Foot Locker's 2Q Net Races 59% Higher, Tops Estimates

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) easily beat the Street on Friday with a 59% surge in second-quarter earnings amid near double-digit same-store sales growth.

Shares of the sports footwear retailer jumped about 4% in response to the stronger-than-expected results.

New York-based Foot Locker said it earned $59 million, or 39 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $37 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, it earned 38 cents a share, compared with estimates from analysts for 33 cents.

Revenue rose 7.8% to $1.38 billion, narrowly topping the Street’s view of $1.35 billion. Sales were up 11% when negative currency impact is excluded. Gross margins expanded to 31.3% from 30.4%.

Foot Locker’s second-quarter results were driven by a 9.8% year-over-year surge in same-store sales.

“I'm very proud of the entire Foot Locker, Inc. team," CEO Ken Hicks said in a statement. "We have achieved consistently strong financial and operational results since we began implementing our long-term plan over two years ago.”

Wall Street cheered Foot Locker’s results, bidding the company’s shares 4.18% higher to $35.93. Even before Friday’s rally, the company’s shares had surged 45% in 2012 and 96% over the past year.