Hibbett stock slides on mixed Q4 results, gloomy outlook

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Hibbett Sports (NASDAQ:HIBB) shares have tanked ~12% pre-market after the sporting goods retailer reported a mixed Q4 results as supply chain challenges, inflation concerns and increased COVID-19 cases impacted the second half of the quarter.

Net sales grew 1.7% to $383.3M, but missed estimates by $0.52M. Comparable sales were down 1%, brick and mortar comparable sales fell 1.6%, while e-commerce comparable sales increased 1.8%.

Gross margin fell ~200 basis point to 35.1% of net sales, primarily due to shifting launch schedules, additional promotional activity, higher freight costs and deleverage in store occupancy costs resulting from the negative comp sales performance.

For the 13-weeks ended Jan. 29, 2022, net income totalled $17.7M, or $1.25 per diluted share, down from $23.9M, or $1.39 per diluted share for the 13-weeks ended Jan. 30, 2021.

The retailer ended the quarter with $17.1M of available cash and cash equivalents and no debt outstanding.

CEO Mike Longo noted, "Although the second half of the fourth quarter was weaker than anticipated due to ongoing supply chain challenges, inflation concerns for the consumer and increased COVID-19 cases, we believe these negative factors that impacted traffic and transaction volume from late December through January will begin to subside in the coming months."

Guidance: The company expects to face a number of business and economic challenges in FY23, including supply chain issues, inflation, a lack of stimulus, wage pressures and a more cautious consumer. As a result, it expects net sales to remain relatively flat in dollars (or $1.69B vs. $1.71B consensus) compared to FY22 results. EPS is seen at $9.75-10.50.

Additionally, Hibbett expects comparable sales to be in the negative low-teen range in the first half of the year with an expectation of positive high-single digit comp sales in the second half of the year.