Shares for Hibbett Sports Inc. are in the red today on the heels of second-quarter results that missed estimates across the board. As of 12:30 p.m. ET, the stock remained down more than 7 percent at $10.65.
The sporting-goods seller — whose dismal report follows similar news from Foot Locker Inc. today — said its sales during the period fell 9 percent year-over-year to $188 million, missing Wall Street’s bets for sales of $190 million. Comps declined nearly 12 percent during the quarter.
The company also posted a net loss of $3.2 million, or 15 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $6.5 million, or 29 cents per diluted share in the year-earlier period.
“We experienced a very difficult retail environment in the quarter, with a significant decline in transactions and resulting pressure on gross margin,” president and CEO Jeff Rosenthal said. “Expenses were well-controlled, while maintaining proper staffing and customer service levels in our stores.”
Looking forward, Rosenthal said the firm expects the external environment to remain challenging, but is “encouraged” with the progress of several of its internal initiatives, particularly its new e-commerce website.
“Our early e-commerce sales have exceeded expectations, and user feedback has been very positive,” Rosenthal said. “We will continue our efforts to grow our online business aggressively in the future, while continuing to improve our stores to provide a great overall customer experience.”
Nevertheless, due to negative industrywide trends, Hibbett significantly lowered its outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year. The company expects diluted EPS in the range of $1.25 to $1.35, compared with previous guidance of $2.35 to $2.55. Comparable-store sales are predicted to be in the negative mid- to high-single-digits, which compares with previous guidance in the range of negative 1 percent to positive 1 percent.
