Big Lots reports Q3 EPS ($4.38), consensus ($4.66)

Reports Q3 revenue $1.03B, consensus $1.03B. CEO Bruce Thorn stated, “Although the environment remains challenging, we continued to make significant progress in turning around our business…As a result, we are now on track to deliver an adjusted Q4 operating result ahead of last year, which would mark the first quarter of year-over-year improvement in nearly three years, and we expect quarterly year-over-year improvements to continue through 2024. As it relates to Q3 results, we were able to deliver on or exceed our beginning of quarter guidance on all key metrics….Additionally, we are on track to achieve over $100M of SG&A cost savings, prior to Project Springboard benefits for the year. Project Springboard is off to a strong start and on track to deliver $200M of bottom-line benefits, spanning gross margin and SG&A, of which we expect a high proportion to be realized on a run-rate basis by the end of 2024. To support our ongoing turnaround, our efforts to aggressively manage costs, inventory and capital expenditures, as well as monetize our assets with completion of a $306M sale/leaseback in the quarter, have allowed us to significantly strengthen our balance sheet….We expect to generate substantial free cash flow and significantly reduce outstanding debt in Q4.”