• Total sales for the 13 week period ended May 5, 2018 increased 12.8% over the 13 week period ended April 29, 2017 to $1,518 million. New and non-comparable stores contributed an incremental $82 million in sales during the quarter. Accounting for the calendar shift from the 53^rd week in Fiscal 2017, comparable store sales increased 4.8% for the 13 weeks ended May 5, 2018 compared to the 13 weeks ended May 6, 2017.
  
  
• Gross margin expanded by approximately 35 basis points over last year's levels to 41.2% driven primarily by increased merchandise margin, which was slightly offset by higher freight costs. Product sourcing costs, which are included in selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A), were approximately 5 basis points higher as a percentage of sales versus the Fiscal 2017 first quarter.
  
  
• SG&A, less product sourcing costs, as a percentage of sales was 26.1%, representing an approximately 45 basis point improvement compared with the Fiscal 2017 first quarter. This improvement was driven by leverage in store occupancy and other store related costs as a result of the strong comparable store sales increase during the quarter.
  
  
• The effective tax rate improved 1,300 basis points to 17.4%, driven by the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted in December 2017 ("2017 Tax Reform"), and the accounting for stock based compensation.
  
  
• Net income increased 58% over the prior year period to $83 million, or $1.20 per share vs. $0.73 last year, and Adjusted Net Income increased 54% to $87 million, or $1.26 per share, vs. $0.79 last year. These improvements were driven primarily by top line growth, expense leverage, share repurchases since the end of the first quarter last year, and lower tax rates.
   
• Fully diluted shares outstanding amounted to 69.0 million at the end of the quarter compared with 71.5 million at the end of last year's first quarter. The decrease was primarily the result of share repurchases under the Company's share repurchase program, discussed in more detail below. Since the end of the first quarter of Fiscal 2017, and through the end of the first quarter of Fiscal 2018, the Company has repurchased approximately 3 million shares of its common stock under its share repurchase program.
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 21%, or $28 million above the prior year period, to $165 million. The 70 basis point expansion in Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of sales was primarily driven by expense leverage and gross margin expansion. Adjusted EBIT increased 26%, or $25 million above the prior year period, to $120 million. The 85 basis point expansion in Adjusted EBIT as a percentage of sales was primarily driven by the same factors driving Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion.

• Total sales to increase in the range of 9.7% to 10.5%, excluding the 53^rd week impact in 2017; this assumes shifted comparable store sales to increase in the range of 2% to 3% for the balance of Fiscal 2018, resulting in a full year shifted comparable store sales increase of 2.6% to 3.4% on top of the 3.4% increase during Fiscal 2017;
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA margin to increase 30 to 40 basis points;
  
  
• Depreciation and amortization, exclusive of favorable lease amortization, to be approximately $200 million;
  
  
• Adjusted EBIT margin to increase 20 to 30 basis points;
  
  
• Interest expense of approximately $60 million;
  
  
• An effective tax rate of 22% to 23%;
  
  
• To open 35 to 40 net new stores, and invest Net Capital Expenditures of approximately $250 million;
  
  
• Adjusted EPS in the range of $5.90 to $6.00, utilizing a fully diluted share count of approximately 68.9 million. This guidance compares to the previous outlook for Adjusted EPS of $5.73-$5.83; and
  
  
• Adjusted EPS, excluding the estimated impact of 2017 Tax Reform and the accounting for stock based compensation, to be in the range of $4.82 to $4.92 as compared with the comparable 52 week Adjusted EPS of $4.14 in Fiscal 2017. This represents growth of 16% to 19%.

• Total sales to increase in the range of 8% to 9%;
  
  
• Shifted comparable store sales for the 13 weeks ended August 4, 2018 compared to the 13 weeks ended August 5, 2017 to increase in the range of 2% to 3% on top of a 3.5% increase during the second quarter of Fiscal 2017; and
  
  
• Adjusted EPS in the range of $0.91 to $0.95, which assumes a fully diluted share count of approximately 68.8 million shares, as compared to $0.72 last year.

