Big Lots Inc shares surged 30% to $8.14 in late-morning trading on Tuesday after the furniture and home decor retailer saw its second-quarter 2023 adjusted loss per share widen to $3.24 from a deficit of $2.28 a year earlier, but better than the $4.11 consensus analyst forecast.
The company’s net sales for the period, meanwhile, fell 15% year over year to $1.14 billion, but exceeded expectations of $1.1 billion.
"On the cost reduction and productivity front, we are well on track to achieve our structural SG&A savings goal of over $100 million in 2023," Big Lots CEO Bruce Thorn said in a statement.
"In addition, we have a clear path to over $200 million of additional bottom-line opportunities across gross margin and SG&A, and we expect a high proportion of these benefits to be realized on a run-rate basis by the end of 2024," he added.
Thorn also noted that the company remains in a “very challenging environment”, in which its core lower-income customer remains under significant pressure and has limited capacity for higher-ticket discretionary purchases.
As well, Big Lots saw its comparable sales for the period decline by a better-than-expected 14.6%.
Shares of Big Lots have fallen 45% year to date.
Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com