Burlington Beats Q1 Earnings, CEO Vows To Absorb Tariff Heat Through Gains Elsewhere

Burlington Stores, Inc. BURL shares are trading higher on Thursday.

The company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.60, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.41. Quarterly sales of $2.50 billion missed the Street view of $2.52 billion.

Total sales increased 6% year over year, while comparable store sales were flat.

“We anticipate that tariffs will put significant pressure on our merchandise margin, but we are confident that, as long as tariffs do not increase from current levels, we can offset this pressure elsewhere in the P&L,” said the company’s CEO Michael O’Sullivan.

Also Read: Retail ETFs Rattle As Tariffs, Yields, Consumer Caution Pressure Big-Box Stocks

Gross margin in the quarter under review expanded to 43.8% from 43.5%, an increase of 30 basis points year over year. Merchandise margin expanded 20 basis points.

Adjusted EBITDA was $244 million compared with $217 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, excluding $6 million of expenses in each period associated with bankruptcy-acquired leases.

Merchandise inventories soared 15% on a year-over-year basis to $1.315 billion. Comparable store inventories decreased 8%.

The company exited the quarter with cash and equivalents worth $371.092 million, and long-term debt of $1.637 billion.

Outlook: Burlington Stores sees second-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.20-$1.30 versus the $1.34 estimate. The firm expects total sales to increase in the range of 5% to 7%; this assumes comparable store sales will increase in the range of 0% to 2%.

For FY25, the firm expects total sales to increase in the range of 6% to 8% on top of the 11% increase during Fiscal 2024.

The company projects the firm to open approximately 100 net new stores.

Burlington Stores reiterated its FY25 Adj EPS guidance of $8.70-$9.30 versus the $9.24 estimate.

Price Action: BURL shares are trading higher by 2.39% to $245.08 at last check Thursday.

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