Academy Sports + Outdoors Stock Surges Double Digits Following Blowout Quarterly Earnings and Sales
Shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors Inc. were up double digits in Thursday premarket trading following the release of a blowout third-quarter report.
For the three months ended Oct. 31, adjusted profits were $73.7 million, or 91 cents per diluted share, compared with the prior year’s adjusted profits of $25.6 million, or 34 cents per share. Revenues climbed 17.8% to $1.35 billion. Both figures were well above analysts’ expectations of 36 cents in EPS and $1.26 billion in revenues.
As of 8:30 a.m. ET, ASO’s stock was up nearly 10% to $18.50.
“I am proud to report record-breaking quarterly sales and net income and our fifth consecutive quarter with a comparable sales increase,” chairman, president and CEO Ken Hicks said in a statement. “This was a significant accomplishment that our entire team delivered in a challenging quarter filled with many important achievements.”
According to the Katy, Texas-based chain, comps for the period shot up 16.5%. Its e-commerce business recorded growth of 95.9%, with stores facilitating more than 95% of the company’s total sales — including ship-from-store, buy online, pick-up in store and in-store retail sales.
“We are proud of our extraordinary team members for delivering strong year-to-date sales and earnings results,” EVP and CFO Michael Mullican added. “Based on our comparable sales growth before and during the ongoing pandemic, we believe our diversified product categories and resilient business model resonate well with our growing customer base.”
In the year to date, Academy Sports logged adjusted profits of $208.6 million — a 257.6% improvement over the prior year — or adjusted earnings per share of $2.70. Its revenues improved 18.3% to $4.1 billion, while comps rose 16.1%.
Also notable, the company officially went public in early October. The offering came at a challenging time for the retail industry, which has been beleaguered with widespread bankruptcies and permanent store closures as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the end of the quarter, Academy Sports had cash and equivalents that totaled $869.7 million, with no borrowings under its $1 billion asset-based lending credit facility. According to Hicks, the retailer will “continue to work on our key strategic initiatives, including power merchandising, omnichannel and customer focus, which we believe will position us well for the future.”
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