Big Lots Inc. shares hit a new 52-week high after the retailer said it believes it can expand its store base to 1,800 stores due to changes in the commercial real estate market.
Shares rose $1.13, or 3.5 percent, to $33.01. Earlier in the day, the stock hit a new yearly high of $33.98. The stock has traded between $12.40 and $32.50 in the past 52 weeks.
Big Lots, which specializes in buying closeout items from other retailers and selling them at a discount, told analysts at a Piper Jaffray consumer conference Wednesday that the real estate market has cooled enough to allow the company to expand.
"Up until recently, the real estate space has been at a premium and the rent market needed to cool down before we were going to be able to open a significant number of stores profitably," said Chief Executive Steve Fishman at the conference. "We are starting to see more opportunity to open new stores as the commercial real estate market has started to come back to us."
As of May 3, Big Lots operated 1,354 stores.
The rise also followed the release earlier Thursday of a Commerce Department report showing retail sales jumped in May. The gain was the biggest in six months, helping to alleviate investors' fears that consumers struggling to pay higher gas and food costs may be too strapped to spend.
The news also boosted the shares of most retail stocks.
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