The dollar stores missed Wall Street earnings targets, and Dollar General cut its full-year sales forecast amid intense competition, as Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) was preparing to slash prices, and as Amazon.com (AMZN) continued to expand its online retail footprint.
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In the past three years, Big Lots has repositioned its business away from a heavy focus on closeout merchandise and toward “ownable/winnable categories” of merchandise that the retailer can offer at low prices, he said, including furniture, “soft” home and consumables. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock.
During trading before the bell on Friday, Big Lots shares traded up over 0.2%. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Big Lots from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, August 1st.
Earnings per share for the quarter, adjusted to exclude an after-tax expense associated with the retailer’s terminated legacy pension plans, rose from 41 cents per share previous year to 52 cents per share for the quarter ended July 30, a 27% gain and up significantly from the company’s guidance of 42-47 cents per diluted share.
MKM Partners reissued their buy rating on shares of Big Lots Inc. The stock now has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.45.
Following the news, the stock traded up by $0.11, or 0.21 percent, to $53.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.49.
In all for the quarter ended July 30, Big Lots reported a profit of $45 million, or 50 cents a share, up from $17.6 million, or 34 cents a share, a year prior. Big Lots paid a dividend for the quarter of 21 cents per share, which equaled over $9 million. Big Lots has a 1-year low of $33.78 and a 1-year high of $56.30. The company expects sales at stores open more than a year to be flat to up 2% vs. the same quarter a year earlier.
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Big Lots guided adjusted EPS for the third quarter to a range from a loss of $0.04 to a gain of $0.01.
