PLANO, Texas — In its just-released 2Q earnings report, At Home Group Inc., the home décor superstore said it delivered the best quarter in its history in terms of comp, profitability and cash flow. This has resulted in shares of the company trading 22% higher this morning.
At Home Group posted net sales of approximately $515.2 million for the second quarter, which ended on July 25. This is up 51% from the second quarter of fiscal 2020, a net sales increase of 50.5% year-over-year. The company also posted a comparable store sales increase of approximately 42.3% for this second quarter of fiscal 2021.
“We believe many of the key factors driving our strong performance have continued into the third quarter of fiscal 2020. To that effect, Q3 has started off exceptionally well with quarter-to-date comparable store sales relatively in line with Q2, as we continue to gain market share,” said Lee Bird, At Home Group chairman and CEO.
“As a team, we are focused on putting At Home in a strong position to generate consistent and predictable results over the long term. Our revised long-term strategy put in place last year is yielding positive results this year, and we believe it will continue to propel us going forward.”
The company achieved a net income of $89.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of at least $150 million. The current earnings per share of $1.39 compares withan EPS of 16 cents in Q2 of last year.
On the conference call with investors, Bird said the company believe sales increased at a rate significantly faster than the industry, and that the company’s market share was up meaningfully during Q2. He added that it also was pleased that, for the second consecutive year, At Home Group ranked No. 8 on the National Retail Federation’s Hot 100 Retailers list. It is the fourth consecutive year that At Home Group has appeared on that list.
Also on the call, Bird said the company plans to continue to expand and concentrated on its Pro program that focuses on interior designers and stagers. He said the company has listened to what their needs are and add more benefits to the program as it grows the customer base.
“We’re not only letting them know about what’s offered, but we’re also providing tools for them, a year-end summary statements of all the expenses that they paid with us, so they can actually use that for some of their billing of clients and tax reporting and so on,” Bird said.
“I would tell you the initial response has been very strong thus far. If you follow us on social media, the response with our stagers and interior designers has been very strong and excited about this program, and they’ve even called that out in their social media channels,” he said.
