PST stock was weak after they reported but up today. I just caught the call, and there were two key points to a story that remains a great growth play. First, they raised membership fees in most of their markets in late June - this will be used to lower prices ($30 fee went to $35), which will hopefully drive membership value (and growth). This was the first hike in 8 years, and it has been accepted on renewals. Second, there was about .08 of tough EPS comp that was explained. First, there were real estate gains of .04 a year ago. Second, there was a swing in currency that cost .04. On the operating line, there was a big issue with a credit card processor that cost the company almost $1mm to correct a one-time error from over the past four years. There was also a small amount of cost due to investment in Colombia.
I noted some deceleration of same-store sales, which is a bit cautious, but this is a great story (store openings with good same-store growth). My target is 79 a year out - it was too expensive in late April but certainly reasonable now (and earlier today).
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