Tractor Supply 3Q sales up 12.5%
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. Tractor Supply announced that net sales for its third quarter ended Sept. 29 increased 12.5% to $629.2 million from $559.2 million in the prior year's third quarter.
The company reported that same-store sales increased 1.9% compared with a 2.4% increase in the prior year's third quarter. According to the company, same-store sales growth was driven by the animal health and pet supplies categories, which was offset by weakness in the seasonal and hardware and tools categories.
Net income for the quarter was $17.5 million, or 44 cents per diluted share, the company reported. This compares to net income of $18.1 million, or 44 cents per diluted share, in the prior year's third quarter.
Jim Wright, president and ceo, stated, "Despite challenges presented by drought conditions and consumer pressures impacting discretionary purchases, we achieved positive comparable sales growth as well as slight gross margin improvement. While we were disappointed with the performance of certain seasonal merchandise categories, we are pleased that the company's continued solid sales growth in core lifestyle categories, such as animal health and pet supplies, contributed to comp-store transaction count growth during the quarter. We believe we were able to navigate through the headwinds during this quarter due to our strong business model, our unique merchandise and our dedication to serving the needs of our loyal customers."
For fiscal 2007, Tractor Supply said it now expects net sales to range from $2.68 billion to $2.7 billion, which compares to prior expectations of $2.7 billion to $2.75 billion. Same-store sales for the year are expected to increase approximately 2.5% to 3% compared to previous expectations of an increase of approximately 3% to 4.5%. The company now expects full year net income to range from $2.37 to $2.43 per diluted share, which compares to its prior guidance of $2.49 to $2.56 per diluted share.