Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. said it expects fourth quarter earnings to come in between 13 to 16 cents a share, reaching the upper end of its previous forecast calling for earnings between 7 to 17 cents a share. Wall Street's consensus estimate had been 12 cents a share. Comps declined 8.6%, in line with previously issued guidance.

In the year-ago fourth quarter, the retailer earned 28 cents a share.
 
For the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter, net sales were $219.6 million, compared to net sales of $232.1 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007. The comp decline was due to a decrease in customer traffic resulting from the continuation of the challenging consumer environment. As anticipated, the company's product selling margins were lower than the prior year, declining 50 basis points during the fourth quarter.

For the fiscal 2008 full year, net sales decreased $33.6 million, or 3.7%, to $864.7 million from $898.3 million for the fiscal 2007 full year. Same store sales declined 7.0% for the fiscal 2008 full year. For the fiscal 2008 full year, the Company expects to realize earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.61 to $0.64.

“Given the unprecedented challenges that we and most retailers faced over the holiday season, we are pleased to report sales in line with, and anticipated earnings toward the upper end of, our previously issued guidance,” said Steven G. Miller, the company's chairman, president and CEO. “Importantly, we produced our fourth quarter sales without significantly compromising product margins. We believe our ability to deliver these results in this environment reflects the strength of our business model and reputation for offering values on quality merchandise, which has been a hallmark of our success for over 50 years. During the quarter, our three major merchandise categories performed within a relatively tight range of one another, with hard goods being our strongest category, followed by footwear and apparel.”

Miller continued, “As would be expected, we have remained focused on controlling expenses and managing inventories. We reduced per-store inventories at year-end by approximately 11% from the prior year. We further strengthened our balance sheet during the quarter, as our positive cash flow allowed us to reduce borrowings under our credit facility to $96.5 million at year-end from $103.4 million at the end of last year. We continue to take the steps that we believe are necessary to position our business for growth when the consumer climate improves.”

The Ccmpany expects to issue earnings results for the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter and full year, as well as provide guidance for fiscal 2009, by the last week of February.