What happened
The future was a bit unclear for eye care specialist National Vision Holdings (EYE 2.17%) on Tuesday, following the release of its first-quarter results this morning. Although the company topped analyst estimates for profitability, there was a big catch looming in its earnings release. As a result, the stock ended the day nearly 26% lower.
So what
National Vision revealed that its revenue for the quarter was just under $528 million, which was marginally (1.2%) lower than the year-ago quarter. Comparable-store performance saw a steeper decline, however, tumbling by almost 5% across that stretch of time.
But these drops were no match for the slide in GAAP net earnings, which fell at a nearly 31% clip to just over $30 million. On a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, the company earned $0.33 per share.
Image source: Getty Images.
On average, analysts following National Vision stock were anticipating that the company would post a bit over $536 million in revenue, but net a per-share adjusted profit of only $0.30.
National Vision quoted its CEO Reade Fahs as saying this about the quarter: "With headwinds from the Omicron variant, weaker consumer confidence, and emerging constraints to exam capacity, our [comparable sales] declined as we lapped a record performance last year."
He added, "During the quarter, we continued to execute our growth strategy and opened 17 stores, including two Eyeglass World stores as we ramp up expansion of this brand."
Now what
Investors probably weren't too bothered by any of that. What almost certainly troubled them more was the company's downwardly revised guidance for the entirety of 2022.
It now believes its comps will fall by 4% to 7% compared to 2021; previously it was guiding for anywhere from a 1% decline to 1.5% growth. The revenue forecast also got a trim, to a range of $2.01 billion to $2.07 billion (formerly $2.12 billion to $2.17 billion). Finally, adjusted per-share earnings are currently expected to be $0.65 to $0.80 for the year, well down from the preceding $1.03 to $1.10.
