Conn’s stock tumbles after sales miss, downbeat outlook
Shares of Conn’s Inc. tumbled 13% in premarket trade Thursday, after the home furnishings and consumer electronics retailer beat fiscal fourth-quarter profit expectations but missed on sales and provided a downbeat outlook. Net income for the quarter to Jan. 31 was $3.20 billion, or 10 cents a share, after a loss of $74,000, or breakeven on a per-share basis, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as a benefit from the recent tax legislation, adjusted earnings per share came to 56 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 54 cents. Total revenue slipped to $420.4 million from $432.8 million, missing the FactSet consensus of $429.9 million, as an 8.0% decline in same-store sales missed expectations of a 5.3% drop. On the credit side, credit revenue rose 12% to $85.9 million while provision for bad debts fell 24% to $54.7 million. For the first quarter, the company expects a same-store sales decline of 3% to 5%, compared with the FactSet consensus of a 0.4% decline. The stock had gained 2.7% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 had slipped 3.6%.