Needham & Company Maintains a 'Buy' on Big 5 Sporting Goods (BGFV); Can’t Weather the Weather in Q4; Can Improve in 2012

Needham & Company maintains a 'Buy' on Big 5 Sporting Goods (NASDAQ: BGFV) price target of $13.00.

Analyst, Sean McGowan, said, "BGFV had preannounced Q4 net sales that were essentially flat year over year at $226.7 mm. The company blamed the poor performance on unseasonably warm and dry weather in its markets. Same stores sales were down 2.1% for the quarter and 1.2% for the year. The company reported a marginal net loss for the quarter, and EPS were $0.00. Excluding a non-cash impairment charge of $1.5 mm related to underperforming stores, adjusted EPS was $0.05. Winter-related SSS were down over 30% YoY in the last half of the quarter, and store traffic was down low mid-single digits. Despite this downturn, the average ticket was up mid-single digits and same store sales were up slightly excluding winter-related items. BGFV expects Q1 SSS to be down low-single digits and EPS in the range of $0.00 to $0.06. Management is optimistic that key merchandising initiatives and better weather will help the company going forward."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Big 5 Sporting Goods click here. For more ratings news on Big 5 Sporting Goods click here.

Shares of Big 5 Sporting Goods closed at $8.43 yesterday.

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