Tractor Supply Co., the leading retailer of farm and ranch products, experienced a significant drop in its stock (TSCO, -0.08%) by 5% during Thursday’s early trading session. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company reported a net income of $255 million, or $2.33 per share, for the quarter, an increase from $234.1 million, or $2.10 per share, in the same period last year. Despite this growth, sales only rose by 4.3% to reach $3.41 billion.
Unfortunately, Tractor Supply’s earnings fell short of the FactSet consensus, with analysts expecting earnings per share (EPS) of $2.29 and sales amounting to $3.47 billion. CEO Hal Lawton acknowledged the disappointing performance, stating that sales were lower than anticipated due to various factors affecting consumer spending. He added, “Given this environment, we have revised our outlook for the year to account for continued unfavorable seasonal category performance and cautious consumer spending.”
As a result, Tractor Supply Co. revised its full-year guidance, projecting EPS between $10.00 and $10.10 compared to the previous range of $10.20 to $10.40. The company also lowered its sales forecast to a range of $14.5 billion to $14.6 billion, down from the initial guidance of $14.8 billion to $14.9 billion. Furthermore, the company expects same-store sales to remain flat, contrary to the previous forecast of a 1.3% to 2.5% increase.
Since the beginning of the year, Tractor Supply’s stock has experienced a decline of 12%, in contrast to the S&P 500 (SPX, -1.43%), which has seen a 9% increase.