Foot Locker Profit up 48% on Cost Cutting

Foot Locker's(FL Quote) profit jumped nearly 50% in the first quarter, sending its shares up sharply in after-market trading.

During the quarter, the company earned $31 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with $21 million, or 14 cents, in the year-ago period.

"The merchandise inventory repositioning strategy that we undertook over the past two years allowed us to achieve the 130 basis-point increase in our gross margin rate versus the first quarter of last year," said CEO and Chairman Matthew D. Serra said in a statement. ...