Williams-Sonoma Q1 Results Beats Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Shares of Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSM) gained nearly 12% on Thursday extended session after the company's first-quarter results trumped Wall Street estimates.

The company reported first-quarter profit of $35.4 million or $0.45 per share, down from $52.7 million or $0.66 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.74 per share, compared with $0.81 per share last year.

Net revenues were $1.24 billion, relatively flat with last year, "despite stores being temporarily closed for most of the quarter, driven by a significant acceleration in e-commerce revenue growth to over 30%."

Total comparable brand revenue growth was 2.6%, with positive comparable revenue growth in almost all brands, including Pottery Barn Kids and Teen at 8.5%, Williams Sonoma at 5.4% and West Elm at 3.3%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss $0.15 per share and revenues of $1.02 billion.

"In this highly disrupted environment, we are proud to deliver 2.6% comp growth in the first quarter, despite having all of our 616 stores closed for more than half of the quarter. Our large e-commerce business had breakout comp growth in the second half of the quarter and continues to accelerate," said CEO Laura Alber.

Moving ahead, the company said it is not providing guidance for fiscal year 2020, "given the dynamic nature of the COVID-19 crisis and the continuing macroeconomic uncertainty that could impact its performance."

WSM closed Thursday's trading at $73.03, down $0.32 or 0.44%, on the NYSE. The stock, however, gained $8.52 or 11.67% in the after-hours trade.