Shares of Foot Locker Inc. soared 17.7% in premarket trading Friday, after the athletic footwear and apparel retailer reported fiscal third-quarter profit that beat expectations, a surprise increase in same-store sales and boosted its full-year outlook, citing “strong” demand from “resilient” customers. Net income for the quarter to Oct. 29, fell to $96 million, or $1.01 a share, from $158 million, or $1.52 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.27 beat the FactSet consensus of $1.11. Sales slipped 0.7% to $2.17 billion but was above the FactSet consensus of $2.09 billion, while same-store sales rose 0.8% to beat expectations of a 6.0% decline. Merchandise inventory rose 29.5% to $1.69 billion, compared with a 52.1% increase in the second quarter. For fiscal 2022, the company raised its guidance range for adjusted EPS to $4.42 to $4.50 from $4.25 to $4.45. The outlook for net sales improved to a decline of 4% to 5% from a down 6% to 7%, and its same-store sales outlook improved to down 4% to 5% from down 8% to 9%. The stock has gained 3.2% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has lost 7.9%.
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