PriceSmart Profit Tops Street, But Revenue Misses - Update

(RTTNews) - Discount warehouse clubs operator PriceSmart Inc (PSMT), Thursday reported an increase in third-quarter profit, helped mainly by a 7.6 percent increase in warehouse club sales, with earnings topping Wall Street estimates. Nonetheless, revenues for the quarter fell short of expectations.

San Diego, California-based PriceSmart posted third-quarter net earnings of $21.3 million or $0.70 per share, compared with $18.5 million or $0.61 per share in the prior year.

On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected earnings of $0.69 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the third quarter climbed to $615 million from $571.7 million in the the prior year, but missed analysts' estimates of about $622 million.

Operating expenses increased to $584 million from $543 million a year ago.

The company said that in June, its warehouse club sales increased 4 percent from a year ago to $194.3 million. On a same store basis, June sales were up 1 percent.

PriceSmart operated 33 warehouse clubs at the end of June.

PSMT closed Thursday at $86.37, down $1.54 or 1.75%, on a volume of 200k shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock dropped $1.37 or 1.59%.