Offering an assortment of brand name food and general merchandise items within a wide range of product categories, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. (BJ) announced prior to the opening bell on November 18 that the company’s net profits during the 3Q faltered, despite an increase in overall sales. Net earnings were affected by the company’s one-time charge related to a settlement in a labor suit.

For the recent quarter, BJ’s posted a net profit of $17.7M, or $0.32 per share, down from last year’s 3Q earnings of $28.2M, or $0.48 per share, a decrease in net income of more than 37% year-over-year. The wholesaler’s bottom-line was affected by an $11.7M, or $0.13 per share, charge related to a labor claim, as well as higher selling, general and administrative expenses and increased expenses to open new clubs.

Excluding the company’s one-time charge, BJ’s would have posted a quarterly profit of $24.6M, or $0.45 per share.

Revenues generated during the period advanced marginally, climbing from $2.46B to $2.51B, a 2% increase over last year’s results. Sales were bolstered by bargain seeking consumers that remain cash-strapped during the recession. BJ’s saw sales from core basics like cereal, cigarettes, and the deli and paper products as their biggest increases. The biggest areas of decline for quarterly sales came from BJ’s electronics, tires and video games categories.

On average, analysts within the industry were looking for the wholesale club operator to post a quarterly profit of $0.45 per share on total revenues of $2.48B.

Further inside the report, BJ’s witnessed revenues generated from membership fees increase by more than 3%, advancing from $44.51M to $45.95M. The company’s operating income for the quarter slipped year-over-year, falling from $48.01M to $30.43M, a decrease of almost 37%.

Expenses were a key detriment to the company’s overall income, as selling, general and administrative expenses increased from $207.47M to $231.61M, a jump in costs of nearly 12%. With the company looking to continuously expand, pre-opening expenses nearly doubled during the quarter, soaring from $1.02M a year ago to $1.95M.

Through the first nine months of the year, BJ’s managed to post a profit of $77.07M, or $1.41 per share. Compared to the same period a year ago, in which the company posted net earnings of $81.92M, or $1.38 per share, BJ’s saw a decrease in net income of nearly 6%. Meanwhile, income from continuing operations for the nine months came in at $77.37M, or $1.42 per share, compared to $83.01M, or $1.40 per share, a decline of almost 7%.

Revenues through the first three quarters was $7.39B, down marginally from the same period a year ago of $7.47B.

Looking ahead to the company’s upcoming 4Q, BJ’s is looking to post a quarterly profit between $0.96 and $1.00 per share, with net sales increasing between 10.5% and 12.5% above last year’s 4Q revenue totals, reflecting total sales in a range of $2.83B to $2.88B. The company is projecting same store sales during the next quarter to increase between 5% and 7%.

For the full year, BJ’s projects earnings to range between $2.36 and $2.40 per share, down from a previously stated range of $2.46 to $2.56 per share. Overall revenues for the year are expected to grow between 1.5% to 2.5%, equating to total sales between $9.95B and $10.05B.

Analysts are expecting BJ’s to post a 4Q profit of $0.97 per share based on overall revenues of $2.76B.

With the November 18 trading session concluded, shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club slipped 2% by the close, falling $0.71 to end the day at $35.63 per share. During the past year, the company’s stock price has traded within a relatively broad range, reaching a high of $40.77 per share, while dipping as low as $27.26 per share.