Membership and traffic gains propelled BJ’s Wholesale Club through its second quarter with help from an increasing store count.
BJ’s beat a Yahoo Finance-published analyst consensus estimate of $1 per adjusted diluted share and revenue of $5.15 billion.
With the impact of gasoline sales excluded, comparable club sales gained 2.4% in the quarter year over year.
Net sales were $5.09 billion and total revenue including membership fees was $5.21 billion versus $4.86 billion and $4.96 billion, respectively, in the year-earlier quarter. Operating income was $203.7 million versus $200.3 million in the period a year prior.
In a conference call, Bob Eddy, BJ’s chairman and CEO, emphasized the company is focused on a long-term strategy that is working.
“Perhaps the greatest marker of long-term progress is our 9% growth in membership fees,” Eddy said. “This is driven by the largest member count growth in a quarter since the pandemic. We also saw great growth in premium-tier memberships and stronger renewal rates.”
Eddy added general merchandise improved sequentially from the first quarter and delivered comp growth of more than 1% in the second quarter year over year. Seasonal general merchandise was up more than 1,000 basis points from the first quarter. Seasonal appliance sales were up, although BJ’s members remained a bit wary of big-ticket seasonal goods purchases on items such as patio sets, the retailer reported.
Eddy, in announcing the financial results, said, “Our second quarter was marked by robust membership, accelerating traffic and unit growth, and a fast-tracking digital business, which led to strong performance in the quarter. This was our tenth consecutive quarter of traffic growth. We are driving healthy membership expansion across both existing and new clubs. Our compelling value proposition is resonating with our members and we believe our results demonstrate the meaningful progress we are making on our long-term strategic initiatives. I am proud of our team members for their continued dedication to our purpose of ‘taking care of the families who depend on us’. We will continue to invest in the long-term success of our company and we remain excited about our future.”
