Topic: Growth Stocks

PETSMART INC. $69 – Nasdaq symbol PETM

PETSMART INC. $69 (Nasdaq symbol PETM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 108.2 million; Market cap: $7.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.petm.com) operates 1,269 pet stores in the U.S. and Canada. It also has 195 in-store PetsHotels, which look after pets while their owners are away.

In the third quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, which ended October 28, 2012, PetSmart’s earnings jumped 46.6%, to $82.3 million from $56.2 million a year earlier. The company bought back $60 million of its shares during the quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 50.0%, to $0.75 from $0.50.

Sales rose 8.8%, to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion. Same-store sales rose 6.5%, while sales of pet services, such as grooming, rose 8.5%. Services accounted for 10.7% of PetSmart’s total sales.

The company now expects to earn $3.47 to $3.51 a share in fiscal 2013, up from its earlier forecast of $3.30 to $3.40. The stock trades at a high, but still reasonable, 19.8 times the midpoint of the new range.

PetSmart is a buy.

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