Burlington Stores Gives Upbeat Annual Profit Guidance As Q2 Print Beats Investing.com Estimates

Shares of Burlington Stores (NYSE: ) rose Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter and provided upbeat guidance.

The company reported Q2 earnings per share (EPS) of $1.20, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.95. Revenue came in at $2.46 billion in the quarter, also above the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion.

Burlington’s gross margin rose to 42.8% in Q2, up from 41.7% in the year-ago period and above the 42.5% expected by analysts.

“We are satisfied with the results of the second quarter. Comparable store sales increased 5%, while total sales increased 13%. Both figures were well above our expectations,” said Michael O’Sullivan, CEO of Burlington Stores.

Shares of BURL rose about 3% in premarket trading on Thursday.

“We saw very strong margin improvement and earnings growth in the second quarter,” continued O’Sullivan.

“This strong performance was driven by sales ahead of plan, as well as significant gross margin growth and faster-than-expected progress on our supply chain efficiency initiatives.”

For the full fiscal year 2024, Burlington Stores expects EPS in the range of $7.66 to $7.96, compared to the consensus of $7.69.

The company anticipates total sales growth of 9% to 10%, following growth of 10% for the 52 weeks ending January 27, 2024. This projection assumes that comparable store sales will increase 2% to 3 %, based on growth of 4% for the previous year.

Burlington also plans to open approximately 100 new stores and expects adjusted EBIT margin to improve 50 to 70 basis points compared to the prior 52-week period.

For Q3 2024, the company forecasts EPS between $1.45 and $1.55, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36.

It projects total sales growth of 10% to 12%, with comparable store sales expected to increase 0% to 2% from Q3 2023, while analysts were expecting a 2.27% increase.

Adjusted EBIT margin is expected to increase 60 to 80 basis points compared to the same quarter last year.