Hibbett Sports hits a home run in January

Hibbett Sports is on track to open at least 80 new stores in 2015 as strong holiday sales and early tax refunds gave the retailer a boost in the January quarter.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $19.9 million, compared to $16.9 million, in the year-ago period. EPS surged to $0.79 from $0.64. Its sales gained 9.9% to $239.3 million. Same store sales rose 5.4% in the quarter.

Jeff Rosenthal, president and CEO, said: “Comparable store sales were softer than expected for the quarter, but we are encouraged by the improvement in traffic in early August. In addition, we are on pace to achieve our goal of at least 80 new stores this year, and continue to be pleased with new store performance. Our new wholesale and logistics facility continues to show significant productivity gains, and we look forward to the benefits this facility will provide. This, along with our other major initiatives, gives us confidence that we are positioned well for future success.”

For the current fiscal year, Hibbett expects that earnings per diluted share will be in the range of $2.63 to $2.73 for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 31, with same store sales increasing in the low single-digit range for the year.

For the quarter, Hibbett opened 16 new stores, expanded one high performing store and closed five underperforming stores, bringing the store base to 950 in 31 states as of August 2, 2014