Leslie's Stock Is Sinking Thursday: What's Going On?

Leslie’s Inc LESL shares are trading lower Thursday after the company reported preliminary financial results for the third quarter and cut its full-year guidance. Multiple analysts also lowered price targets on the stock Thursday morning.

What To Know: Leslie's announced it now expects third-quarter revenue of approximately $570 million versus estimates of $615.407 million. The pool supply company anticipates third-quarter adjusted earnings of 32 cents to 33 cents per share versus Benzinga Pro estimates of 42 cents per share.

"The cold and wet spring weather we experienced during the fiscal second quarter extended through May, reducing the number of pool days in non-seasonal markets and delaying the start of pool season in seasonal markets," said Mike Egeck, CEO of Leslie's.

"We also continued to see weakness in large ticket discretionary categories as persistent inflation and high interest rates pressure pool owners' wallets."

Leslie's also cut its full-year 2024 revenue guidance from a range of $1.141 billion to $1.47 billion to a new range of $1.321 billion to $1.347 billion. The company slashed its adjusted earnings forecast from a range of 25 cents to 33 cents per share to a new range of 3 cents to 9 cents per share. 

"We experienced improved sales trends in June, but the April and May revenue impact created negative operating leverage and gross margin headwinds. While we are encouraged by improved June trends, our revised full-year outlook at the midpoint assumes third-quarter sales performance continues through the fourth quarter," Egeck said.

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Analyst Changes:

• BofA Securities analyst Elizabeth Suzuki maintained Leslies with a Buy and lowered the price target from $6.4 to $5.15.

• Piper Sandler analyst Peter Keith maintained Leslies with a Neutral and lowered the price target from $6 to $3.

• Telsey Advisory Group analyst Dana Telsey maintained Leslies with a Market Perform and lowered the price target from $6 to $4.

Leslie's is scheduled to report full financial results for the second quarter on Aug. 7. Management will further discuss the quarter on a conference call slated for 4:30 p.m. that day.

LESL Price Action: Leslie's shares were down 20.1% at $3.26 Thursday morning, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Markus Spiske from Pixabay.