Hibbett Sports (HIBB, $23.96) beats Q1 earnings and sale estimates, raised full-year guidance

Hibbett Sports crushed top and bottom line estimates for the first quarter, on the back of solid growth in same-store and digital sales.

The sporting goods retailer  reported adjusted earnings of $1.61 per share, surging past analysts’ expectations of $1.32 per share.

Net sales for the quarter climbed +25% year-over-year to $343.3 million, topping analysts' consensus estimate of $327 million.  Hibbett’s total sales for the quarter included nearly $60 million from its City Gear acquisition. Also, same-store sales grew +5.1%, which is far above the -0.7% decline analysts had forecasted.

Hibbett’s President and CEO Jeff Rosenthal emphasized that strong performance in both physical stores and e-commerce channels contributed to the first quarter results. The company mentioned that relatively less sales from licensed products and team sports items were offset by gains in footwear and sneaker-connected apparel and accessories.  

Looking ahead, the company now projects fiscal 2020 per-share earnings in the range of $1.70 to $1.85, which is higher than its previous forecast of $1.50 to $1.70. As for comparable store sales, Hibbett now predicts growth range of +0.5% to +2%, versus prior guidance of down -1% to up +1%.

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Sergey Savastiouk|Expert

Sergey Savastiouk, Ph.D. has a degree in Applied Mathematics from Moscow University and has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, investor, manager, and mathematician. His professional expertise is in applied mathematics, mathematical modeling, system and pattern analysis, and software and hardware system integration. He has served as the CEO of several hi-tech start-up companies and nonprofit organizations, which has given him proven capabilities in business strategy for high-tech start-up companies, market assessment, company formation, team building, product development, marketing, and sales. He has published numerous articles in journals and magazines on related fields. As a retail investor, he spent 15 years developing his proprietary trading and quantitative algorithms (now Tickeron’s A.I.), which brought him significant returns in trading the stock market. His current work and goal in founding Tickeron is to bring professional, sophisticated stock market analysis capabilities to retail investors via an easy-to-use interface.