Big Lots, Inc. said on Wednesday (Jan. 13) that it had experienced a roughly 7.5 percent comparable sales rise on a quarter-to-date basis, showing double-digit comps in all categories of products besides seasonal, which dropped by a mid-teen percentage, and food, which increased by a low single-digit percentage, according to an announcement.
“This has been a hard-fought quarter that posed some challenges including softer-than-planned traffic in December, low levels of Christmas seasonal inventory, and extraordinary supply chain circumstances created by Covid-19. Despite these headwinds, our underlying performance has remained strong and we are pleased with the improvement in sales trends we are seeing in January,” Big Lots President and CEO Bruce Thorn said in the announcement.
The off-price retailer anticipates diluted earnings per share (EPS) to be between $2.40 and $2.50 for Q4 fiscal 2020 compared to diluted EPS of $2.39 for the comparable quarter last year. It noted that the guidance keeps factoring in a gross margin rate that is roughly the same as last year, with advantages from lower markdowns offset by negative freight impact.
In addition, guidance factors in a rise in operating expenses by roughly the same dollar amount as Q3 fiscal 2020. Moreover, the guidance includes the repurchase of roughly 1.2 million shares on a quarter-to-date basis at a $45.41 per share average cost for roughly $55.7 million overall. Big Lots has roughly $344 million left with a $500 million share repurchase authorization that its board green lighted in August of last year.
Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots runs more than 1,400 retail locations in 47 states, according to the announcement.
The news comes as Big Lots reported a Q3 profit of $29.9 million on $1.38 billion in sales. “We registered our strongest ever third-quarter sales comp and, by way of continued strategic management of our business and tight control of expenses, we delivered our highest ever adjusted EPS in a third quarter,” Thorn said in a statement at the time.