Tractor Supply drives big growth in Q2

The CEO of Tractor Supply Company credited strong marketing and merchandising initiatives with a significant increase in same store sales in the second quarter.

"We had a solid second quarter and were pleased with the sales trends during the quarter," said president and CEO Greg Sandfort. "Our merchandise, planning and store teams did an excellent job of managing assortments and driving strong sales and margins for the quarter. Once again, sales growth was broad based across all our merchandise categories and geographic regions and we saw growth in both traffic and ticket. Continued execution of our price and inventory management strategies contributed to healthy increases in gross margin. Looking ahead, we believe our marketing and merchandising initiatives, along with our strategic investments in the business, have us well positioned for the late summer and early fall selling season."

Total sales were up 11.9% to $1.77 billion, compared to $1.58 billion in the year-ago period.

Comparable store sales were up 5.6% versus a 1.9% increase the previous year, owing to increases across the board, especially seasonal and big-ticket items like riding lawn mowers and trailers. Increases in the consumable, usable and edible (C.U.E.) segment were driven mainly by the pet and animal categories.

Meanwhile, net income jumped 14.9% to $153.3 million, up from $133.4 million in the previous year's period.

Tractor Supply also opened 17 new stores and closed one store during the quarter. In the second quarter of 2014, it had opened a net of 23 new stores.

The company is also raising its fiscal guidance for the year. Net sales are now anticipated to range between $6.25 billion and $6.33 billion compared to the company's previous expected range of $6.20 billion to $6.30 billion. Net income will range from $3.00 to $3.08 per diluted share compared to previous guidance of $2.95 to $3.05 per diluted share.