Academy Sports & Outdoors Q2 Result Tops Consensus; Plans $500M Stock Buyback

Academy Sports & Outdoors Inc (NASDAQ:ASO) reported second-quarter FY21 sales growth of 11.5% year-on-year, to $1.79 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $1.66 billion.
Gross profit increased 29.4% Y/Y to $642.5 million and the gross margin improved 500 basis points to 35.9%.
The operating margin was 14.2%, and operating income for the quarter rose 38.5% to $254.6 million.
The company held $553.8 million in cash and equivalents at Q2 end.
Net cash provided by operating activities totaled $186.4 million with an adjusted free cash flow of $169.5 million.
Adjusted EPS of $2.34 beat the analyst consensus of $1.42.
The company has announced a new $500 million shares buyback scheme.
Outlook: Academy Sports sees FY21 EPS of $5.45 - $5.80 (prior outlook $4.15 - $4.50) versus the consensus of $4.84.
The company expects FY21 sales of $6.465 billion - $6.620 billion versus the consensus of $6.20 billion.
Price Action: ASO shares traded higher by 3.34% at $44.86 on the last check Thursday.