May 24, 2008
Foot Locker Inc., owner of more than 3,750 namesake shoe stores, rose the most in more than four years in trading a day after the company reaffirmed a full-year profit forecast that exceeded some analysts' estimates.
Foot Locker, in a statement filed after US markets closed Thursday, said it expects profit of 65 cents to 85 cents a share for the year ending in January 2009.
Eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated 70 cents, on average.
Executives "basically did indicate that they were comfortable with the expectations for the fiscal year" and showed clear signs of reducing inventory, said John Shanley, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP in New York.
Investors may have been influenced by competitor Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., which slashed its profit forecast Thursday, citing lingering consumer caution over the US economy.
"I think a lot of investors looked at Dick's guided expectations that things were going to be soft," Shanley said yesterday in a telephone interview. He rates the shares of the retailer "neutral" and doesn't own any.
Foot Locker jumped .46, or 12 percent, to .54 in New York Stock Exchange trading for the biggest gain since November 2003.
The stock has fallen 36 percent in the past year.
Pittsburgh-based Dick's is the largest publicly traded US sporting-goods chain. |
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