Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (BGFV) has reported a 79.98 percent jump in profit for the quarter ended Jan. 01, 2017. The company has earned $7.69 million, or $0.35 a share in the quarter, compared with $4.28 million, or $0.20 a share for the same period last year.

Revenue during the quarter dropped 3.17 percent to $266.28 million from $275.01 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 159 basis points over the previous year period to 32.80 percent. Total expenses were 95.44 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 97.31 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 187 basis points in operating margin to 4.56 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $12.15 million, compared with $7.40 million in the previous year period.

"We are pleased to report a strong finish to fiscal 2016, with solid same store sales, expanded gross margins, expense leverage and meaningful earnings growth in a challenging holiday sales environment," said Steven G. Miller, the Company's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "As we previously reported, our fourth quarter benefited from the competitive rationalization in the retail sporting goods sector, and we increased both customer transactions and average sale as well as improved merchandise margins. We also are pleased to have further strengthened our balance sheet, as our healthy operating cash flow for the year of $73.7 million allowed us to significantly reduce year-over-year borrowings under our credit facility and return over $13 million to shareholders through cash dividends and stock repurchases."

For the first-quarter 2017, Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.12 to $0.18.

Debt comes down significantly 

Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation has recorded a decline in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $13.32 million as on Jan. 01, 2017, down 77.29 percent or $45.35 million from $58.67 million on Jan. 03, 2016. Total debt was 3.07 percent of total assets as on Jan. 01, 2017, compared with 13.18 percent on Jan. 03, 2016. Debt to equity ratio was at 0.06 as on Jan. 01, 2017, down from 0.30 as on Jan. 03, 2016. Interest coverage ratio improved to 35.01 for the quarter from 13.75 for the same period last year.