A Pivotal Moment
jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) decided to shed light on its financial standing prior to its eagerly anticipated appearance at the ICR Conference in Orlando, Florida this Monday. The bustling retailer unveiled its unyielding confidence in its expectations for the Q4 and full year fiscal 2023 results, assuring stakeholders that the net sales would nestle into the upper echelon of the range and that comparable sales would hover around 3%.
Total sales for the holiday period surged upward by an impressive 15.6% to $1.16B, with comparable sales for the same period basking in a significant 3.6% upsurge.
Joel Anderson, the Chief Executive Officer, joyfully elaborated that Five Below (FIVE) reveled in a widespread surge in performance across most domains, and continued to reap the rewards of robust outcomes from recently transitioned stores.
In his words, “Needs-based categories continued to outshine others, along with our Seasonal offering, flashing its value and Wow! assortment of gifts and stocking stuffers, which struck a chord with our esteemed clientele. Buoyed by our stellar holiday performance and the optimistic forecast for January, we now anticipate achieving fourth quarter sales that gracefully ascend to the upper stratum of our guidance range, and thus, we are steadfastly reiterating our EPS outlook.”
On the developmental frontier, Five Below (FIVE) concluded FY23 with a staggering 204 net new store openings – a record in its own right. Significantly, the pipeline for 2024 appears tantalizingly robust.
Guidance for Q4 remains sanguine, with net sales cruising in the $1.32B to $1.35B range, paired with a modest 2% to 3% augmentation in comparable sales. The projected EPS hovers between $3.64 to $3.80, as opposed to the consensus figure of $3.76. Meanwhile, for the entire year, sales are anticipated to dance between $3.54B to $3.57B and an EPS range of $5.40 to $5.66.
In a somewhat dispiriting turn, shares of Five Below (FIVE) wilted by 2.90% in premarket trading on Monday.
