Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG) announced stronger adjusted earnings for the second quarter, mainly due to decrease in costs and a surge in same-store sales. The company also raised its outlook for the full year.
The United States-based discount retailer acquires a range of products discounted due to production overruns, liquidations and packaging changes and sells it at considerably lower costs as compared to traditional discount vendors.
Big Lots said that its same-store sales rose 2.8 percent, helped by rise in furniture sales and the installation of freezers and coolers to store items. The increase in same-store sales marks the sixth consecutive quarter of growth for the company. Few days ago, Dollar General Corp. also announced a rise of 2.8 percent in the current store sales, citing improving job market and lower gasoline prices.
Chief Executive Officer at Big Lots, David Campisi said that the increase came in spite of unusual weather. Campisi also underlined the improvement in marketing and merchandising. Campisi said during a call with analysts that same-store sales growth streak is the best in approx. eight years.
On overall basis, Big Lots announced earnings of $17.6 million, or 34 cents per share for the quarter, below $19.9 million, or 36 cents per share, one year ago. Adjusted profit jumped to 40 cents per share from 31 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.21 billion, up 1.2 percent from last year, and surpassed consensus forecast of $1.2 billion in revenue.
Looking forward, the company is anticipating earnings in the range of $2.90 per share to $3.00 per share for the full year, up from its previous range in between $2.80 per share to $2.90 per share. Big Lots confirmed that same-store sales will increase in the low single digits. According to FactSet, analysts had estimated earnings of $2.86 per share and same-store sales growth of 2.2 percent for this year.