Big Lots Reports Record Comp-Store Sales Growth For Q2

Home goods retailer Big Lots reported record comparable-store sales increases and “strong” online revenues for its fiscal second quarter (Q2) on Friday (Aug. 28), helping the company reach its highest adjusted earnings per share for any Q2 in its history. 

“I am delighted with our record-breaking results in Q2,” President and CEO Bruce Thorn said in a statement releasing the results. “Our comp increase was the best in the company's history, and adjusted EPS was the most we’ve reported in a second quarter, and more than five times what we reported a year ago. Comp sales were driven by strong results both in-store, where traffic and basket were each up double digits, and online, which drove almost five comp points, and where we acquired more new customers than in any prior quarter.”

Big Lots said it recorded a 31 percent increase in comparable sales, along with sales growth from new and relocated non-comp stores. The company said that offset a slightly lower store count compared to the same quarter one year ago. 

All told, Big Lots earned $452 million ($11.29 per diluted share) on $1.64 billion of net sales. That's way up from the $6.2 million (16 cents per diluted share) on $1.25 billion of sales that the chain reported for the same period in 2019. 

Big Lots also announced a 30-cent-per-share dividend and a $500 million stock buyback.

Still, the results disappointed Wall Street, and Big Lots stock tanked on Friday. Shares fell nearly 6 percent shortly before/after 10:30 a.m. ET on the New York Stock Exchange.