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BJ's Wholesale Club Fiscal First-Quarter Results Top Views; Maintains Full-Year Outlook

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BJ's Wholesale Club Fiscal First-Quarter Results Top Views; Maintains Full-Year Outlook

BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results on Friday, while the warehouse club operator reiterated its full-year outlook.

The company's adjusted earnings declined to $1.10 a share for the three months through May 2 from $1.14 the year before, but topped the FactSet-polled consensus of $1.03. Overall revenue improved 9.9% to $5.66 billion, ahead of the Street's view for $5.44 billion.

"Our first-quarter performance reflects disciplined execution and continued investment in the business," Chief Financial Officer Laura Felice said in a statement. "We delivered solid profitability while growing membership fee income and maintaining our focus on cost management."

The sharp gains in gas prices driven by the Middle East conflict put "additional pressure on member wallets" during the quarter, Chief Executive Bob Eddy said during an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. "While gas margins were pressured early in the quarter as prices rose quickly, our teams executed extremely well through periods of volatility and profit dollars for the quarter came in largely in line with our plan."

For fiscal 2026, BJ's continues to project adjusted EPS to be in a range of $4.40 to $4.60. Comparable club sales, excluding the impact of gasoline sales, are still pegged to grow by 2% to 3%. The average analyst estimate is for non-GAAP EPS of $4.51 and same-store sales to increase by 2.5%.

Shares of the company fell 6.6% in Friday trade. The stock is down 3.5% so far this year.

Earlier in the week, retail giant Walmart (WMT) issued a downbeat fiscal second-quarter earnings outlook, while Target (TGT) lifted its fiscal 2026 sales growth guidance. Off-price retailer TJX (TJX) raised its full-year outlook after posting stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results.

BJ's Wholesale Club's comparable club sales, excluding gasoline, increased 1.5% for the first quarter, but fell short of the market's forecast for a rise of 1.6%. General merchandise and services comparable sales climbed 7.1%, "driven primarily by strength and consumer electronics," Felice said on the call. Membership fee income grew about 10% to $132 million, the CFO added.

"While we expect membership fee income growth to moderate as we move through the year, the underlying health of the membership base remains very strong," Felice said.

BofA Securities said earlier in the week that BJ's stands to benefit from the current inflationary environment, though it must demonstrate a sustained acceleration in comparable sales to trigger a stock breakout.

Price: $86.27, Change: $-8.16, Percent Change: -8.64%

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