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Academy Sports and Outdoors Lifts Fiscal 2026 Earnings Outlook Despite Consumer Pressure

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Academy Sports and Outdoors Lifts Fiscal 2026 Earnings Outlook Despite Consumer Pressure

Academy Sports and Outdoors (ASO) raised its full-year outlook on Tuesday as fiscal first-quarter earnings topped market estimates, though the sporting goods retailer expects inflationary pressures to continue weighing on consumer spending for the rest of 2026.

The company boosted its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $6.40 to $6.80 a share, up from the prior forecast of $6.10 to $6.60. Analysts polled by FactSet project $6.29.

Academy expects full-year sales of $6.23 billion to $6.36 billion, compared with the previous low-end estimate of $6.18 billion. Comparable sales are forecast to be flat to up 2%, versus the earlier projection for a 1% decline at the low end. The FactSet consensus calls for sales of $6.31 billion and same-store sales growth of 0.9%.

"We are raising the low end of our full-year guidance" following the first-quarter performance, CEO Steve Lawrence said in a statement. "While we expect inflationary pressures to continue impacting consumer spending for the remainder of the year, our goal is to build on the momentum in our business."

Academy's shares jumped 8.2% in Tuesday trading and are up 12% this year.

"Overall, we remain cautious on underlying demand trends for core middle-income consumers in a volatile macro environment," Truist Securities said in a report.

In the three months ended May 2, adjusted EPS rose to $0.93 from $0.76, topping Wall Street's $0.91 estimate. Sales gained 6.7% to $1.44 billion, in line with the market consensus.

Comparable sales rebounded to growth of 2.9% in the quarter from a 3.7% decline a year earlier. The market forecast was for an increase of 2.5%.

In May, rival Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) reported fiscal first-quarter results above market expectations and affirmed its full-year outlook.

Price: $55.89, Change: $+4.22, Percent Change: +8.16%

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