Pier 1 Raises Dividend 25%, Tops Street in 3Q

Pier 1 Imports (NYSE:PIR) reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Thursday on stronger online and in-store sales, and lifted its quarterly cash dividend by 25%.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based home decorative retailer announced a new $100 million share repurchase program and increased its quarterly cash dividend to 5 cents on Thursday, payable on Jan. 30 to shareholders of record on Jan. 16.

Pier 1 posted quarterly net income of $23.7 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier $23 million, or 21 cents. Excluding one-time items like superstorm Sandy, Pier 1 earned 25 cents, topping average analyst estimates in a Thomson Reuters poll by a penny.

Revenue for the three months ended Nov. 24 was $424.5 million, up 10.9% from $382.7 million, beating the Street’s view of $418.5 million. Same-store sales, or those at stores open longer than a year, grew 7.9%.

“We saw very strong traffic at both our stores and Pier1.com during the period, and trends have remained robust thus far in the holiday selling season,” Pier 1 CEO Alex Smith said in a statement.

Shares of Pier 1 ticked 2.2% higher to $19.49 in recent trade.