By Elias Schisgall
Shares of National Vision Holdings advanced after an increase sales to its most profitable customers helped the company turn a profit and boosted its bottom line in the fourth quarter.
Shares rose 11% to $29.66 in midday Wednesday trading. The stock has gained nearly one-and-a-half times its value in the past year.
The optical retail company on reported a profit of $3.3 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with a loss of $28.6 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier. The most recent quarter included an extra week of operations that added 3 cents to earnings per share, the company said.
Stripping out certain one-time items, the company reported adjusted earnings of 15 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting 6 cents a share.
The company reported net revenue of $503.4 million, including $35.6 million from the extra week in the quarter. That compares to $437.3 million in the comparable period a year prior. Analysts were expecting $495.2 million in net revenue.
"This year we saw strong traffic gains from our most profitable target customers, including those who use managed vision care insurance, progressive lens wearers and those who bring in outside prescriptions," Chief Executive Alex Wilkes said.
Adjusted same-store sales grew 4.8% year-over-year, excluding the extra week of operations.
For the current fiscal year, the company is expecting revenue between $2.03 billion and $2.09 billion, with adjusted earnings of 85 cents to $1.09 a share. Analysts are expecting $2.08 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings of 93 cents a share.
The company is projecting adjusted same-store sales growth of between 3% and 6%.
The company also said its board had authorized up to $50 million in stock buybacks through 2030.
Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 04, 2026 13:19 ET (18:19 GMT)
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