Big Lots posts lower 3Q profit, cuts guidance

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The discount retailer Big Lots Inc. reported Friday that its profit edged down on flat sales in the third-quarter and lowered its fourth quarter guidance.

The company earned $12.2 million, or 15 cents per share, in the quarter ended Nov. 1, down from $14.3 million, or 14 cents per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn 15 cents per share.

Total sales slipped to $1.02 billion from $1.03 billion a year ago. Comparable store sales, a key indicator of retail health that measures sales at stores open at least a year, decreased 0.2 percent for the quarter.

The company said it has tightened its inventory, lowering the average store inventory 3 percent and hitting record productivity in its distribution centers during the quarter.

But soft sales prompted Big Lots to lower its guidance for the fourth-quarter and 2008 fiscal year.

The company said it now expects to earn 90 to 99 cents per share on continuing operations, down from the $1.02 to $1.09 per share range that the company said in August that it anticipated. And it expects comparable store sales to decrease 2 to 4 percent.

Big Lots also said it expects to earn $1.79 to $1.88 per share for the 2008 fiscal year from continuing operations, down from the previously anticipated $1.90 to $2.00 per share it previously stated.

The company operated 1,366 Big Lots stores in 47 states and sells merchandise via the internet.

Its shares fell 20 cents to $16.10 in afternoon trading after dropping as low as $13.64 earlier in the session. Its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $12.40 to $35.33.

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