IBJNews

HHGregg shares tumble on profit warning

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

HHGregg shares tumbled 10 percent in early trading Monday after the Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics retailer slashed its 2013 profit forecast  almost 25 percent on a sharper-than-expected drop in television sales.

The company said it expects to report that same-store sales fell 9.7 percent for the quarter ended Dec. 31, led by an ugly 24.6-percent decline in the video category. Same-store sales figures are a key measure of a retailer's health.

HHGregg said it expects to earn from 70 cents to 80 cents per share for the 2013 fiscal year, which ends March 31. That compares to previous guidance in the range of 90 cents to $1.05. The chain is scheduled to report its official third-quarter results Jan. 31.

HHGregg said same-store sales of appliances likely rose 6.1 percent in the third quarter, and computing and mobile phone sales gained 16.2 percent. But that was not enough to offset the big drop in television sales, along with a 24-percent sales drop in an "other" category, which includeds audio, mattresses and personal electronics.

The chain has been moving aggressively away from relying on sales of flat-panel televisions, which have become a low-margin commodity. In recent months, stores have added furniture, exercise equipment and Apple products.

CEO Dennis May said in Monday's filing that the chain continues to test new product categories "that further diversify our business and reduce our dependence on new product innovations in the video sector."

He also pointed to appliances as a point of strength, noting the category has grown for HHGregg for six consecutive quarters. Last year, appliances overtook video as HHGregg's largest sales category, making up almost 50 percent of sales.

In its updated guidance, HHGregg said it expects to spend $35 million to $40 million on capital expenditures in fiscal 2013, down from an earlier target of $50 million to $55 million, suggesting a further reduction in store-count growth. The company, which operates 228 stores in 20 states, has been on a growth binge the last few years.

It expects fiscal 2013 same-store sales to fall from 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent and overall sales to stay flat or rise 1 percent.

HHGregg, which has no debt, also noted Monday that it has spent $30 million so far this fiscal year to repurchase 3.6 million shares. That works out to an average of about $8.33 per share, a premium of almost 20 percent to the trading price early Monday.

Shares dropped to as low as $6.95 each Monday morning, a fall of 95 cents.

ADVERTISEMENT

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. In my opinion the estridge companies are crooks. They filed bankruptcy on their 'track housing' side of the business two weeks before they closed on one of my clients' homes. When my client first interviewed Estridge as a builder 6 months before, they specifically ASKED about the solvency of their business, knowing that some builders were struggling. Estridge truly misrepresented their financial situation at that time. I suppose I am more unhappy with the whole system than I am with the builder because what the heck==you can file bankruptcy on 'track homes' but still keep building and make money off of 'custom built' homes??? How ridiculous! They are all homes. How can a company be allowed to bilk thousands of dollars from their subcontractors but still be allowed to build houses?? they should have been made to pay back all their unpaid contractors before being allowed to profit from building any more houses! This alone makes them and the system crooks in my eyes. I would never build an estridge home and I would not recommend for my clients either. If they were truly 'bankrupt' how could they afford to keep building homes anyway??? The whole system needs fixed.

  2. I live a couple blocks east of the Angie's campus and my house is assessed for ~$160,000. If I could get that amount, let alone $384,000 (a 140% bonus), I'd sell in a minute. Either Angie's stockholders just got fleeced, or Angie's is getting about a 58% discount on their property taxes, if these properties are actually worth what they paid Mr. Oesterle for them. Which do you think is the case?

  3. Perhaps the IMA board is really to blame! They agreed to hire Charles. They can't seemingly find donors among themselves, or bring in new blood that will support the museums operating budget with an expanded museum and money to provide curators with something to do (ie buy art). The headlines of disarray at the museum and mass firings are hurting the reputation of the museum for some time to come. If people on the board had misgivings, perhaps they shpuld have more forcefully opposed efforts that they have seemingly been unable to fund, like expansion and the costs it has created!

  4. See, I told u Indyman and Dipsicle....this 8 days is overkill. It's barely worth a weekend....great job Tony George! Your dream has been fulfilled....he fans want the I r l back. Thats how good it was.....and that sucked.

  5. I have been in training for a short time now but right off I can see that safety and quality are the number one issues, my experience as of late has been a positive one, the employees along with Jeff the plant manager and the operation supervisor as well as the engineers are a highly motivated group of people, what an asset for the area to have and for company's in need of a quality metal products.

ADVERTISEMENT