Five Below Inc (NASDAQ:FIVE) stock rose 10.42% (As on March 19, 11:32:14 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company offered an upbeat forecast for this year and said shoppers across all income levels were buying at its stores, helped by efforts to draw younger shoppers and keep apace with viral trends online. The company plans to focus more on Gen Alpha and Gen Z shoppers, and also on millennial moms — through a more refined approach to social media and services like delivery. That approach, helped Five Below take advantage of the current craze for “squishy dumplings” — the latest popular fidget toy that the retailer has managed to cash in on.

FIVE in the fourth quarter of FY 25 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $4.31, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $3.99, according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 24 percent to $1.73 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 25, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue by 1.14%. Revenue growth was driven by a strong holiday season and a 15.4% increase in comparable sales, which was driven by growth in comparable ticket of 8% and comparable transactions of 7%. In the fourth quarter, the company opened 14 net new stores across eight states compared to 22 net new stores in the fourth quarter last year. Adjusted gross profit increased 24% to $697 million or 40.3% in rate of sale, a decrease of approximately 20 basis points compared to the fourth quarter last year. This was primarily driven by transitory tariff costs of 160 basis points, which were mostly mitigated by fixed cost leverage on the strong comp sales and improved shrink results.

The net addition of about 150 new stores will help drive net sales of $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion for the year. This assumes an increase of about 3% to 5% in comparable sales, above the average 2.8% rise for the year seen by analysts polled by Bloomberg. Five Below expects adjusted earnings per share to come in at around $7.74 to $8.25 for fiscal 2026, higher than the $7.04 consensus estimate. Five Below said the outlook included the impact of existing U.S. tariffs on imports. Five Below sees comparable sales rising 14% and 16% in the first quarter, far surpassing the 6.7% growth forecast by analysts.