to $1.26. The operating statement assumptions that support our fourth quarter guidance include the following. Total sales are projected to be flat to up 3%. We expect operating margin to be in the range of 9.7% to 10.5% versus 9.8% last year. This mainly reflects the anniversarying of significant cost pressures from ocean freight and lower incentives, partially offset by the deleveraging effect from lower same-store sales, unfavorable timing of packaway-related costs and higher markdowns. Net interest income is estimated to be about $14 million. Our tax rate is expected to b”