Michaels beats Street with Q4 profits, earnings

The good financial news continues for The Michaels Companies with strong results for the last quarter of fiscal 2020.

The specialty arts and crafts retailer, which just entered into a $3.3 billion deal with private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. to take the chain private, reported net sales of $1.9 billion for Q4 2020, up 12% year-over-year from $1.72 billion and $90 million ahead of analyst predictions. Net income rose 40% to $255.1 million from $181.7 million. 

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.69 beat the prior year Q4 by $.43 and Wall Street projections by $0.23. Same-store sales climbed 12.9%. For the full year, net sales rose 4% to $5.27 billion from $5.07 billion. Net income increased 8% to $294.9 billion from $272.6 billion. Adjusted EPS grew $0.22 to $2.33, while same-store sales improved by 4.8%.

Given the recent purchase agreement with Apollo, Michaels did not offer commentary on its results or forecast future results.