Discounter has better-than-expected holiday sales

Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings raised its full-year outlook after shoppers flocked to its stores in search of its signature “good stuff cheap” during the holiday season.



For the nine-week period ended December 31, 2016, Ollie’s total sales increased 16.3%, with a same-store sales increase of 1.9%. The discounter said it now expects full-year net sales to total about $888 million, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $874 million. It expects same-store sales growth of about 3% and per-share earnings of about 93 cents.



“We are thrilled with our holiday sales results, as well as the underlying trends and consistency of the business,” said Mark Butler, chairman, president and CEO. “Despite an extremely challenging same store sales comparison of 14% on a two-year stacked basis, we believe our sales results through the first nine weeks of the quarter position us well to deliver another solid increase in comparable store sales in the fourth quarter."