Rent-A-Center Warns Of Profit Miss

Rent-A-Center Inc. said Tuesday it expects third-quarter earnings per share, on both a GAAP and adjusted basis, of 5 cents to 15 cents. That's well below the FactSet EPS consensus of 39 cents. U.S. same-store sales are expected to be down about 12%, while same-store sales for its Acceptance Now brand stores are expected to be flat. "Following the implementation of our new point-of-sale system, we experienced system performance issues and outages that resulted in a larger than expected negative impact on core sales," said Chief Executive Robert Davis. The company is scheduled to report Q3 results on Oct. 27. Separately, the rent-to-own company said it amended its credit agreement, reducing the fixed charge coverage ratio from 1.50 to 1.00 from 1.75 to 1.00. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 14% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.9%.