PetSmart Inc. Outlook Revised To Positive As Strong Second-Quarter Sales Accelerate Its Deleveraging, Ratings Affirmed

U.S.-based PetSmart Inc.'s second-quarter performance was stronger than we expected as it benefited from shifts in consumer discretionary spending due to the coronavirus pandemic and accelerating deleveraging. Therefore, we are revising our outlook on PetSmart to positive from stable and affirming all of our ratings, including our 'B-' issuer credit rating. The positive outlook reflects our expectation that continued revenue and EBITDA expansion will lead to leverage in the mid-6x area as of the end of fiscal year 2020 before improving further to 6x in fiscal year 2021. NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 28, 2020—S&P Global Ratings today took the rating actions listed above. The outlook revision reflects our expectation that the company's strong performance in the second quarter

...September 28, 2020 - U.S.-based PetSmart Inc.'s second-quarter performance was stronger than we expected as it benefited from shifts in consumer discretionary spending due to the coronavirus pandemic and accelerating deleveraging. - Therefore, we are revising our outlook on PetSmart to positive from stable and affirming all of our ratings, including our 'B-' issuer credit rating. - The positive outlook reflects our expectation that continued revenue and EBITDA expansion will lead to leverage in the mid-6x area as of the end of fiscal year 2020 before improving further to 6x in fiscal year 2021. NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 28, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today took the rating actions listed above. The outlook revision reflects our expectation that the company's strong performance in the second quarter has modestly accelerated our anticipated deleveraging trend. However, some uncertainty remains around how the pandemic will affect PetSmart's performance through 2020 and into 2021. PetSmart's...

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