Cabela's 3Q profit rises 93 percent

Cabela's says 3rd-quarter profit rises 93 percent as sales trends improve

• On 2:40 pm EDT, Tuesday October 27, 2009

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) -- Cabela's Inc. said Tuesday its third-quarter profit rose 93 percent as sales rose slightly, it paid less interest and lowered operating expenses.

In the quarter that ended Sept. 26, the supplier of outdoor gear earned $18.8 million, or 28 cents per share, compared to profit of $9.7 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

The latest results beat an 18 cent per share prediction of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $624.3 million from $611.8 million. Analysts had expected $623.4 million.

CEO Tommy Millner said gun and ammunition sales growth had started to moderate and sales trends in other categories had improved in the third quarter.

Millner cited strong sales in the first four weeks of the fourth quarter. As a result, he said the company now expects its full-year 2009 earnings per share to increase at a mid-single-digit percentage rate, compared with prior expectations for earnings per share roughly flat with 2008 levels.

The 2009 earnings could even top the revised forecast "should the strength we have seen in October continue for the remainder of the year," Millner said.

Shares of the company, based in Sidney, Neb., fell 68 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $13.94 in afternoon trading.

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