Fitness financials: Dick's profit jumps 86 percent, plus Hibbett's, Foot Locker, Under Armour, Sears, Nike, Wal-Mart

Dick’s profit jumps 86 percent
For the fiscal third quarter, Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) reported an 86 percent surge in profit on a 22 percent increase in revenue.

For the quarter ended Oct. 28, Dick’s earned $7.8 million, or $0.14 per share, compared with $4.2 million, or $0.08 per share, for the same quarter in 2005. Revenue rose to $708.3 million from $582.7 million in the year-ago period. Analysts had expected a profit of $0.05 per share on $679.2 million in revenue. Same-store sales rose 8.9 percent.

Dick’s said it expects to post a fourth-quarter profit of $1.13 to $1.16 per share, while same-store sales are expected to increase about 2 percent to 3 percent.

For the full year 2006, Dick’s upped its profit guidance to a range of $1.95 to $1.98 per share, including $0.26 in stock-option expenses. The company had previously expected to earn about $1.84 to $1.88 per share. Same-store sales are expected increase about 6 percent for the year.

Additionally, Dick’s announced that it had agreed to acquire Golf Galaxy Inc. in a $225 million deal. Dick’s said that both its fourth-quarter and 2006 fiscal year estimates do not include the combined results of Dick’s and Golf Galaxy and exclude any expenses related to the acquisition.

In the third quarter, the company opened 26 single-level stores (23 in existing markets and three in new markets), which completes the new store openings for the year. It now operates 294 stores in 34 states.

Hibbett’s Q3 profit up 22 percent
Third-quarter profit for Hibbett Sporting Goods (Nasdaq: HIBB) grew 22 percent, crediting better-than-expected sales of clothes and sports equipment.

Quarterly net income rose to $9.9 million, or $0.31 per share, from $8.2 million, or $0.24 per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue grew 17.2 percent to $129.7 million from $110.6 million. Hibbett said same-store sales rose 7.1 percent in the quarter.

The company opened 20 stores and closed two during the third quarter, bringing its total to 590. It expects to open about 25 and close one during the fourth quarter.

Looking ahead, Hibbett expects fiscal fourth-quarter earnings per share of between $0.34 and $0.38, with full-year earnings of between $1.12 and $1.16 per share.

During the third quarter, the company repurchased 260,000 shares of common stock for $7.0 million. Since the inception of the program in August 2004, the company has repurchased 4.3 million shares for a total expenditure of $96.7 million.

Foot Locker Q3 profit drops slightly
Foot Locker’s (NYSE: FL) third-quarter profit slipped 2 percent, hurt by a difficult athletic retail market in Europe.

Quarterly net income slipped to $65 million from $66 million in the year-ago period, with per-share results flat at $0.42. Sales during the quarter grew to $1.43 billion from $1.41 billion, with sales at stores open more than a year down almost a third of 1 percent.

The company plans to open its new retail format aimed at family footwear under the “Footquarters” name. It expects to open 30 such stores during the spring season of 2007.

Looking ahead, Foot Locker said it expects fourth-quarter earnings per share to be several cents above last year’s $0.61. For the full fiscal year, Foot Locker estimates earnings per share from continuing operations between $1.58 and $1.65, excluding an asset write-down charge. That’s up from prior guidance of between $1.52 to $1.62 per share.

Under Armour plans to list on NYSE
A year after completing its IPO on the Nasdaq National Market, Under Armour (Nasdaq: UARM) said it has filed an application to list its securities on the New York Stock Exchange. Pending approval of its application, the company anticipates that its shares of Class A Common Stock will begin trading on the NYSE on Dec. 18, 2006, under the symbol “UA.” Until that time, the company’s shares will continue to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UARM.”

Sears triples Q3 profits, but revenues drop
Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD) reported it more than tripled its third-quarter profits on a big investment gain and the benefits of cost-cutting, but sales at its Kmart and Sears stores continued to drop.

2006 third-quarter net income was $196 million, or $1.27 per diluted share, compared with net income of $58 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, in the same period last year. Revenues dropped to $11.9 billion from $12.2 billion, slightly better than analysts’ estimate of $11.8 billion. Same-store sales declined 4.8 percent at Sears stores and 0.7 percent at Kmart.

Nike appoints new board member
Nike (NYSE: NKE) appointed media executive Johnathan A. Rodgers to its board of directors. Rodgers is president and CEO of TV One, a cable channel in Silver Spring, Md., that currently serves approximately 33 million households and offers a broad range of lifestyle and entertainment-oriented programming for adult African-American viewers. Since 2001, Rodgers has served on the board of Procter & Gamble Co. as a member of its innovation and technology committee.

Wal-Mart reports record increase in sales
Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) reported a record 12 percent increase in sales for its third-quarter fiscal 2007. Net sales were $83.5 billion, an increase of 12.0 percent from $74.5 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2006. Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $2.5 billion, an increase of 7.1 percent from $2.4 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2006. Earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.62, up from $0.58 per share in the same prior year quarter. Total U.S. comparable store sales for the quarter increased 1.5 percent — a 1.5 percent increase for Wal-Mart Stores and a 1.8 percent increase for Sam’s Club.

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