By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) stock traded 3% lower Wednesday after the discount retailer’s fourth quarter revenue fell short of estimates.
The company’s long-term vision and strategic outlook failed to reverse the losses.
President and CEO Joel Anderson said, the company is navigating a dynamic macro environment related to the lingering impacts of the pandemic.
Sales in the fourth quarter rose 16% to top $996 million. Comparable sales were up 3.4% compared to a time when stimulus check-loaded customers came flocking to stores. The company opened 17 new stores in the quarter and had 1,190 stores in 40 states as on January 29.
Net profit was up more than 13% and topped $140 million to beat estimates.
“We delivered sales growth in line with our expectations against the difficult comparison to last year's stimulus-fueled comparable sales increase of 13.8%, and despite the impact of weather in January. The strength was broad-based, with Sports, Candy, Seasonal and Style worlds outperforming,” Anderson said in a release.
Five Below expects 2022 net profit to be $306 million on net sales of $3.21 billion, both estimates at the center of the guidance range.
As part of its long-term vision, the company aims to double sales and more than double EPS by end of financial year 2025. It expects to have 1,000 new stores in that time.