Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:TSCO)
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO), a national rural lifestyle retail stores company yesterday reported their first quarter 2017 financial results.
Tractor reported first quarter earnings in between $0.45 and $0.46 per share which fell short of analyst expectations of $0.53 per share. Tractor reported first quarter revenues of $1.56 billion which fell short of analyst expectations of $1.57 billion.
Tractor Supply Company CEO’s Comments
Greg Sandfort, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Weather can influence the demand for certain products, and while we had a challenging quarter with respect to sales and margin, our business is more accurately assessed by the halves, not the quarters. We believe seasonal merchandise sales will improve as we move further into the spring selling season.”
Mr. Sandfort continued, “We have a solid core business that is focused on a dedicated lifestyle customer who depends upon us for the products they need. Despite the challenging start to the fiscal year, we believe there is significant business ahead of us. We are excited about our upcoming merchandise initiatives and the continued execution of our cross-channel, customer centric growth strategy, which includes the recent expansion of Neighbor’s Club and Buy Online Pick Up In Store.” Market Wired
TSCO Technical Analysis
TSCO opened trading yesterday at $70.17 which was down from the previous day’s trading close of $70.17. TSCO closed trading yesterday at $70.47 and spiked down after market to $68.03, equivalent to a 3% decrease from the closing price. Taking a look at the daily chart we can see that the last time TSCO traded above these levels we have to go back to March 28th when it traded at $67.97.
Taking a closer look at the daily chart we can see that before the spike down TSCO had already been in an overall downward trend dating back to January 17th when it traded at $77.36. TSCO has a float of 130.16 million shares and traded below the normal daily trading volume on Tuesday.
For trading purposes, I would like to see TSCO open trading on Wednesday below $68.85 and if it does I would be looking to take a short position at the bell. My stop loss would be $0.20 from my entry position fearing anything more than that and the stock would start to fill in the gap down.
Company Profile
Tractor Supply Company operates rural lifestyle retail stores in the United States. The company offers a selection of merchandise, including equine, livestock, pet, and small animal products necessary for their health, care, growth, and containment; hardware, truck, towing, and tool products; seasonal products, such as heating products, lawn and garden items, power equipment, gifts, and toys; work/recreational clothing and footwear; and maintenance products for agricultural and rural use.
As of January 26, 2017, it operated 1,600 retail stores in 49 states. The company operates its retail stores under the Tractor Supply Company, Del’s Feed & Farm Supply, and Petsense names. It also operates an e-commerce Website, TractorSupply.com.
The company sells its products to recreational farmers, ranchers, and others, as well as tradesmen and small businesses. Tractor Supply Company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.