Rite Aid stock opens 15% up on Thursday: what happened?

Rite Aid Corporation stock (NYSE: RAD) opened more than 15% in premarket trading on Thursday after the pharmacy company reported strong revenue for its fiscal Q4 and gave better than expected guidance for the full year.

Key takeaways from Rite Aid Q4 earnings report

• Net loss printed at $389.1 million versus the year ago figure of $18.5 million.
• Per-share loss stood at $7.18, much worse than 34 cents last year.
• Adjusted per-share loss came in at $1.63 per share, as per the earnings press release.
• Revenue jumped 2.50% YoY to $6.065 billion in the recent quarter.
• FactSet consensus was for 43 cents of adjusted per-share loss on $5.470 billion in revenue.
• Comparable sales in retail pharmacy climbed 7.80% in fiscal Q4.

Rite Aid attributed the increase in its quarterly loss to $229 million of a goodwill impairment charge. Costs related to store closures and leasebacks were also cited. Last week, Deutsche Bank cut its price target on Ride Aid stock to $1.0 a share.

Guidance for fiscal 2023

For fiscal 2023, Rite Aid forecasts revenue to fall in the range of $23.1 billion to $23.5 billion on 53 cents to $1.06 of per-share net loss (adjusted). This compares to analysts’ call of $21.409 billion in revenue and $1.22 of adjusted per-share loss.

Adjusted EBITDA is expected between $460 million and $500 million. In the earnings press release, CEO Heyward Donigan said:

We exceeded our 2022 plan amidst continuing challenges of the COVID pandemic. Looking forward to the year ahead, we’re ready to compete in a new post-pandemic normal and are well-positioned to grow in a trillion-dollar pharmacy market through our continued leadership as a full-service pharmacy company.