These 2 Stocks Were Making Moves After Hours Monday

Monday turned out to be a solid day for the stock market. Gains were most significant for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.40%), but the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 2.02%) and S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.02%) managed to recover from losses earlier in the session and post modest gains as well.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

Earnings season won't start in earnest until later this week, but after the closing bell, a few companies announced their latest financial results. WD-40 (WDFC 0.14%) gave shareholders some good news that sent the stock higher, but PriceSmart (PSMT 1.65%) wasn't as kind with its most recent quarterly report. Below, you can read about all the details.

WD-40 greases the wheels

Shares of WD-40 moved higher by 4% in after-hours trading late Monday. The maker of the popular workshop solvent and other products reported fiscal third-quarter financial results for the period ended May 31, and investors were generally pleased with what the company had to say.

WD-40's latest financial numbers showed a nice rebound from weaker business conditions earlier in the year. Net sales for the quarter climbed 15% year over year to $142 million. Net income of $18.9 million grew at an even more impressive 30% pace. WD-40 did a good job of reining in costs at the production level, with gross margin climbing almost three percentage points to 50.6%.

CEO Steve Brass was pleased with his company's performance. After seeing flat to lower sales in the first two quarters of the fiscal year, Brass pointed to higher sales of maintenance products in the U.S., as well as a huge 42% rise in sales from WD-40's Asia-Pacific region. Despite foreign currency effects that have affected financial metrics negatively throughout the fiscal year thus far, WD-40 is still confident in its ability to perform well over the long run.

Accordingly, WD-40 reiterated its guidance for fiscal 2023, including sales growth between 3.5% and 7.5% and earnings of between $4.80 and $5 per share. Some investors expected worse from WD-40, but if it can keep turning things around, then the stock could have further to rise.

PriceSmart sinks despite stock buyback announcement

Shares of PriceSmart were moving the other way late Monday, falling 5% in after-hours  trading. The warehouse retail stock  fell following the company's release of fiscal third-quarter financial results for the period ended May 31.

On their face, PriceSmart's financial results weren't bad. Total revenue for the quarter came in at $1.10 billion, up 6.4% year over year on a 7.1% rise in net merchandise sales. Adjusted net income soared 65% from year-ago levels to $31.9 million, which worked out to $1.02 per share in adjusted earnings. Membership income represented an important contributor to PriceSmart's profits, growing 8.4% from the year-earlier quarter and bringing in $16.7 million.

In addition, PriceSmart's board of directors announced that it had authorized the company to repurchase shares of common stock worth up to $75 million. That doesn't guarantee that stock buybacks will happen, but it typically shows that company insiders believe that the share price is at least attractive enough to warrant consideration of repurchases at some point in the near future.

Nevertheless, investors appear to have wanted even better evidence of a recovery for the warehouse retailer. With shares already having seen solid gains so far in 2023, PriceSmart needs to keep up its momentum to satisfy its shareholders.