Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Children's Place Announces 12% Hike in Quarterly Dividend

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Children’s Place, Inc.’s (PLCE - Free Report) board has approved a quarterly dividend hike of 12%, marking its fifth straight year of dividend increase. This reflects a dividend of 56 cents per share compared with the prior dividend rate of 50 cents. The hiked dividend will be payable on Apr 26, 2019, to shareholders of record as of Apr 15, 2019.

The company boasts a good history of returning excess value to shareholders in forms of dividends and share repurchases. In this regard, Children’s Place has already bought back shares worth nearly $1.1 billion since 2009 and paid roughly $100 million in dividends since 2014. Further, the company expects to repurchase around $500 million of shares over the next three years.

We note that shares of this company have lost 8.5% in the past month, underperforming the industry’s decline of 2.2%. This bearish run for this Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) stock can be attributable to the company’s lower-than-expected fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 results, wherein both top and bottom lines declined on a year-over-year basis. The company’s bleak fiscal 2019 view on account of unforeseen challenges, owing to the bankruptcy of its rival, Gymboree and a very late Easter also affected the outlook.

 

 

Management now anticipates adjusted earnings of $5.25-$5.75 per share for fiscal 2019, down from $6.75 reported in fiscal 2018. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fiscal year is currently pegged at $5.67, which is above the mid-point ($5.50) of the bottom-line view.

Children's Place also envisions total net sales in fiscal 2019 to be $1,890-$1,915 million, down from $1,938.1 million recorded in fiscal 2018. The company forecasts comparable retail sales to be flat to down 1%.

3 Trending Stocks

Abercrombie & Fitch Company (ANF - Free Report) has long-term earnings growth rate of 15.3% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Foot Locker (FL - Free Report) has long-term earnings growth rate of 9.2% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT - Free Report) has long-term earnings growth rate of 20.7% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases. 

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +98%, +119% and +164% in as little as 1 month. The stocks in this report could perform even better.

See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>

Published in