Q: Please comment on their recent quarter result. Also your opinion on buy or hold ?
5i Research Answer:
EPS of 54c was 9% below estimates; Sales of $593M were 1.4% higher than expected. Results were impacted by higher inflation and also tough comparisons to last year, which still had some Covid impact embedded. Higher staffing costs contributed to a 12% increase in SG&A expenses, much higher than sales growth of 7.5%. Comparable sales rose 0.9%. EBITDA fell 7.1%. Estimates still call for higher earnings for the full year. Not great numbers, but with the stock hit already, the low valuation and the dividend, we would still see it as a HOLD.