Hibbett Sports Q2 Profit Beats View, Sales Miss; Tightens FY1 Earnings Forecast

(RTTNews) - Sporting goods retailer Hibbett Sports Inc. (HIBB) on Friday reported that second-quarter net income was $6.5 million, down from $7.0 million last year. However, earnings per share improved to $0.29 from $0.28 last year.

On average, 19 analysts currently expected earnings per share of $0.27, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the 13-week period increased 3.9% to $206.9 million from $199.3 million a year ago. Analysts expected sales of $208.98 million. Comparable store sales increased 0.8%.

Gross profit margin was 33.0%, compared with 32.7% a year ago. The increase was mainly due to an improvement in the Company's merchandise margin rate.

Jeff Rosenthal, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Footwear continues to show significant strength, driven by our differentiated assortment and continued improvement in allocation and in-stock position. We also continue to see improvement in our merchandise margin rate, driven by improved systems and promotional management. Looking forward, we feel we are well positioned for our back-to-school season with our product assortments and early deliveries of merchandise for this important period."

For the quarter, Hibbett opened 14 new stores, expanded one high performing store and closed eight underperforming stores, bringing the store base to 1,059 in 33 states as of July 30.

Looking ahead, the company tightened its earnings guidance for the 52 weeks ending January 28, 2017. The company now expects earnings per share in the range of $2.93 to $3.02, compared to a previously expected range of $2.90 to $3.04.

Analysts currently expect earnings per share of $2.98 for the year.

Additionally, merchandise margin is now expected to be flat to slightly positive, compared to a previous expectation of relatively flat versus the prior year.

The company earlier projected comparable store sales in the low single-digit range for the year.