Burlington's Bold Beat: Q1 Earnings Outshine Amid Market Uncertainties

Burlington Stores BURL shares are trading higher after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter fiscal 2024 financial results.

Quarterly revenue grew 10.5% year-over-year to $2.361 billion, beating the consensus of $2.34 billion. Comparable store sales increased by 2%.

Adjusted EPS rose to $1.35 from $0.84 YoY, beating the consensus of $1.04.

Gross margin was 43.5% vs. 42.3% for the quarter, an increase of 120 basis points. At the end of the quarter, merchandise inventories were $1.141 billion vs. $1.231 billion last year.

Adjusted EBITDA stood at $211.36 million vs. $157.28 million last year, with the margin expanding 160 bps to 8.9%.

Adjusted SG&A was 27.1% of net sales vs. 26.5% a year ago, an increase of 60 bps.

The company ended the quarter with $1.521 billion in liquidity, comprised of $742 million in unrestricted cash and $779 million in availability on its ABL facility.

During the quarter, BURL repurchased 312,238 shares of its common stock for $63 million under its share repurchase program.

“The quarter got off to a slow start in February, likely due to disruptive weather and delayed tax refunds, but then our sales trend picked up. Comparable store sales increased 4% during the months of March and April combined. This resulted in a 2% comparable store sales increase for the quarter which was at the high end of our guidance range,” commented Michael O’Sullivan, CEO.

“Looking to the balance of 2024, we remain confident in the outlook for our business. Based on our first-quarter performance, we are increasing our margin and earnings guidance for the year. Nevertheless, there continues to be a lot of uncertainty in the external environment. It makes sense to be cautious, so we are maintaining our comparable stores sales guidance of 0% to 2% growth. We are ready to chase if the underlying sales trend is stronger,” added O’Sullivan.

Q2 Outlook: Burlington expects YoY sales growth of 9%- 11% and assumes comparable store sales to increase between 0% and 2%. The company sees adjusted EPS of $0.83-$0.93 versus the consensus of $0.91.

2024 Outlook, revised: Burlington expects sales growth of 8%- 10% (prior view 9% to 11%) and assumes comparable store sales will increase by 0% to 2% (unchanged).

The company now expects adjusted EPS of $7.35 to $7.75 (prior $7.00-$7.60) versus the $7.41 consensus.

Price Action: BURL shares are trading higher by 17.3% at $234.94 at the last check Thursday.

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