Burlington Stores Beats Q2 Views, Shares Jump

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surged around 10 percent in pre-market trading after the company reported upbeat results for the second quarter and lifted its full-year earnings forecast. The Burlington, New Jersey-based company posted quarterly net income of $10.9 million, versus a year-ago loss of $6.5 million. Excluding one-time items, the company's earnings came in at $0.19 per share for the latest quarter, versus adjusted loss of $0.01 per share in the year-ago quarter. Its revenue climbed 9.6 percent to $1.15 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.12 per share on revenue of $1.12 billion. The average estimate among 7 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.13 per share and revenue of $1.13 billion. Its comparable-store sales rose 5.6 percent in the latest quarter, versus a 4.7 percent growth in the year-ago quarter. Its gross margin expanded to 39.2 percent from 38.2 percent. Adjusted EBITDA gained 29.8 percent to $75.4 million. Tom Kingsbury, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "We are extremely pleased with our second quarter performance highlighted by a 5.6% increase in comparable store sales on top of last year's 4.7% increase. Our 100 basis point increase in Adjusted EBITDA rate was driven by both operating expense leveraging and gross margin expansion. We believe we are well positioned for the fall season and remain focused on delivering great value, highly desirable brands, an improved store experience, and fresh product to our customers every day. I would like to thank our store and corporate teams for contributing to these results." For the year, Burlington now projects earnings of $2.27 to $2.32 per share, versus its prior forecast of $2.15 to $2.25 per share. It projects sales growth of 6.5 percent to 7 percent. For the current quarter, the company expects earnings of $0.20 to $0.23 per share and revenue to rise 6 percent to 7 percent. Analysts projected earnings of $0.23 per share. Burlington shares gained 10.67 percent to $52.80 in pre-market trading.