BJ's Wholesale Club, the Marlborough, Mass.-based membership retail chain, blew past Q3 earnings targets early Thursday, as well as tightening its fourth quarter guidance and announcing a $5 membership increase. BJ stock bolted higher in premarket trade, but pared those gains sharply once the market opened.
BJ's Wholesale reported adjusted earnings of $1.18 per share, a 20% gain and well above views for a 5% slip to 93 cents. Revenue was $5.1 billion, a 4% gain and just shy of the $5.11 billion consensus target.
The company reported strong traffic to its stores and "robust" membership growth, reaching 7.5 million members. Management projected comparable store sales growth of between 2.5% and 3% for Q4, vs. a 3.8% gain in the third quarter. These numbers exclude gasoline sales.
BJ's guided fourth quarter earnings expectations to a range of 78 cents to 88 cents per share. Consensus views going into the report called for 97 cents. That tightened the range for full-year earnings to between $3.90 and $4, with the consensus target at $3.85.
The company board approved a $1 billion share buyback.
BJ's Wholesale Stock In Breakout Zone
BJ's stock had spent essentially all of 2023 in consolidations. Climbing out of that trough early this year it has logged a year-to-date gain of 28.5%.
That gain included a four-month cup-with-handle base, which it broke out of on the day following the U.S. presidential election. A pullback stopped at 5% below the buy point, avoiding the automatic stop-loss rule.
Shares rallied more than 7% in premarket trade on Thursday. After the open, the stock held its gains to around 1%, well short of the handle's 88.79 entry.
