Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE: BURL) rose in early Wednesday trading after the company posted better-than-expected Q3 results.
Total sales for the 13-week period ended November 3, 2018 increased 13.7% over the quarter ended October 28, 2017 to $1,634 million. New and non-comparable stores contributed an incremental $128 million in sales during the quarter. Comparable store sales increased 4.4% for the quarter, on top of last year’s 3.1% comparable store sales increase.
Net income increased 71% over the prior year period to $77 million, or $1.12 per diluted share vs. $0.65 last year. Adjusted net Income increased 70% to $83 million, or $1.21 per diluted share, vs. $0.70 last year.
Gross margin expanded by approximately 20 basis points over last year’s levels to 42.4%, on top of a 100-basis-point increase in the prior year. A 40-basis-point increase in merchandise margin more than offset a negative 20 basis point impact from higher freight costs.
Product sourcing costs, which are included in selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A), were approximately 20 basis points higher vs. the Fiscal 2017 third quarter.
For the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2018 (ending February 2, 2019), the Company expects: Total sales is expected to increase in the range of 8% to 9%.
Adjusted EPS were in the range of $2.71 to $2.75, which assumes a fully diluted share count of approximately 68.5 million shares, as compared to $2.14 last year.
Burlington shares got lift of $9.02, or 6.1%, to $157.58 Wednesday morning.
