Burlington Stores reversed lower Thursday after the off-price retailer posted a major earnings beat and hiked its outlook for the year.
Burlington reported a 98% increase in adjusted earnings to $1.24 per share, which handily beat FactSet views for 96 cents. Total sales rose 13% to $2.46 billion, also clearing estimates for $2.42 billion.
Comparable sales rose 5% to outpace expectations for 2.6% growth.
CEO Michael O'Sullivan said results even came in ahead of company estimates and Burlington remains confident in its outlook for the rest of fiscal 2024. However, he expects some incremental cost pressure from ocean freight. "That said, there are some risks, so we are planning our business cautiously," O'Sullivan added. "As we did during the second quarter, we will chase if the underlying sales trend is stronger."
In addition, Burlington maintained its comparable store sales guidance for 0% to 2% growth for the second half of the year as part of that cautious approach.
The company now expects total sales to increase 9% to 10% for 2024, up slightly from its previous forecast of 8% to 10% growth. Burlington sees its Adjusted EBIT margin rising by 50-to-70 basis points, with the range up 10 basis points from its Q1 outlook.
Burlington guided adjusted earnings for the year to range from $7.66 to $7.96 per share. Its prior outlook called for $7.35 to $7.75 per share.
For the third quarter, Burlington expects earnings to range from $1.45 to $1.55 per share adjusted on 10% to 12% sales growth. The outlook cleared FactSet views for earnings of $1.36 per share on 10.5% sales growth to $2.53 billion.
Burlington Stock
Burlington stock reversed to slide 2.1% Thursday. Shares jumped about 2.5% premarket.
BURL stock rallied more than 37% this year, continuing to trend higher as it holds support above its 50-day moving average.
Burlington is trading at its highest level since January 2022.
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