INTRODUCTION
General
This report contains references to years 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016, which represent fiscal years ending or ended January 28, 2022, January 29, 2021, January 31, 2020, February 1, 2019, February 2, 2018, and February 3, 2017, respectively. Our fiscal year ends on the Friday closest to January 31. Our 2016 fiscal year consisted of 53 weeks, while each of the remaining years listed consists of 52 weeks. All of the discussion and analysis in this report should be read with, and is qualified in its entirety by, the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes.
Solely for convenience, our trademarks and tradenames may appear in this report without the ® or TM symbol which is not intended to indicate that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the right to these trademarks and tradenames.
Cautionary Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
We include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws throughout this report, particularly under the headings “Business,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Note 7 – Commitments and Contingencies,” among others. You can identify these statements because they are not limited to historical fact or they use words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “would,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “project,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “goal,” “seek,” “ensure,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “intend,” “predict,” “committed,” “likely,” “continue,” “strive,” “aim,” “scheduled,” “focused on,” or “subject to” and similar expressions that concern our strategies, plans, initiatives, intentions or beliefs about future occurrences or results. For example, all statements relating to, among others, our estimated and projected expenditures, cash flows, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity; our plans and objectives for, and expectations regarding, future operations, economic and competitive market conditions, growth or initiatives, including but not limited to the number of planned store openings, remodels and relocations, store formats or concepts, progress of merchandising, digital and other initiatives, trends in sales of consumable and non-consumable products, customer traffic and basket size, and level of future costs and expenses; potential future stock repurchases and cash dividends; anticipated borrowing under our unsecured revolving credit agreement and commercial paper program; potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; potential impact of legal or regulatory changes and our responses thereto, including the potential increase of federal, state and/or local minimum wage rates or potential changes to the corporate tax rate; efforts to improve distribution and transportation efficiencies, including self-distribution; efforts to improve our in-stock position, customer convenience proposition and store labor productivity; or expected outcome or effect of pending or threatened legal disputes, litigation or audits are forward-looking statements.
All forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those which we expected. Many of these statements are derived from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based on many detailed assumptions that we believe are reasonable. However, it is very difficult to predict the effect of known factors, and we cannot anticipate all factors that could affect future results.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements are disclosed under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A and elsewhere in this document (including, without limitation, in conjunction with the forward-looking statements themselves and under the heading “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates”). All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by these and other cautionary statements that we make from time to time in our other SEC filings and public communications. You should evaluate forward-looking statements in the context of these risks and uncertainties and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. These factors may not contain all of the factors that are important to you. We cannot assure you that we will realize the results or developments we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences or affect us or our operations in the way we expect. Forward-looking statements in this report are made only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation, and specifically disclaim any duty, to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.