Cabela's revenue, income up in Q1

SIDNEY, Neb. — Cabela's revenue for the first quarter increased 6.3% to $623.5 million and included a retail store revenue increase of 14.4% to $345.3 million and a direct revenue decrease of 8.3% to $190.2 million. For the quarter, comparable-store sales increased 4.2%.



The company reported that net income increased 62% to $28.8 million compared with $17.8 million in the year ago quarter, and earnings per diluted share were 40 cents compared with 25 cents in the year ago quarter.



"This strong performance gives us confidence our growth strategy is working and working well," said Tommy Millner, Cabela's CEO. "Virtually all the lines on the income statement are moving in the right direction: revenue is up, merchandise margin increased, expenses as a percentage of revenue are down, earnings are up and after-tax return on invested capital rose nicely."



"We also continued our focus on managing operating expenses," Millner said. "This is the second consecutive quarter operating expenses have grown at a slower rate than revenue. We continue to focus on getting the maximum benefit out of every operating expense dollar and will continue to tightly manage expenses for the remainder of the year. For the full year, we expect operating expense growth to be less than revenue growth."