Academy Sports and Outdoor rallies 13% on beat-and-raise results

investing.com:

Academy Sports Outdoors (NASDAQ:ASO) shares surged as much as 13% in early Thursday trade after the company reported better-than-expected profit figures for its second quarter and raised its full-year EPS outlook.

EPS of $2.09 came in better than the projected $2.02. The company's revenue for the quarter amounted to $1.58 billion, which matched the consensus estimate of $1.58B.

In terms of comparable sales, Academy Sports and Outdoors experienced a decline of -7.5%, which was better than the estimated decline of -8.6%.

Looking ahead, Academy Sports and Outdoors anticipates an EPS ranging from $6.95 to $7.65, which is slightly higher than the consensus estimate of $6.92.

In terms of revenue, the company projects a range of $6.175 billion to $6.365 billion for the fiscal year, slightly below the consensus estimate of $6.23 billion.

«Our operating margin improved 420 basis points from the first quarter, driven by higher gross margin, sequential improvement in shrink as a rate to sales and disciplined expense management,» the company's management said in the earnings release.