Investors Cheer Shoe Carnival as Q2 Results Come in Above Expectations

Shoe Carnival Inc. today is enjoying a solid bump in its stock in after-hours trading after the company produced better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its outlook for the remainder of the year.

As of 4:40 p.m. ET, the company’s shares were up more than 13 percent, to $18.59.

The family footwear retailer said its Q2 sales increased 1.4 percent, to $235.1 million, surpassing consensus bets for sales of $232.3 million. Comparable store sales also increased 0.4 percent.

Profits declined 5 percent year-over-year, to $3.9 million. Nevertheless, earnings per diluted share rose 9 percent over the comparable period, to 24 cents, besting forecasts for diluted EPS of 20 cents.

President and CEO Cliff Sifford said the better-than-anticipated results were driven by improved sales along with effective expense management.

“We are pleased with the quarterly improvement in our sales trend, particularly given this year’s later back-to-school dates in certain markets, which shifted sales from July into August,” Sifford said. “We believe we are well-positioned for back-to-school with a trend-right assortment of branded family footwear, favorable inventory position and our multichannel initiatives, which have already generated an August comparable store sales increase of 7 percent.”

Looking ahead, Shoe Carnival now expects fiscal 2017 in the range of $1.006 billion to $1.019 billion, with comparable store sales flat-to-down low single digits. Diluted EPS are expected to be in the range of $1.35 to $1.45. The company had previously expected sales in the range of $1.002 billion to $1.018 billion and diluted EPS between $1.30 to $1.45.