BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc.’s stock rose 5% Thursday and was headed toward its record closing high after the company posted better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter. The stock was last trading at $78.05, after closing at a record of $80.01 on Nov. 10 of last year.
The Marlborough, Mass.-based company posted net income of $129.8 million, or 95 cents a share, for the quarter to Jan. 28, up from $107.6 million, or 78 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $1, comfortably ahead of the 88-cent FactSet consensus. Sales rose 13.2% to $4.828 billion from $4.264 billion, also ahead of the $4.786 billion FactSet consensus. Same-store sales rose 9.8%, almost double the 5.5% FactSet consensus. “A beat is a good way to start the Analyst Day,” wrote DA Davidson analysts after the earnings were released early Thursday. Membership-fee income rose 8% to $101.8 million in the quarter, and the company had a record 90% tenured-member-renewal rate. Digital sales grew 22%, and the company has opened five new clubs since the end of the third quarter and expects to expand into a 20th state this summer with a new club in Ten …