Cabela’s 2Q profit rises 25 percent

SIDNEY, Neb. — Cabela’s Inc., seller of outdoor gear, said Thursday its second-quarter profit rose 25 percent as consumers bought more hunting equipment and it revalued a credit card portfolio.

It also said revenue and same-store sales would grow in 2009, an improvement over an earlier prediction that those would be flat. It reiterated an earlier estimate that yearly profit would be about equal to what it earned in 2008.

The seller of hunting, fishing and camping gear earned $9.12 million, or 14 cents per share, in the three months that ended in June, up from $7.28 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier.

The quarter’s results included a 8 cent boost from a revision in the value of a credit card portfolio and an 11 cent charge from a real estate write-down. Cabela’s wrote down the value of land where it will no longer open a store in Greenwood, Ind.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items, expected 6 cents per share.

Revenue rose 4.4 percent to $549.2 million from $526 million. Analysts had expected $531 million in revenue.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, rose 6.1 percent in the quarter. Same-store sales is considered a key measure of the health of retailers as it is unaffected by new store openings and closings.

Cabela’s shares rose $1.52, or 10 percent, to $16.20 in morning trading.

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