PriceSmart Profit Rises, Tops Estimates - Update

(RTTNews) - Discount warehouse club operator PriceSmart Inc (PSMT), Wednesday reported an increase in second-quarter profit, helped mostly by higher sales with earnings topping Wall Street estimates. Nonetheless, sales for the quarter fell short of expectations.

PriceSmart shares were down 3.4 percent in after-hours trade on the Nasdaq following the announcement.

San Diego, California-based PriceSmart operates membership shopping warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean, selling competitively priced merchandise.

The company posted second-quarter net income of $28.3 million or $0.93 per share, compared with $24.9 million or $0.82 per share in the year-ago quarter. On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.88 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates usually exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter climbed to $674.4 million from $607.4 million in the prior year, with warehouse club sales up 11 percent. Analysts expected sales of $675.2 million.

Operating expenses for the quarter rose to $635 million from $571 million in the prior year.

The company operated 32 warehouse clubs as of February 2014.

In March 2014, PriceSmart said its warehouse club sales increased 5.7 percent year-over-year to $203 million, with same-store sales up 1.9 percent.

PriceSmart stock closed Wednesday at $101.89, up $1.00 or 0.99%, on a volume of 143k shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock dropped $3.43 or 3.37%, at $98.46.