BJ’s Wholesale Club’s digital sales surge 300% amidst COVID-19 restrictions

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BJ) said on Thursday that its profit and sales in the fiscal second quarter came in stronger than experts’ forecast. The company attributed its hawkish performance to digital sales that it said saw a fourfold increase in the recent quarter due to COVID-19 restrictions. In separate news from the global retail sector, Alibaba also published its quarterly financial results on Thursday.

In premarket trading, shares of the company rallied 1.4% on Thursday but lost the entire gain on market open. Including the price action, BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings is now trading at £33 per share. In comparison, it concluded the last year at £17 per share in the stock market and sunk to an even lower £14.70 per share in March when the impact of COVID-19 was at its peak. Learn more value investing strategy.

BJ reports £81.35 million of net income in Q2

BJ reported £81.35 million of net income in the second quarter that translates to 58 pence a share. In the same quarter last year, its net income was recorded at £41.59 million or 29.76 pence a share. On a year over year basis, its net income in the quarter that concluded on 1^st August was close to 100% higher.

Adjusted for one-time items, the membership-based warehouse retailer boasted 58.76 pence of earnings per share in Q2. According to FactSet, analysts had predicted the company to print a lower 45.79 pence per share of adjusted earnings. BJ’s said last month it will open two new stores in Newburgh and Long Island City that will create 300 jobs.

BJ’s revenue jumps 18.2% in the second quarter

On the revenue front, the Westborough-based company registered an 18.2% growth in the recent quarter to £3.01 billion that topped analysts’ estimate of £2.85 billion. BJ’s also highlighted on Thursday that its comparable-store sales noted a 24.2% annualised growth in the second quarter versus a much lower 15.5% expected, as per FactSet.

The American retailer lauded its e-commerce segment that helped offset the blow from the COVID-19 that has so far infected more than 5.7 million in the United States and caused over 176 thousand deaths. Digital sales, BJ commented, were roughly 300% higher on a year over year basis in the fiscal second quarter.

At the time of writing, BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings is valued at £4.53 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 24.04.