Burlington Stores shares slide premarket as sales fall short amid weak consumer and inventory overhang

Burlington Stores Inc. shares BURL, -5.75% slid 9.6% in premarket trading Thursday, after the discount retailer missed second-quarter sales estimates amid a challenging macro background and offered guidance that was below consensus. The company posted net income of $12 million, or 18 cents a share, for the quarter, down from $103 million, or $1.50 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 35 cents, ahead of the 22 cent FactSet consensus. Sales fell 10% to $1.984 billion, below the $2.025 billion FactSet consensus. Same-store sales fell 17%, while FactSet expected a 14.3% decline. “There were two major external factors that contributed to this weak trend — firstly, lower-to-moderate income shoppers continue to face tremendous economic pressure driven by the higher cost of living, and secondly, a massive overhang of inventory across the retail industry has driven a huge surge in promotional activity at other retailers,” CEO Michael O’Sullivan said in a statement. The company is expecting those factors to persist into the second half and revised its guidance downward. It’s now expecting full-year same-store sales to be down 15% to 13%, compared with a FactSet consensus for a 9% decline. It expects adjusted EPS of $3.70 to $4.30, compared with a FactSet consensus of $5.71. The company expects to open 90 net new stores in 2022. Shares have fallen 44% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.86% has fallen 13%.