Foot Locker, Inc. (FL), reported Friday a profit for the second quarter that increased from last year, as runners splurged on new sneakers for the summer season.
Sales at established stores jumped 9.8 percent. Adjusted earnings per share and quarterly revenues topped analysts' expectations. Following the news, Foot Locker shares gained more than 6.5 percent in early dealings.
"We have achieved consistently strong financial and operational results since we began implementing our long-term plan over two years ago. This consistency was also evident with the good profitability we achieved this quarter across our divisions, from the North American stores, to Europe, and to our direct-to-customer business," Chairman and CEO Ken Hicks said in a statement.
The New York-based company reported net income of $59.0 million or $0.39 per share for the second quarter, higher than $37.0 million or $0.24 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Excluding a one-time benefit, adjusted earnings per share would have been $0.38.
On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.33 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically exclude special items.
Sales for the quarter increased 7.2 percent to $1.37 billion from $1.28 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped eleven Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $1.35 billion by a whisker.
This was the tenth consecutive quarter of sales and profit growth for Foot Locker in relation to the comparable prior-year periods.
At the end of the second quarter, Foot Locker operated 3,354 stores in 23 countries in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, compared to 3,407 stores last year. Additionally, it had 37 franchise stores in the Middle East and South Korea as opposed to 25 last year.
During the quarter, Foot Locker repurchased about 1.2 million shares of its common stock aggregating $37.5 million under a $400 million share repurchase program.
FL closed Thursday's regular trading session at $34.49, down $0.08 on a volume of 2.48 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $17.77 to $34.92.
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