Shares of Big Lots Inc. tumbled 14.1% in premarket trading Thursday, after the discount home essentials retailer reported a wider-than-expected fiscal third-quarter loss, disappointing sales and provided a downbeat outlook amid a “challenging macroeconomic environment.” Net losses for the quarter to Oct. 29 widened to $103.0 million, or $3.56 a share, from $4.3 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, the adjusted per-share loss of $2.99 was wider than the FactSet loss consensus of $2.94. Sales dropped 9.8% to $1.20 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $1.21 billion, as same-store sales fell 11.7% to miss expectations of a 10.8% decline. Gross margin contracted to 34.0% from 38.9%, while inventory growth of 5.3% to $1.35 billion as of Oct. 29 improved from 22.8% growth in the sequential second quarter. For the fourth quarter, the company expects same-store sales to decline in the “low-double-digit” percentage range, while the FactSet consensus is for a decline of 4.2%. The stock has lost 9.2% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has climbed 6.3% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.9%.
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