Hibbett Sports Falls As Q2 Sales Miss Estimates, Sees EPS Below View

(RTTNews) - Hibbett Sports, Inc. (HIBB), a sporting goods retailer, said its net sales for the 13-week period ended August 1, increased 2.8 percent to $199.3 million from $193.9 million for the 13-week period ended August 2, 2014. Comparable store sales decreased 1.1 percent.

On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected sales of $207.66 million for the quarter.

Based on preliminary second-quarter results, earnings per share for the 13-week period ended August 1, are expected to be in the range of $0.26 to $0.28 compared with $0.32 in the previous year.

Wall Street looks for earnings of $0.34 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Hibbett Sports plans to report second-quarter results on August 21.

Jeff Rosenthal, President and CEO, said, "For the second quarter, comparable store sales were softer than expected. While we anticipated slower sales due to 10 states delaying their tax-free weekend by one week (from the last weekend in fiscal July in the prior year to the first week of fiscal August this year), there also was underlying business softness."

HIBB closed up 2.1 percent on Monday at $45.56, and dropped 5.6 percent in the extended trade.