Revenues up 9.2% at Cabela's Inc in Q3 FY'12

For the quarter, total revenue increased 9.2% to $741.2 million; Retail store revenue increased 15.8% to $456.0 million; Direct revenue decreased 6.7% to $196.8 million; and Financial Services revenue increased 20.3% to $85.9 million. For the quarter, comparable store sales increased 3.9%. Net income increased to $42.8 million compared to $33.3 million and earnings per diluted share were $0.60 compared to $0.47, each compared to the year ago quarter.

"The highlight of the quarter was the excellent performance of our new next-generation stores, which bodes well for our future," said Tommy Millner, Cabela's Chief Executive Officer. "The eight next-generation stores open for the full quarter outperformed our existing legacy store base in sales and profit per square foot by a wide margin. Additionally, same store sales from our next-generation stores exceeded the performance of our existing stores by several hundred basis points."

"Recently, we opened two next-generation stores in Charleston, West Virginia, and Rogers, Arkansas, and our first, even smaller, Outpost store in Union Gap, Washington," Millner said. "These stores generated the same great customer enthusiasm we experienced in our previous store openings and are performing at the same high level as our other next-generation stores. Of our 40 stores open today, eleven are either next-generation or Outpost stores, and all future stores will be in one of these formats."

"As a result of the strong performance of our new stores, we are accelerating square footage growth as we move into 2014," Millner said. "We now expect to open eight domestic next-generation stores in 2014. Of these eight stores, three have been previously announced, four new locations were approved at or prior to the October Board of Directors meeting and one is expected to be approved shortly."

Merchandise gross margin increased 130 basis points to 37.2%. This is the sixth consecutive quarter of merchandise margin improvement. Ongoing focus on Cabela's branded products, improved in-season and pre-season planning, and greater vendor collaboration contributed to the strong performance. These positives more than overcame strong sales of firearms and ammunition, which had a 60 basis point negative impact on merchandise gross margin.

"The one area that did not meet our expectations was revenue in our Direct segment," Millner said. "The entire decline in Direct revenue for the quarter was attributable to weaker demand for clothing and footwear, and a 300 basis point reduction in Direct revenue from the absence of shipping income due to our CLUB Visa free shipping offer. In September, we responded with increased levels of advertising, which we will continue through the holiday season. As a result, Direct revenue has improved in the first few weeks of the fourth quarter."