Back to top

Image: Shutterstock

The Children's Place (PLCE) to Post Q4 Earnings: Things to Note

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Children's Place, Inc. (PLCE - Free Report) is likely to witness an increase in the top line when it reports fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 numbers on Mar 9, before the market opens. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $538.2 million, suggesting an improvement of 13.8% from the prior-year reported figure.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings has been stable at $3.12 over the past 30 days. It suggests a sharp increase from earnings of $1.01 reported in the year-ago period. This children's specialty apparel retailer’s bottom line has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a wide margin in the trailing four quarters.

Key Factors to Note

The Children's Place’s focus on a superior product strategy to resonate well with millennial customers along with its omni-channel capabilities and fulfillment initiatives might have played a vital role in revenue generation. Sturdy demand, higher price realization and lower promotional activity are likely to have favorably impacted the fourth-quarter performance.

On its last earnings call, management highlighted that The Children’s Place commenced the fourth quarter on a strong note. Fleet optimization strategy and accelerated digital investments are likely to have driven results in the quarter to be reported. Again, any decrease in occupancy costs owing to fleet optimization strategy and favorable lease negotiations might have contributed to margin expansion in the quarter under review.

While aforementioned factors raise optimism, we cannot ignore the ongoing supply chain issue. Again, any operating limitations due to the ongoing pandemic might have hurt sales to an extent. Also, an increase in inbound transportation expenses may get reflected in margins. SG&A expenses are expected in the range of $118 million for the final quarter primarily due to higher incentive compensation accruals and escalating levels of digital marketing spend to support e-commerce business. The figure suggests an increase of 14.9% on a year-over-year basis.

The Children's Place, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

The Children's Place, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

The Children's Place, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Children's Place, Inc. Quote

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for The Children's Place this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Children's Place carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) and an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

3 Stocks With Favorable Combination

Here are a few companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT - Free Report) currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.25% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company is likely to register an increase in the bottom line when it reports fourth-quarter fiscal 2022 numbers. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings per share of $1.30 suggests an increase of 73.3% from the year-ago reported number.

Boot Barn Holdings’ top line is expected to increase year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly revenues is pegged at $345.2 million, which suggests an increase of 33.3% from the prior-year quarter. BOOT has a long-term earnings growth rate of 20%.

Casey's General Stores (CASY - Free Report) currently has an Earnings ESP of +5.19% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is expected to register bottom-line growth when it reports third-quarter fiscal 2022 results. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings per share of $1.45 suggests growth of 39.4% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Casey's top line is anticipated to rise year over year. The consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $3.06 billion, indicating an increase of 52.3% from the year-ago quarter. CASY has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 20.1%, on average.

DICK'S Sporting Goods (DKS - Free Report) currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.34% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is likely to register bottom-line improvement when it reports fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 numbers. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings per share of $3.54 suggests an increase of 45.7% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

DICK'S Sporting Goods’ top line is expected to rise year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly revenues is pegged at $3.30 billion, which indicates an improvement of 5.8% from the figure reported in the prior-year quarter. DKS has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 104.2%, on average.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Published in