Shoe Carnival Profit Surges, Stock Up - Update

(RTTNews) - Footwear retailer Shoe Carnival Inc (SCVL), Wednesday reported an increase in profit for the fourth quarter, reflecting strong growth in revenues as expenses dropped, with both earnings and revenues trumping Wall Street estimates. Shares of the company gained 8 percent in after-hours trade on the Nasdaq.

Evansville, Indiana-based Shoe Carnival's fourth-quarter profit rose to $3 million or $0.15 per share from $0.6 million or $0.03 per share last year. On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.09 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the fourth quarter grew 13.6 percent to $227.6 million from $200.3 million last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $220.2 million for the quarter.

Comparable store sales for the quarter increased 9.5 percent. Gross margin increased to 28.6 percent from 28.5 percent a year ago, while selling, general and administrative expenses, as a percent of sales, decreased to 26.6 percent from 28.0 percent last year.

"Although favorable weather played an important role in our strong performance, we believe our key initiatives of national advertising, better brands in our women's department and aggressive multi-channel initiatives continued to bring new customers to our stores, e-commerce site, and mobile touchpoints," CEO Cliff Sifford.

Looking forward to the full year 2015, the company expects earnings of $1.40 to $1.48 per share on revenues of $977 million to $991 million. Analysts currently expect earnings of $1.45 per share on revenues of $995.7 million for the year.

The company expects comparable store sales in 2015 to increase in the range of 1.5 percent to 3.0 percent.

The company also announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share.

SCVL closed Wednesday's trading at $24.22, up $0.23 or 0.96%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $2.04 or 8.42%, in the after-hours trade.