Rite Aid Corp. RAD,
+ 2.90%
shares rose 2.4% on Tuesday before marketing, after the drugstore retailer reported surprise adjusted third-quarter earnings and announced dozens of store closings. The net loss totaled $ 36.1 million, or 67 cents per share, after net income of $ 4.3 million, or 8 cents per share, last year. Adjusted EPS of 15 cents beat the FactSet consensus for a loss of 18 cents. Revenue of $ 6.229 billion was up from $ 6.117 billion, but below the FactSet consensus of $ 6.320 billion. “Despite the challenges of the job market, our pharmacists and store teams have been able to respond to unprecedented volumes of COVID and influenza vaccinations, COVID testing and other clinical services,” said Heyward Donigan, Managing Director of Rite Aid, in a statement. Rite Aid announced a store review that will result in 63 store closings and annual EBITDA profit of $ 25 million. Store closings began in November. The company will continue to examine the stores and expects additional closings over the coming months. For fiscal 2022, Rite Aid projects revenues of between $ 24.4 billion and $ 24.7 billion and an adjusted loss per share of between 4 and 49 cents. The FactSet consensus projects revenue of $ 25 billion and a loss per share of 77 cents. Rite Aid shares fell 21.7% in 2021 while the S&P 500 SPX index,
-1.14%
gained 21.6% over the period.