Five Below Up On Q1 Results, Surprise To Benzinga Readers

Five Below FIVE shares are up close to three percent following the results of the company’s first quarter.

This may come as a surprise to Benzinga readers; only one fourth expected top and bottom line beats.

Sales beat the analyst estimate by 3.35 percent at $126 million versus $121.9 million. Sales growth was fueled primarily by new store openings. Year-over-year sales are up 31.8 percent; same-store sales growth was 6.1 percent.

CEO Thomas Vellios commented, “our compelling offering of high-quality, trend-right merchandise drove a solid customer response, particularly in the weeks leading up to Easter. In addition to our comparable store sales increase that came in ahead of our guidance, our new stores continue to demonstrate consistently strong performance across both new and existing markets.”

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Earnings for the quarter beat the $0.06 estimate by one cent. Compared to the same quarter last year, earnings are up 65.6 percent.

Looking forward, Five Below sees second quarter sales in the range of $150 million to $152 million. GAAP income is expected to fall between $46.6 million to $48.2 million. Full year sales guidance is supposed to fall between $675 million and $681 million. This figure is based on 62 new store openings and four percent same-store sales.

Shares of Five Below were last up 2.93 percent to $37.60 in Thursday's pre-market.