That “swoosh” you just heard is the sound of Foot Locker’s results blowing past Wall Street’s forecasts.
Fueled by brisk sales of Nike sneakers, the red-hot retailer reported a sizzling fourth quarter that sent its shares soaring to an all-time high.
The company’s stock hit an intraday high of $46.80 on Friday before closing at $46.49, up 8.8 percent — giving the company a market capitalization of $6.82 billion.
With demand strong for sneaker styles such as the Nike Free and Adidas’s new Springblade, Foot Locker’s profit in the quarter jumped 16 percent as same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, surged 5.3 percent.
That’s well ahead of the 0.4 percent gain logged by retailers industrywide, according to research firm Retail Metrics.
Basketball shoes have become bigger sellers in recent seasons, and Foot Locker has been gaining market share because of its wider selection of exclusive styles, according to Citigroup analyst Kate McShane.
The analyst cites “an increasing distinction among those that have access to Nike’s most desirable product releases (Foot Locker and a handful of top independents) versus everyone else.”
The most coveted sneakers typically carry price tags above $150, and that gives cachet to the stores that sell them, McShane notes.
This, in turn, “helps drive sales of more ubiquitous basketball product at lower, $100 to $150 price points, often at the detriment of smaller competitors.”