Shares of Tractor Supply Company TSCO rose more than 4 percent after the rural lifestyle retailer delivered a solid fourth-quarter beat with strong outlook.
Quarterly Print
The quarter was highlighted by a 3.1 percent comp (vs. consensus 1.9 percent) and EPS of $0.94 (vs. consensus $0.91), driven by cold weather conditions in December.
Further, the company guided to a positive comp in the first quarter and sees full-year 2017 largely in line with buy side expectations that embed improving comps but transitory margin pressure.
“While the company projected a bit less conviction in its current longterm mid-teens EPS growth algorithm guidance and hinted that the algorithm could be tweaked to low double-digit growth at its analyst day on February 21, we believe this level of growth in 2018 and beyond is achievable,” Wedbush analyst Seth Basham wrote in a note.
Rating And Justification
Basham, who reiterated his Outperform rating on the stock, pointed out to Tractor Supply’s 2017 comp guidance of 2-3 percent, which came in above consensus' 2.2 percent at the midpoint. The company sees EPS at $3.44–$3.52, in line with consensus’ $3.52 at the high end and about in line with buy side expectations.
Basham sees room for potential comp upside in the second half given normalized weather, slight easing of comparisons, improved big ticket spending and easing deflation.
At last check, shares of Tractor Supply grew 4.12 percent to $75.35. The analyst has a price target of $85.
Image Credit: By self - self, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.