Outdoor financials: Cabela’s Q3 profit increases, plus Big 5, Hanesbrands, Jarden

Cabela’s Q3 profit increases

Third-quarter net income increased 5 percent for Cabela’s (NYSE: CAB) as its gross margins and sales improved.

For the period ended Oct. 2, earnings were $19.7 million, or $0.29 per share, compared with $18.8 million, or $0.28 per share, a year earlier. Excluding a charge of $0.03 per share related to selling its Van Dyke’s Restorer’s unit, earnings were $0.31 per share.

Its quarterly revenue climbed 3 percent to $643.3 million, up from $624.3 million, on improvements from both merchandise sales and financial services revenue.

Same-store sales rose 2.4 percent in the quarter.

Merchandise gross margins improved to 34.5 percent as a result of better pre-season planning, greater vendor collaboration and improvements in in-season management. It was the company’s second straight increase and biggest improvement in more than three years.

The company said it anticipates meeting or beating its 2010 earnings forecast and expects net income to grow in 2011 by a double-digit percentage.



Big 5 reports flat Q3 sales

A shift in the calendar stymied Big 5 Sporting Goods’ (Nasdaq: BGFV) net sales comparison for the third quarter, it said.

For the quarter ended Oct. 3, net sales increased to $231.8 million, up from net sales of $231.6 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2009. Same-store sales increased 2.0 percent versus the comparable period last year.

Big 5 said the net sales comparison to the prior year was negatively impacted by a calendar shift as the company transitioned to a 52-week fiscal year in 2010 from a 53-week fiscal year in 2009. As a result, a high-volume sales week, which included the Fourth of July holiday, shifted out of the third fiscal quarter into the second quarter, and a lower-volume sales week at the beginning of October shifted into the third fiscal quarter of 2010, it noted.

Net income was $6.8 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, versus net income of $8.0 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, for the same period in 2009.

Gross profit was $77.4 million, compared to $78.5 million in the third quarter of the prior year. The company’s gross profit margin was 33.4 percent versus 33.9 percent last year.

For the fiscal 2010 fourth quarter, the company said it expects same-store sales in the positive low single-digit range and earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.25 to $0.33.

The company’s board of directors also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share of outstanding common stock, which will be paid on Dec. 15 to stockholders as of Dec. 1.



Hanesbrands completes Gear For Sports acquisition

Hanesbrands (NYSE: HBI), parent of Champion and Duofold, said it completed the acquisition of GearCo Inc., known as Gear For Sports, a seller of licensed logo apparel in collegiate bookstores and other channels.

Hanesbrands acquired Gear For Sports, which sells embellished licensed apparel under several brand names, including Hanesbrands’ Champion label, for $55 million and the retirement of approximately $172 million of debt.

The company said Gear For Sports, which has sales of approximately $225 million a year, is expected to contribute approximately $30 million in sales to Hanesbrands’ revenue in the fourth quarter.

With the acquisition, approximately 20 percent to 25 percent of Hanesbrands’ outerwear segment sales will be graphic apparel, it said.

Jarden prepares for debt offering

Jarden Corp. (NYSE: JAH) said it anticipates consummating an offering of $250 million in senior unsecured notes.

The senior unsecured notes would be guaranteed by some of the company’s domestic subsidiaries and would mature in 2022, it added.

Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank Securities and J.P. Morgan Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

Jarden’s outdoor portfolio includes Coleman, K2, Campingaz, Marker, Marmot and Volkl, among others.



–Compiled by Wendy Geister

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