Burlington Stores CEO Michael O’Sullivan, while reporting strong fourth-quarter results by the off-price retailer, said the company plans to refocus on home categories it deemphasized in 2025 in the face of margin pressures associated with tariff rate increases.
Net income was $310.4 million, or $4.84 per diluted share, versus $260.8 billion, or $4.02 per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter, the company noted. Adjusted for one-time events, net income was $320 million, or $4.99 per diluted share, versus $267 million, or $4.13 per diluted share, in the year-prior period.
An analyst consensus estimate from Zacks Investment Research forecast adjusted diluted earnings per share of $4.70 and revenues of $3.58 billion.
Revenues were $3.65 billion versus $3.28 billion in the year-before quarter as comparable sales gained 4%.
For the full year, net income was $610.2 million, or $9.51 per diluted share, versus $503.6 million, or $7.80 per diluted share, in the year earlier, the company maintained. Adjusted net income was $652 million, or $10.17 per diluted share, versus $540 million, or $8.35 per diluted share, in the year prior.
Revenues $11.57 billion versus $10.63 billion in the year before.
Burlington guidance for fiscal 2026 is for total sales to increase in the range of 8% to 10% and adjusted earnings per share to fall in the range of $10.95 to $11.45.
In a conference call, O’Sullivan said the company had “enormous success” growing the home operation prior to 2025, particularly housewares, home decor, bedding, gifting and seasonal. However, he noted, tariffs impacted the company’s plans to build momentum early in the past fiscal year. Burlington decided to focus on categories that weren’t experiencing the degree of margin pressure in key home segments. However ,he added that the opportunity to grow the home business remains. With lower tariff rates now, Burlington plans to again get aggressive in home during the current fiscal year.
O’Sullivan said, in announcing the financial results, “We are very pleased with our strong performance in the fourth quarter. Comparable store sales increased 4%, on top of a robust 6% increase the prior year. This represents a very strong 10% two-year comp stack. Adjusted EBIT margin was 100 basis points higher than last year, and 50 basis points above the high end of our expectations. This sales and margin performance drove 21% earnings per share growth. This was a very strong performance in our largest quarter of the year.”
O’Sullivan added, “Looking back on 2025 as a whole, total sales increased 9% on top of an 11% increase the prior year, and comparable store sales increased 2% on top of 4% last year. When tariffs were introduced in April, we took actions to offset the negative margin impact of tariffs. These actions were spectacularly successful in driving earnings. Despite tariffs, adjusted EBIT margin increased 80 basis points, resulting in 22% earnings per share growth. We are feeling bullish about our prospects in Fiscal 2026. There are external and internal factors that are driving this optimism. Our full year comp guidance of 1% to 3% growth is now slightly ahead of our typical model, reflecting our optimism. In fact, we think that there may be potential upside to our expectations, and we have positioned the business to aggressively chase sales.”
