Stock Alert: Big Lots Falls; Sees Challenging Q1

(RTTNews) - Shares of Big Lots, Inc. (BIG) are down more 28% after the discount store's fourth-quarter earnings missed estimates. The company also sees coronavirus related supply chain disruption in the first quarter.

Net income in the fourth quarter was $93.8 million, or $2.39 per share compared with $108.0 million, or $2.68 per share in the comparable quarter last year. On average, 6 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of $2.52 per share.

Net sales for the quarter, however, increased to $1.607 billion from $1.599 billion for the same period last year.

Looking forward, Bruce Thorn, President and CEO of Big Lots stated, "We expect a challenging first quarter of 2020, due in part to upfront investments in our higher-return growth initiatives, combined with a slow start to the quarter and the sales impact of supply chain disruption related to the coronavirus."

BIG is currently trading at $15.98, close to its 52-week low of $14.75.