Discount retailer Big Lots Inc (NYSE:BIG) dropped Friday after reporting quarterly results that were worse than the company had expected.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company said in a press release that its net loss for the 13 weeks ended November 3 was $6.6 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, compared with net income of $4.4 million, or $0.10 per share, a year earlier.
READ: Shares of Big Lots plunge after fiscal 2Q earnings miss but same-store sales rise
The company had provided an expected range of a loss of $0.06 per diluted share to income of $0.04 per share.
Shares of Big Lots declined 18% to $33 in Friday’s New York Stock Exchange trading.
Same-store sales rose for a second consecutive quarter, advancing 3.4%, compared with the company’s guidance of an advance of 2% to 4%.
Net sales rose to $1.15 billion, up 3.6% from $1.11 billion a year earlier.
"We were pleased to achieve our second consecutive quarter of positive comps, but our bottom-line results fell short of our expectations,” CEO Bruce Thorn said in a statement. “While we expect near-term results to be challenging this holiday season, we have a strong brand, great people, and we are working swiftly to enhance our current strategy.”
--This story has been updated to give the latest stock prices. An earlier version was corrected to say billions instead of millions for net sales--
Contact Dennis Fitzgerald at dennis@proactiveinvestors.com