Pier 1 Soars 20% Higher After Earnings Beat, Interim CEO Named

Pier 1 Imports Inc. jumped more than 20% in late trading Wednesday after the home-furnishings retailer trounced earnings expectations, raised its quidance and announced its chairman would serve as interim CEO. Pier 1 reported quarterly net income of $13.6 million, or 17 cents a share, on sales of $475.9 million. After adjusting for costs related to Chief Executive Alex Smith's departure, which was announced in September, Pier 1 claimed profit of 22 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Pier 1 to detail earnings of 13 cents a share, and the company had projected profit of 9 cents to 15 cents a share. "Sales trends rebounded in the second half of November, following the election, which enabled us to deliver third quarter results well ahead of our forecast," Smith said in the announcement. The performance led Pier 1 to increase its guidance for the current quarter and full fiscal year, with adjusted earnings for the holiday quarter now expected in the range of 28 cents to 32 cents. Pier 1 also said that Chairman Terry London will take over as interim CEO at the beginning of 2017. Pier 1 stock, which closed with a 0.5% decline at $6.48, challenged the 52-week high of $7.70 in an after-hours spike after the results hit.