Cabelaâs Inc. (CAB) reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 29, 2008. Total revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 increased 15.9% to $535.5 million compared to $462.1 million for the first fiscal quarter of 2007. Net income for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 increased 39.4% to $10 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared to $7.1 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, for the first fiscal quarter of 2007. Cabelaâs first quarter sales were slightly below our forecast, but its earnings per share easily surpassed our EPS estimate.
The EPS upside was due to its financial services business and new retail stores. Despite the upside, management reiterated its full-year guidance of sales growth in the mid-teens and EPS growth in the mid-single digits. Still, we are upping our 2008 EPS estimate by $0.07 and our 2009 EPS estimate by $0.06 to reflect the upside in the first quarter. CAB shares trade at a reasonable valuation, but the weak retail spending environment prevents us from becoming too bullish on the companyâs shares.
Based upon its first quarter results, management is now even more confident in its ability to generate mid-teens revenue growth and mid-single digit earnings per share growth for 2008. The company expects a challenging sales environment for the remainder of the year with most of its growth and profits coming in the third and fourth quarters. CAB shares are trading at 10.9x our 2008 EPS estimate and 10.4x our 2009 EPS estimate.
We think this valuation is reasonable given the companyâs long-term earnings growth rate of 12%. We maintain our Hold rating. Our target price of $15.50 is 11.2x our 2008 EPS estimate.
Read the full analyst report on CAB.
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