Finance & Capital Management

Dick’s Sporting Goods said marketing efforts, improved customer experience and selective pricing initiatives in the third quarter helped traffic which resulted in net sales of $1.4 billion for the quarter, an increase of 6.7% compared to the year-ago period.

Aston, Penn. -- Action Services Group  has completed LED retrofits in five Music & Arts stores, with more to come (Music & Arts specializes in the rental and sale of band and orchestra instruments). The LED lighting retrofits, projected to reduce each store’s energy usage by 78% per year, included replacing the existing halogen 75-watt and 90-watt spot lamps covering the sales floor as well as the hanging-instrument walls with 16-watt LED spot lamps.

Bloomington, Ill. -- Six in 10 (61%) holiday shoppers this year plan to use cash, check or debit card to pay for most of their holiday purchases. Just 29% say they will use credit, according to the latest Country Financial Security Index.

Philadelphia -- Urban Outfitters’ third quarter profit increased 18%, helped by strong results at its Anthropologie and Free People divisions. The company's quarterly earnings per share and sales both in above estimates.

Urban Outfitters’ net income totaled $70.2 million, up 18% from $59.5 million.

Net sales equaled about $774 million, a 12% increase from $692.9 million. Same-store segment net sales, which include the direct-to-consumer channel, increased 7%.

Framingham, Mass. -- The TJX Companies reported better-than-expected net income of $622.6 million for the third quarter, up 35% million from $461.5 million in the year-ago period. The chain also raised its full-year guidance.

Net sales grew about 9% to $6.98 billion from $6.41 billion as bargain-hunting consumers flocked to its stores. Same-store sales rose 5%. The chain credited the ability of its off-price format to succeed in any economic environment as a key component of its strong quarterly performance.

RadioShack has announced the retirement of Thomas G. Plaskett from the company's board of directors. Plaskett had served on the RadioShack board since 1986, and was a member of the audit and compliance committee as well as the corporate governance committee.

His retirement is effective immediately, and the company intends to begin a search for a new independent director to fill his board seat.

Sears Canada said a one-time charge of $41 million related to restructuring and asset impairment affected its third quarter results, which resulted in a net loss of about $46.7 million USD — more than double the net loss of $21 million it posted in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

In addition, revenues of $940.7 million were down about 6% from $1 billion. In one bright spot, same-store sales climbed 1.2%. Sears Canada is in the middle of a three-year turnaround program launched in 2012.

Home Depot reaped the benefits of continuing improvement in the housing market with third quarter sales of $19.5 billion, a 7.4% increase from $18.1 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2012.

On a like-for-like basis (last year's quarter had an extra calendar week), comparable-store sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 were positive 7.4%, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 8.2%.