Shares of Burlington Stores Inc. (BURL, Financial) gained more than 6% after reporting first-quarter earnings per share of $1.26 on revenue of $1.52 billion. The company managed to beat revenue expectations by $30 million and earnings estimates by 17 cents.
The gross margin reached 41.2% due to an increase of the merchandise margin, which was slightly offset by higher freight costs.
Further, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 21%, or $28 million, from the prior-year period to $165 million. The expansion was due to the expense leverage and gross margin expansion.
“We are very pleased to kick off Fiscal 2018 with strong first quarter results, driven by a 4.8% comparable store sales increase," CEO Tom Kingsbury said. "Our overall 12.8% sales growth, along with our 70 basis point Adjusted EBITDA margin improvement, enabled the Company to drive a 59% increase in Adjusted EPS in the first quarter, well ahead of our guidance. I would like to thank our store, supply chain and corporate teams for contributing to these strong results.”
Looking ahead, the company expects total sales to increase between 9.7% and 10.5% and the adjusted EBITDAĂ‚ margin to increase 30 to 40 basis points.
On the other hand, Sears Holdings Corp.'s (SHLD, Financial) stock sank on the heels of the company reporting its financial results for the first quarter. The company posted a loss of $3.93 per share. Revenue of $2.89 billion decreased 31.2% from the prior-year quarter.
Dollar General Corp. (DG, Financial) plummeted more than 8% after reporting first-quarter earnings per share of $1.36 on $6.11 billion in revenue. The company fell four cents short of earnings estimates and $90 million short of revenue expectations.
Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 30.5%, up from 30.3% in the first quarter of 2017 as a result of higher initial markups on inventory purchases and an improved rate of inventory shrink.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stocks mentioned.
