Big Lots Inc (NYSE:BIG) stock rose Friday in premarket trade after the discount retailer posted fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street analysts' expectations.
For the quarter ended December 2018, the Columbus, Ohio-based retailer posted earnings of $2.68 per share. The consensus earnings estimate was $2.30 per share on revenue of $1.6 billion.
Shares of Big Lots climbed nearly 10.6% to $35.20 before the opening bell.
READ: Big Lots stock drops after retailer posts disappointing loss of $6.6M
The company said it expects first-quarter earnings of $0.65 to $0.75 per share and fiscal 2020 earnings of $3.55 to $3.75 per share. The current consensus earnings estimate is $0.88 per share for the quarter ending April 30, 2019, and $3.63 per share for the year ending January 31, 2020.
"After a slow start to the quarter, we experienced meaningful sales acceleration in December and January driving Q4 sales and earnings above the high end of our guidance,” said Big Lots CEO Bruce Thorn in a statement. “Our holiday plans were well executed and led to broad based growth across the majority of our merchandise categories and a comp store sales increase in excess of 3% for the second consecutive quarter.”
The retailer which sells food, furniture, home furnishings and electronics said it expects first-quarter same-store sales to rise in the low-single digits. Analysts are expecting an increase of 2.8%.
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