Narrow-Moat Tractor Supply Continues to Capture Share of Wallet; Shares Rich

In advance of a corporate presentation, narrow-moat Tractor Supply offered an early read on its second-quarter (June ending) performance. For now, the firm expects to grow sales 8% and generate EPS of more than $3.48 in the period, which are ahead of our 6.2% top-line and $3.31 EPS forecasts. Admittedly, we have little insight into the composition of the earnings outperformance or the amount of share repurchases, which could prove to be a swing factor depending on the level of activity. We surmise the majority of the sales upside stemmed from the normalization of weather, which facilitated further outdoor category demand. Tractor Supply has already launched 200 garden locations within its existing footprint, an effort we believe will support incremental sales growth ahead.