- Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL) reported fourth-quarter FY21 sales growth of 14.3% year-on-year, to $2.61 billion, missing the consensus of $2.78 billion.
- Compared to Q4 FY19, total sales increased 18%, comparable store sales increased 6%, and the gross margin contracted by 230 basis points to 39.8%.
- The total costs and expenses grew 16% Y/Y to $2.4 billion. Adjusted EBITDA increased 9.5% Y/Y to $306.7 million.
- Adjusted EPS of $2.53 missed the consensus of $3.25.
- The company held $1.1 billion in cash and equivalents as of January 29, 2022. Cash provided by operating activities for the twelve months totaled $833.2 million.
- "Ordinarily we would be happy with 6% comp growth in Q4 but compared to the rest of 2021 this was a slowdown in our trend. This slowdown was partially driven by lower traffic to our stores, due to a number of external factors, and partially driven by the late delivery of some critical receipts in December," said CEO Michael O'Sullivan.
- Burlington Stores expects to open 120 new stores in FY22.
- The company did not provide sales or earnings guidance for FY22, citing the uncertainty surrounding the pace of the recovery of consumer demand and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
- In February 2022, the company's board authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $500 million of common stock to be executed through February 2024. As of Q4-end, it had $150 million remaining authorization.
- Price Action: BURL shares are trading lower by 11.2% at $207.22 in premarket on the last check Thursday.
