Kirkland's authorizes $30 million share repurchase

Kirkland’s Inc. KIRK, -5.77% announced a new $30 million share repurchase program on Thursday. The announcement comes after a holiday period in which the home retailer says a comparable sales decline of 6.4% was in line with expectations. Comparable sales fell 9.5% in November 2021 and were down 3.3% in December 2021. The company still expects a mid-single digit comparable sales increase for fiscal 2021. The FactSet consensus is for 15% growth. Fourth-quarter earnings are expected to be lower than the previous year due to sales declines and freight expenses, but the company expects full-year earnings growth of 50%. The FactSet consensus is for earnings per share of $1.22, implying 31.5% growth. Kirkland’s stock has tumbled 11.6% over the last 12 months compared with 25.4% growth for the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.94%.