BJ’s Wholesale Q3 tops expectations amid ‘significant market share gains’

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings reported better-than-expected third-quarter profit and sales fueled by strong online growth.

Net income rose to $122.8 million, or 88 cents a share, for the quarter ended Oct. 31, from $55.1 million, or 40 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.92 cents, beating analysts’ expectations of $0.65.

Total revenue increased 15.6% to $3.73 billion, above estimates of $3.67 billion. Same-store sales rose 18.5%, including digitally enabled sales growth of approximately 200%. BJ’s has been its expanding digital capabilities, including same-day delivery, curbside pick-up, and buy-online, pickup-in-club.

"The third quarter was another remarkable quarter with robust comp growth, significant market share gains and record profitability," said CEO Lee Delaney. "As we look ahead, we are confident our business will continue to thrive given the structural shift in consumer behavior, our market share gains and our strategic investments in digital capabilities, membership, assortment, marketing and geographic expansion.”

In a report that came out two days before BJ's released its earnings,  foot traffic analytics platform Placer.ai called the warehouse club operator one of the retail winners of 2020.  It noted that October marked the 9th straight month of year-over-year visit growth for BJ's, with visits up 18.0%. 

"This was the third-best mark of the year and well-timed coming after a September that had “just” 8.1% growth,"  said Ethan Chernofsky, VP of marketing at Placer.ai. "And even September showed signs of the brand’s progress. In September 2020, BJ’s Wholesale had 9.0% of the overall visit share with industry leaders  Costco and Sam’s Club, a significant step forward on 2019, when that number was 8.2%."

October marked the 9th straight month of year-over-year visit growth for BJ’s Wholesale with visits up 18.0% in October. This was the third-best mark of the year and well-timed coming after a September that had “just” 8.1% growth. And even September showed signs of the brand’s progress. In September 2020, BJ’s Wholesale had 9.0% of the overall visit share with industry leaders  Costco and Sam’s Club, a significant step forward on 2019, when that number was 8.2%. 

The company said it spent $50 million to buy back 1.2 million shares during the third quarter. 

BJ's currently operates 219 locations in 17 states.