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Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) is trading higher today after reporting its Q1 (Jun) results last night. This western apparel and boot company bounced back nicely following a miss in Q4 (Mar) to report its largest EPS over the last year. Revenue increased a healthy 19.1% to $504 mln, which was above analyst expectations. Additionally, the company issued upside revenue guidance for Q2 (Sep). What tells us management is confident going forward is it raised its FY26 revenue guidance to $2.10-2.18 bln, following downside guidance last quarter at $2.07-2.15 bln.

• From a merchandising perspective, BOOT saw broad-based growth across all categories, led by its ladies' Western boots and apparel businesses, which comped in the positive mid-teens. Its men's Western boots and apparel business comped in the positive high single digits. On a consolidated level, same store sales grew a healthy +9.4%, a nice acceleration from +6.0% in Q4.
• Its denim business was particularly strong in the quarter, with comps in the positive high teens. Despite the strong comps in many of its merchandising categories, management felt that denim was worth calling out, as it is a standout category for the company and states that the company is "going to be a denim destination."
• We saw similar denim strength from peer Levi Strauss (LEVI) when it reported its Q2 (May) results earlier in July. LEVI reported high single digit comps and upside results for Q2. Importantly, the two companies share a higher price point, so the robust comp growth is an encouraging sign to investors despite lower consumer confidence.
• In terms of tariffs, its pricing strategy remains consistent with the previous quarter. It has seen price increases from vendors, which is reflected in the new MSRP of its apparel. For its exclusive brands, BOOT is holding off on price increases to gauge price elasticity. With that said, it provided some nice color for the start of Q2, noting that it continues to see strength across its categories. Same store sales increased +11.7% in the month of July.

Overall, BOOT's start to FY26 was encouraging with nice upside results and raised FY26 revenue guidance. While its results were driven by strength in all its merchandising categories, its denim category was a particular standout. Given its higher price point, it is nice to see the robust growth in comp sales, which is similar to what we saw with LEVI. The company deserves credit for performing well despite the lower consumer confidence.