Lumber Liquidators' Stock Soars After Surprise Profit And Sales Beat

Shares of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. shot up 17% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the wood flooring retailer reported a surprise second-quarter profit and sales that rose above expectations. The company swung to a profit of $4.48 million, or 16 cents a share, from a loss of $12.2 million, or 45 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for a per-share loss of 6 cents. Revenue rose to $263.5 million from $238.1 million, above the FactSet consensus of $256.9 million, as same-store sales growth of 8.8% beat expectations of a 6.0% rise. The number of customers invoiced increased 5.3% and the average sale rose 3.5%. Gross margin improved to 37.0% from 29.7% a year ago. The stock had rocketed 57% year to date through Monday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 6.6% and the S&P 500 has gained 10%.