Stocks in Motion: Hibbett

Shares of the sporting goods company rise 9% on a fourth-quarter earnings beat.
By Mark Martinez ,

Updated from 11:26 a.m. EST

Shares of

Hibbett Sporting Goods

(HIBB) - Get Report

were among the

Nasdaq's

winners Thursday, rising 8.8% after the company posted fourth-quarter results that were better than expected.

The sporting goods retailer earned $8.2 million, or 35 cents a share, on sales of $107.1 million. Comparable store sales rose 5.2%. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 32 cents a share on sales of $106.6 million. A year ago the company earned $6.5 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of $91.2 million. Looking ahead, Hibbett forecast first-quarter earnings of 38 cents to 42 cents a share. Analysts are expecting earnings of 39 cents a share. For fiscal 2006, the company expects earnings of $1.26 to $1.32 a share and a comp-store sales gain of 4% to 5%. Analysts are expecting earnings of $1.24 a share. Shares traded up $2.34 to $29.08.

Imax

(IMAX) - Get Report

rose 5.5% after the company posted in-line fourth-quarter earnings on sales that were better than expected. Excluding items, the projector and sound systems company earned $7.8 million, or 19 cents a share, on sales of $47.5 million. Analysts expected earnings of 19 cents a share on sales of $40 million. A year ago the company posted earnings of 9 cents a share on sales of $29.3 million. Looking ahead, Imax raised its forecast for 2005 earnings, saying that it now expects 35 cents to 38 cents a share, up from its previous guidance of 32 cents to 35 cents. Analysts are expecting 2005 earnings of 34 cents a share. Shares traded up 55 cents to $10.64.

Shares of

Dillard's

(DDS) - Get Report

fell modestly after the company posted fourth-quarter earnings that were better than expected. Excluding items, the retailer earned $63.5 million, or 76 cents a share, on sales of $2.42 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 73 cents a share on total sales of $2.33 billion. A year ago the company earned $62.5 million, or 74 cents a share, on sales of $2.37 billion. Fourth-quarter results were helped by improved gross margins and a decline in interest and debt expenses. Shares traded down 8 cents to $23.67.

Build-A-Bear

(BBW) - Get Report

fell 2.1% after the company posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations but said that first-quarter earnings would fall short of expectations. The company earned $6.3 million, or 32 cents a share, on sales of $99.4 million. Analysts expected earnings of 31 cents a share. Looking ahead, Build-A-Bear said that it still expects first-quarter earnings of 32 cents to 34 cents a share, but the forecast fell short of the 35 cents that analysts had been expecting. Shares traded down 67 cents to $31.73.

Shares of

Novamerican Steel

(TONS)

rose 4.6% after the company said that rumors suggesting that it is under investigation for fraud or that it intends to announce adverse information about the company are unfounded. "We generally do not respond to unfounded rumors of this sort," the company said. "But these chat room postings are so patently false that we thought the company should put on the record its denial of them so that our shareholders are not adversely affected." Shares traded up $3.23 to $73.25.

NYSE

volume leaders included

Elan

(ELN)

, down 41 cents to $7.47;

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

, down 42 cents to $60.37;

Lucent

(LU)

, up 4 cents to $3;

Time Warner

(TWX)

, up 22 cents to $17.75;

Texas Instruments

(TXN) - Get Report

, up 44 cents to $27.08; and

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report

, up 1 cent to $26.75.

Nasdaq volume leaders included

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

, up 18 cents to $18.71;

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

, up 1 cent to $24.85;

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

, up 12 cents to $25.43;

Sirius Satellite Radio

(SIRI) - Get Report

, down 15 cents to $5.45;

Sun Microsystems

(SUNW) - Get Report

, up 2 cents to $4.38;

Apple Computer

(AAPL) - Get Report

, up 48 cents to $39.83; and

Oracle

(ORCL) - Get Report

, down 9 cents to $13.26.

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