Another slam dunk for Foot Locker

Foot Locker Inc. is riding the wave of shoppers’ growing desire for athletic footwear -- especially trendy basketball shoes -- into all-time record sales.

The retailer reported a whopping 10.2% increase in same store sales for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. Quarterly net earnings were $146 million, or $1.01 per share, compared to $121 million, or $0.81 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, the company earned $1 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $0.91 per share. Its total sales climbed 6.7% to $1.91 billion.

"Our strong top-line performance was accompanied by continued discipline in managing expenses," added Lauren Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "As a result, we set many new records for our company in 2014, including increasing our gross margin rate to 33.2 percent of sales and improving our annual SG&A expense rate to below 20 percent for the first time."

Foot Locker has seen impressive growth for several quarters as shoppers increasingly crave more athletic apparel and footwear. For fiscal 2014, total sales at Foot Locker increased 9.9% in 2014 to $7,151 million, the highest level of sales ever recorded by the company, compared with sales of $6,505 million last year. Same store sales increased 8% in 2014.

During fiscal 2014, Foot Locker opened 86 new stores, remodeled/relocated 319 stores, and closed 136 stores. As of Jan. 31, the company operated 3,423 stores in 23 countries in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.