Liquidity Services Ups Earnings 65% On Holiday Sales
By KEVIN SHALVEY, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 05:56 PM ET
For about an hour Wednesday, it seemed investors wanted out of Liquidity Services (LQDT).
After the online auction reseller released a tepid outlook before the bell, Liquidity's shares fell 8% in early trading Wednesday.
Liquidity says it expects profit of 28 cents to 32 cents a share for the current quarter, its fiscal Q2. Wall Street had been expecting 37 cents, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
But an hour later, after company executives explained the outlook, the stock rebounded, and closed up 4.6% at 36.10.
"The initial sell-off was because investor confidence may have been shaken, with some thinking that growth was going to slow," said Daniel Kurnos, an analyst with Benchmark Co. "Comments by management put some of that concern to bed."
The company, in fact, actually boosted its full-year profit outlook.
"I think the dynamics people have to remember about our business, about the second quarter, is the seasonality," Jim Rallo, Liquidity's chief financial officer, said in the company's earnings conference call with analysts.
Liquidity auctions and resells online returned retail merchandise, so it generally has a strong first fiscal quarter, which coincides with the holiday shopping season, Rallo says.
And last June, Liquidity auctioned U.S. Department of Defense scrap surplus on GovDeals.com, which boosts its fiscal third quarter, typically the company's strongest quarter, he says.
But the second quarter ending March 31 can lag those quarters, Rallo says.
For fiscal 2012, Liquidity now says it expects per-share profit of $1.32 to $1.38, up from its earlier guidance of $1.26 to $1.32 per share.
For the quarter ended December 31, Liquidity beat Wall Street's estimates on both sales and profit. Per-share profit minus items soared 65% to 28 cents, beating analysts' consensus estimate of 27 cents.
Liquidity said revenue rose 35% to $106 million, beating analyst views of $102 million.
"If you believe the stock was worth owning before, then the outlook really hasn't changed," said analyst Kurnos.
The company says it's planning "to fund major upgrades" to its technology in the coming year. Rallo says those upgrades include warehouse inventory systems.
Liquidity CEO Bill Angrick said on the conference call that he's "very optimistic" about Liquidity's growth, "particularly with organic growth in our retail supply chain business."
Angrick says the company's growth might be spurred this year by recent acquisitions, including TruckCenter.com, which auctions transportation assets, and Jacobs Trading, which auctions manufacturers' excess inventory.
He says the company actively is looking for new acquisitions.
And he says the company has established "a number" of new relationships with big retailers.
"It's very difficult for us to establish early on in these relationships, because there are lots of things the client controls operationally," Angrick said. "But I think if you look at the fiscal 2012 outlook and beyond, we've never been more excited."