The Company has not presented a quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures set out above to their most comparable GAAP financial measures because it would require the Company to create estimated ranges on a GAAP basis, which would entail unreasonable effort. Adjustments required to reconcile forward-looking non-GAAP measures cannot be predicted with reasonable certainty but may include, among others, costs related to debt amendments, loss on extinguishment of debt, and impairment charges, as well as the tax effect of such items. Some or all of those adjustments could be significant.

The foregoing discussion of the Company's operating results includes references to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Earnings per Share (or Adjusted EPS) and Adjusted EBIT. The Company believes these measures are useful in evaluating the operating performance of the business and for comparing its historical results to that of other retailers. These non-GAAP financial measures are defined and reconciled to the most comparable GAAP measure later in this document.

A live webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of the Company's website at www.burlingtoninvestors.com. For those unable to participate in the conference call, a replay will be available beginning after the conclusion of the call on May 31, 2018 through June 14, 2018. The U.S. toll-free replay dial-in number is 1-855-859-2056 and the international replay dial-in number is 1-404-537-3406. The replay passcode is 7990946. Additionally, a replay of the call will be available on the investor relations page of the Company's website at www.burlingtoninvestors.com.

Investors and others should note that Burlington Stores currently announces material information using SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. In the future, Burlington Stores will continue to use these channels to distribute material information about the Company, and may also utilize its website and/or various social media sites to communicate important information about the Company, key personnel, new brands and services, trends, new marketing campaigns, corporate initiatives and other matters. Information that the Company posts on its website or on social media channels could be deemed material; therefore, the Company encourages investors, the media, our customers, business partners and others interested in Burlington Stores to review the information posted on its website, as well as the following social media channels:

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BurlingtonCoatFactory/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/burlington).

About Burlington Stores, Inc.
Burlington Stores, Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, is a nationally recognized off-price retailer with Fiscal 2017 revenue of $6.1 billion. The Company is a Fortune 500 company and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "BURL." The Company operated 647 stores as of the end of the first quarter of Fiscal 2018, inclusive of an internet store, in 45 states and Puerto Rico, principally under the name Burlington Stores. The Company's stores offer an extensive selection of in-season, fashion-focused merchandise at up to 65% off other retailers' prices, including women's ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, baby, beauty, footwear, accessories, home and coats.

For more information about the Company, visit www.burlingtonstores.com.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act). All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including those made in the section describing our outlook for future periods, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements discuss our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. We do not undertake to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied in such statements will not be realized. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be made that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those we expected, including competition in the retail industry, seasonality of our business, adverse weather conditions, changes in consumer preferences and consumer spending patterns, import risks, inflation, general economic conditions, our ability to implement our strategy, our substantial level of indebtedness and related debt-service obligations, restrictions imposed by covenants in our debt agreements, availability of adequate financing, our dependence on vendors for our merchandise, events affecting the delivery of merchandise to our stores, existence of adverse litigation and risks, availability of desirable locations on suitable terms, 2017 Tax Reform and pending interpretations related thereto, and other factors that may be described from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For each of these factors, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended.

The following tables calculate the Company's Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EPS, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBIT, all of which are considered non-GAAP financial measures. Generally, a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a company's performance, financial position or cash flows that either excludes or includes amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

The Company presents Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EPS, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBIT, because it believes they are useful supplemental measures in evaluating the performance of the Company's business and provide greater transparency into the results of operations. In particular, the Company believes that excluding certain items that may vary substantially in frequency and magnitude from what the Company considers to be its core operating results are useful supplemental measures that assist in evaluating the Company's ability to generate earnings and leverage sales, and to more readily compare core operating results between past and future periods.

(a) Net favorable lease amortization represents the non-cash amortization expense associated with favorable and unfavorable leases that were recorded as a result of purchase accounting related to the April 13, 2006 Bain Capital acquisition of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation, and are recorded in the line item "Depreciation and amortization" in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.
(b) Represents expenses incurred as a result of our May 2013 stock option modification, which became fully vested during Fiscal 2017.
(c) Tax effect is calculated based on the effective tax rates (before discrete items) for the respective periods for the tax impact of items (a) and (b).
(d) Fully diluted weighted average shares outstanding starts with basic shares outstanding and adds back any potentially dilutive securities outstanding during the period. Fully diluted weighted average shares outstanding is equal to basic shares outstanding if the Company is in an Adjusted Net Loss position.