Shares of Five Below (FIVE) are soaring more than 13% in premarket trading after the discount retailer announced a new CEO and raised its outlook for the year, noting "solid" Black Friday sales.
On Thursday, Five Below announced it had appointed Forever 21’s Winnie Park as its new CEO. The company had announced the sudden departure of its CEO Joel Anderson in July, while lowering its sales guidance. At the time, Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Bull took on the role on an interim basis.
“Our solid Black Friday weekend results were an encouraging start to the holiday season, though the highest volume selling days lie ahead.” Bull said. “In addition, this year we have five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is reflected in our outlook."
Investors cheered the company’s raised outlook.
Net sales for the year are expected to be in the range of $3.84 billion to $3.87 billion, assuming an around 3% drop in comparable sales. That compares with the forecast previously of $3.73 billion to $3.80 billion in net sales assuming an around 4% to 5.5% decrease in comparable sales.
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) is expected to be in the range of $4.78 to $4.96 versus the range of $4.35 to $4.71, previously.
Third-quarter results also beat estimates. Net sales of 843.7 million beat the $797.4 million estimates by analysts polled by Visible Alpha. The adjusted EPS of 42 cents also beat estimates of 16 cents each.
JPMorgan analysts noted that Five Below management had said in the earnings call that foot traffic at the stores had picked up from the middle of the second quarter, a "180 degree turn" versus the second quarter. The analysts raised their price target on the stock to $110 each from $83, but stuck with their underweight call.
Five Below shares have lost half their value this year.
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