MW BJ's Wholesale's stock rises as outlook maintained, despite a sales miss and tariffs

By James Rogers

BJ's maintained its guidance while the broader retail sector is wrestling with the fallout from the Trump administration's sweeping wave of tariffs

Shares of BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. were rising in early Thursday trading after the membership-based warehouse retailer maintained its full-year guidance, despite fiscal first-quarter revenue and comparable sales that missed Wall Street's expectations.

The retail sector is wrestling with the fallout from the Trump administration's sweeping wave of tariffs as well as pressure on discretionary spending. Earlier this week, Target Corp. (TGT) cut its full-year profit outlook, citing a highly challenging first-quarter retail environment. Last week, however, Walmart Inc. $(WMT)$ maintained its full-year outlook in the face of economic and tariff-related uncertainties.

BJ's $(BJ)$ net income for the quarter rose $149.77 million, or $1.13 a share, from $111.02 million, or 83 cents a share, in the prior year's quarter. BJ's adjusted first-quarter profit of $1.14 a share beat the FactSet consensus estimate of 92 cents a share.

Revenue rose to $5.15 billion from $4.92 billion in the same period last year, just below the analyst revenue estimate of $5.19 billion.

However, BJ's maintained its full-year guidance for adjusted earnings in the range of $4.10 to $4.30 a share and comparable-club sales, excluding the impact of gasoline sales, to increase 2% to 3.5%.

The stock rose 1.2% in premarket trading. The stock had closed Wednesday just 2.1% away from its April 14 record close of $119.94.

The company's membership fee income rose to $120.4 million from $111.4 million in the prior year's quarter. BJ's said this was partly driven by an increase in annual membership fees in January 2025.

Total comparable-club sales, or sales at locations open at least 13 months, increased 1.6%, below the FactSet consensus estimate of 3.6%. Excluding the impact of gasoline sales, comparable-club sales increased 3.9%. Digitally-enabled comparable-club sales grew 35%.

The company said it opened five new clubs and four new gas stations during the first quarter.

BJ's shares have risen 31.5% in 2025 through Wednesday, compared with the benchmark S&P 500 index's SPX decline of 0.6%. Shares of rival Costco Wholesale Corp. $(COST)$ are up 11.9% this year.

-James Rogers

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May 22, 2025 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)

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