Rite Aid Q2 Profit Beats Estimates; Cuts FY15 Earnings Outlook - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) reported second-quarter net income of $127.8 million or $0.13 per share compared to $32.8 million or $0.03 per share, last year. The company said the improvement in net income resulted primarily from an increase in Adjusted EBITDA, a lower LIFO charge due to pharmacy inventory reductions and a loss on debt retirement in the prior year, partially offset by higher income tax expense.

On average, nine analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.06 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues were $6.52 billion, compared with $6.28 billion, a year ago. Revenues increased 3.9 percent primarily as a result of an increase in pharmacy same store sales. Same store sales for the quarter increased 4.1 percent over the prior year. Analysts expected revenue of $6.48 billion for the quarter.

For fiscal 2015, the company now expects net income to be between $223.0 million and $333.0 million or income per share of $0.22 to $0.33. Sales are expected to be in the range of $26.0 billion to $26.3 billion and same store sales are expected to range from an increase of 3.00 percent to an increase of 4.00 percent over Fiscal 2014. Analysts expect the company to report fiscal 2015 profit per share of $0.34 on revenue of $26.29 billion.

Earlier, the company expected net income to be between $298.0 million and $408.0 million or income per share of $0.30 to $0.40. Sales were expected to be in the range of $26.0 billion to $26.5 billion and same store sales were expected to range from an increase of 2.50 percent to an increase of 4.50 percent over Fiscal 2014.