Shares of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc. OLLI powered up 8.9% toward a 3 1/2-month high in premarket trading Wednesday after the retailer of closeout merchandise and excess inventory reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results and provided an upbeat outlook, as margins improved despite a “highly promotional” environment. Net income for the quarter to Jan. 28 rose to $53.1 million, or 85 cents a share, from $44.7 million, or 71 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 84 cents topped the FactSet consensus of 79 cents. Sales grew 9.7% to $549.8 million, above the FactSet consensus of $542.2 million, while same-store sales growth of 3.0% beat expectations of a 0.3% rise. Cost of sales rose less than sales, up 7.9% to $343.3 million, as gross margin improved to 37.6% from 36.5%. For fiscal 2023, the company expects adjusted EPS of $2.49 to $2.58 and sales of $2.04 billion to $2.06 billion, both above the FactSet consensus for EPS of $2.38 and sales of $2.00 billion. The stock has climbed 17.0% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 4.7%.
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