Hhgregg cuts full-year sales and earnings outlook

INDIANAPOLIS - Consumer electronics retailer Hhgregg Inc. slashed its full-year earnings and sales outlook Thursday as a gloomy economy threatens to continue to cut into same-store sales.

The Indianapolis-based chain said it expects to post a full-year profit between 75 cents and 90 cents per share, down from its previous forecast of a profit between $1.13 to $1.20 per share.

Hhgregg also expects its full-year sales to grow between 9 and 13 percent, less than its previous projection of 19 percent to 21 percent sales growth.

And, same-store sales — an important retail industry metric of sales in stores open at least a year — are expected to fall between 8 and 12 percent for the year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the retailer to earn 98 cents per share on revenue of $1.49 billion. That would be an 18 percent revenue increase from full year results last year.

"It is still difficult to accurately gauge this economic uncertainty and its impact on customer traffic," the company said in a statement.

Also Thursday, the company sad it earned $3.4 million, or 10 cents per share, for the three months ending Sept. 30. That compares with a loss of $6.9 million, or 22 cents per share, during the same period last year.

After factoring in last year's one-time items, the company's net income actually fell 41 percent from the previous adjusted profit of $5.8 million.

Net sales in the second-quarter rose 11.3 percent to $320.3 million, up from $287.9 million a year ago.

Hhgregg shares rose 85 cents, or 17 percent to $5.74 in afternoon trading after reaching an all-time low of $4.60 earlier in the session.

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