Pier 1 Imports Trims Outlook Further On Weather Impacts

(RTTNews) - Home furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (PIR) on Friday trimmed its earnings and sales guidance for the fourth quarter and full-year 2014, citing the adverse weather that significantly affected store traffic in key markets.

"Since our holiday sales update on January 9th we have continued to experience significant disruption from adverse weather in many of our major markets. This has resulted in considerably softer store traffic, as well as some temporary store closings, which further pressured fourth quarter sales and merchandise margin. Our fourth quarter results are frustrating and disappointing," President and CEO Alex Smith said in a statement.

The Fort Worth, Texas based company trimmed its fourth-quarter earnings guidance to a range of $0.40 to $0.41 per share from the prior forecast in the range $0.47 to $0.52 per share.

The company also now projects net sales between about $512 million and $514 million, compared to the prior guidance for sales growth in the low- to mid-single digit range, while comparable store sales are still expected to be about flat.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.51 per share on net sales of $541.65 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For fiscal 2014, Pier 1 Imports projects earnings in a range of $1.00 to $1.01 per share on total sales growth of about 5.5 percent, down from the prior earnings guidance of $1.07 to $1.12 per share on total sales growth in the mid- to high-single digit range.

Full-year comparable store sales growth in now expected at about 2 percent, compared to the earlier growth forecast in the low- to mid-single digit range.

Street is currently looking for full-year 2014 earnings of $1.12 per share on annual revenues of $1.80 billion.

For the full year, the company noted that its e-Commerce business will contribute about 4 percent to fiscal 2014 total sales, putting it readily on track to reach its targeted contribution of 10 percent of total sales by the end of fiscal 2016.

"We remain confident in our long-term outlook - in fact, strategically, we are in better shape than ever. We have a clear vision of how '1 Pier 1' will evolve, as well as a highly talented team of executives and associates who are executing at every level," Smith added.

The company noted that it will provide an update on spring selling trends at the year-end earnings call in April, at which time the company will also provided initial financial guidance for fiscal 2015.

PIR closed Thursday's regular trading session at $20.06, up $0.08 on a volume of 0.92 million shares.