In a November 17th release, BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings (BJ) announced third quarter FY 2023 results for the period ending October 28th 2023. The company posted net income of $130.5 million on total revenue, including membership fees of $4,925 million, below consensus estimates, with a diluted EPS of $0.97, beating consensus estimates by one cent. Comparable values for the third quarter of FY 2022 were net income of $130.0 million on revenue of $4,785 million with a diluted EPS $0.95. Comparing the sequential third quarters, revenue was up 2.9 percent. During the most recent quarter BJ’s attained a gross margin of 18.3 percent (18.3 percent in Q3 FY 2022) and an operating margin of 4.0 percent, unchanged from Q3 2022. For the third quarter, comparable club sales, excluding fuel, decreased by 0.1 percent. Digital sales increased by 16 percent.
In commenting on results, Bob Eddy, president and CEO stated, “Our advantaged model and strong value proposition continue to resonate with our members. During the third quarter, we posted accelerating membership growth, robust traffic gains and continued increases in market share. These gains continue to reinforce the underlying strength of our business and we remain confident in the long-term growth prospects of our Company”
Guidance for FY 2023 included a 1.0 to 1.8 percent increase in comparable store sales; a 50 basis point improvement in gross margin and an EPS ranging from $3.80 to $3.92.
Effective October 28th 2023, BJ’s posted total assets of $6,837 million including $1,118 goodwill and intangibles and carried long-term debt and lease obligations of $2,483 million. BJ’s had a market capitalization of $8,610 million on November 18th The share has traded over the past 52 weeks from $60.33 to $78.88 with a 50-day moving average of $69.74. BJ’s closed at $67.71 on Thursday 17th November, pre-release, closing on Friday 18 November post release at $64.35. BJ’s trades with a forward P/E of 15.6. For the trailing-12 months the company posted an operating margin of 4.1 percent and a profit margin of 2.6 percent. The company returned 7.3 percent on assets and 44.2 percent on equity over the past twelve months. On October 30th 9.1 percent of the float was short.
BJ’s has contracted with Simbe Inc. to deploy Tally robots with a complementary integrated inventory control system in all stores.
At the beginning of FY 2023 the company operated 237 warehouse stores with 165 fuel centers in 18 states.