Foot Locker Posts In-Line 4Q Profit, Sharply Higher Holiday Sales

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) reported sharply higher sales in the key holiday shopping period, however its in-line earnings failed to impress Wall Street and its shares fell nearly 8% Friday morning.

The New York-based athletic apparel retailer reported net income of $104 million, or 68 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $81 million, or 53 cents.

Excluding one-time items, Foot Locker said it earned 73 cents, matching average analyst estimates in a Thomson Reuters poll.

Revenue for the three months ended Feb. 2 jumped 14% to $1.71 billion from $1.5 billion a year ago, narrowly trumping the Street’s view of $1.69 billion, fueled in part by an extra week in the 2012 period.

Same-store sales, a key growth metric of sales at stores open longer than a year, increased 7.9%.

"With the momentum we built from executing our strategic initiatives, the team at Foot Locker, was able to drive our sales and profits substantially higher than last year's record results," said Foot Locker CEO Ken Hicks.

The company, which operates some 2,300 stores in 23 countries, anticipates keeping up that momentum through the current fiscal year and estimates delivering a double-digit percentage earnings per share growth.