BJ's Wholesale beat profit expectations, but misses on sales and lowers guidance

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. reported Thursday a fiscal third-quarter profit that beat expectations, but revenue and same-store sales that missed, and lowered its full-year outlook. The membership-based warehouse retailer said net income for the quarter to Nov. 3 rose to $55.1 million, or 40 cents a share, from $54.4 million, or 39 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 41 cents from 39 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 40 cents. Total revenue increased 0.2% to $3.23 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $3.30 billion, as net sales rose 0.1% to $3.15 billion and membership fee income grew 7.1% to $76.5 million. Same-store sales increased 1.1%, missing the FactSet consensus of 2.0% growth. For 2019, BJ's lowered its sales outlook to "approximately" $12.9 billion from $12.9 billion to $13.2 billion and cut its same-store sales growth guidance to 1.3% to 1.5% from 1.5% to 2.5%, while narrowing its EPS outlook to $1.44 to $1.48 from $1.42 to $1.50. Separately, the company set a $250 million stock repurchase program, expiring January 2022. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trading, has run up 15% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has gained 6.3%.

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