Finish Line meets 2Q profit forecasts

Finish Line (NASDAQ:FINL) posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The stock has declined 17 percent in the last 12 months. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.30, for a total value of $152,989.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FINL shares. The results weren’t very bad, with sales advancing 3.5% to $483.2 million and same-store sales up 1.5%. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for earnings of 57 cents per share.

Finish Line announced that its profit had slipped during its most recent quarter as overhead expenses that were higher offset a slight increase in its revenue. Piper Jaffray reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Finish Line in a report on Thursday, June 18th.

Finish Line gapped open sharply lower Friday and has spiked to the downside in early trade. The stock had previously closed at $24.77. Strength in women’s footwear helped offset the weakness, and Mr. Sato said Finish Line continues to see high demand for casual women’s offerings like Roshe Run by Nike Inc. and the latest style of Chuck Taylor kicks by Converse. The 50-day moving average is $26.78 and the 200 day moving average is recorded at $26.06. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion and a P/E ratio of 14.09.

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Analysts projected 57 cents in per-share earnings on $490.8 million in sales, according to Thomson Reuters.

Shares in the company tumbled 20% to $19.91 on Friday, closing at their lowest point in more than two years.

Same-store sales grew 1.5%, a quarter-over-quarter deceleration from Q1’s 5.5% comp growth. On average, equities analysts expect that Finish Line will post $1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 26th.

The Finish Line, Inc. together with its subsidiaries, is a mall-based specialty retailers in the United States, and operates two retail divisions under the Finish Line brand name (Finish Line) and Running Specialty Group (Running Specialty). Sales of men’s products represent about 60% of Finish Line’s business. Its Running Forte is an active lifestyle retailer of running clothes shoes, and accessories.