Foot Locker Earnings Fall Short After Weak Start To February

Foot Locker Inc. said Friday it had net income of $180 million, or $1.36 a share, in the first quarter, down from $191 million, or 1.39 a share, in the year-earlier period. The sports goods retailer said sales rose 0.7% to $2.00 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.38 and sales of $2.02 billion. Same-store sales rose 0.5%, also below the FactSet consensus of up 1.4%. "The first quarter was one of our most profitable quarters ever, but it did fall short of our original expectations," Chief Executive Richard Johnson said in a statement. "The slow start we experienced in February, which we believe was largely due to the delay in income tax refunds, was unfortunately not fully offset by much stronger sales in March and April." Shares were not yet active premarket, but are down 0.6% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 5%.