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PriceSmart (PSMT) August Sales Rise 4% Y/Y, Comps Improve

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Subscription warehouse club PriceSmart, Inc. (PSMT - Free Report) saw a 4% rise in sales in August 2017 from a year ago.

PriceSmart reported $238.3 million in net sales in the month, compared with $229.1 million a year ago. The company also registered growth in its comparable warehouse sales for the five weeks ended Sep 3, 2017. Comparable warehouse sales increased 2.5% from the same five-week period last year.

In the month of July, net warehouse club sales increased 2.7% and 4.1% in June. Also, PriceSmart acquired land in Dominican Republic in June to construct a warehouse club, marking the fourth warehouse club in the country.

Last Quarter Performance

In the third quarter of fiscal 2017, the company posted disappointing results wherein earnings of 62 cents per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 69 cents by 10.1%. Earnings however increased 12.7% from 55 cents a year ago.

Total revenues in the quarter totaled $730.3 million, also lagging the consensus mark by 0.2%. The figure, however, reflects an increase of 3.7% year over year, supported by higher sales across the board, barring sales from export.

Performance So Far

For the first nine months of fiscal 2017, PriceSmart reported earnings of $2.34 per diluted share, reflecting an increase of 6.8% from the prior-year period.

Total revenues increased 3.1% year over year to $2.3 billion from $2.2 billion.

Net warehouse club sales increased 3% to $2.2 billion from $2.1 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2016.

Improvement in membership trend, more store openings in fiscal 2018, and planned expansion into several markets will likely boost growth.

Stock Performance

Shares of PriceSmart have lost 7.8% in the last three months. The stock performed almost on par with its industry which saw a decline of 7.7% over the same period. Estimates for the current quarter declined from 69 cents a share to 66 cents over the past 90 days.

 



Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

PriceSmart currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Burlington Stores, Inc. (BURL - Free Report) , Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST - Free Report) and Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Burlington Stores’ earnings are expected to grow 29.4% in fiscal 2018.

Costco has a long-term earnings growth rate of 9.5%.

Ross Stores delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 6.3% in the trailing four quarters.

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