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PetSmart's fourth quarter results top Street estimates

Last updated: 19:21 01 Mar 2011 GMT, First published: 20:21 01 Mar 2011 GMT

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PetSmart's (NASDAQ:PETM) fourth quarter results beat analyst expectations on Tuesday, as profits rose 20% on strong holiday sales performance and more customer transactions.

The company's fourth quarter results were accidentally posted on its website on Monday evening - two days earlier than planned, sending its stock up by 5% in after hours trading yesterday. The results were only available for a brief period, PetSmart said.

Today, PetSmart decided to release its fourth quarter and full year results a day earlier "to assure full public dissemination of this information". The mistake, the company said, was on account of human error from Thomson Reuters, PetSmart's investor relations services provider. The results were originally scheduled to be sent out after markets closed on March 2nd.

Investors are now seemingly not taking significant note of the figures, with the company's stock price down more than 1% on Tuesday afternoon to $40.39, after hitting a high of $42.06 last night.

For the quarter ending January 30, 2011, the company reported net income of $90.28 million, or $0.77 per share, compared to profits of $75.03 million, or $0.61 per share, a year earlier.

Total sales rose 8% year-over-year to $1.52 billion during the period. Analysts expected earnings of $0.74 per share on sales of $1.51 billion.

Comparable store sales, or sales for stores open at least a year, grew 6.3%, benefitting from comparable transactions growth of 4.4%.

For the full year 2010, the company delivered earnings per share of $2.01, up 26% from 2009, on sales of $5.7 billion.

Looking ahead, PetSmart said it anticipates earnings per share between $2.23 to $2.35 in 2011, and total sales growth in the mid-single digits range. Analysts had predicted earnings of $1.99 per share for this year and year-over-year sales growth of 7%.

PetSmart, a company that sells products and services for pets, operates more than 1,187 stores in the US and Canada. The company also offers pet training, grooming, boarding, and other services. At year-end, it had $353 million in cash and equivalents.

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