Tractor Supply Hits New 52-Week High
After hitting a 52-week high of $105.37 on Feb 15, the shares of Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) gathered fresh momentum to reach a new high of $106.27 on Friday, Apr 5. This farm and ranch store chain retailer eventually closed at $106.03, up 2.4% from the previous day’s session and generated a year-to-date return of roughly 15.7%. The company currently trades at a forward P/E of 24.0x, a 20.0% premium to the industry average of 20.0x.
An impressive record of beating the quarterly earnings expectations, sustained focus on maximizing productivity as well as initiatives to expand its brand portfolio, are the major attributes that pushed the shares of Tractor Supply to a new high. Average volume of shares traded over the last 3 months stands at approximately 664K.
Tractor Supply posted stronger-than-anticipated fourth-quarter 2012 results on the back of strong top-line performance and improved operating margin. It declared impressive results on Jan 31, 2013, wherein earnings of $1.11 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.03 by 7.8%.
If we look at the company’s earnings surprise history, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 19 straight quarters with an average surprise of 14.7%.
Tractor Supply’s total sales grew 3.7% to $1,286.2 million in the quarter from $1,240.0 million in the year-ago period, and came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,284.0 million. Additionally, comparable-store sales (comps) for the quarter climbed 4.7%.
Buoyed by healthy results, management now projects fiscal 2013 net sales between $5.07 billion and $5.17 billon, with comps expected to improve in the range of 3.0% to 5.0%. Moreover, the company anticipates fiscal 2013 earnings in the range of $4.32−$4.40 per share.
Besides Tractor Supply, companies such as Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY), CMS Energy Corporation (CMS) and Fifth & Pacific Companies, Inc. (FNP) achieved new 52-week highs of $25.46, $28.26 and $21.07, respectively, on Friday, Apr 5.
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