Hastings Wasting Away: Fool by Numbers

On May 21, Hastings Entertainment (Nasdaq: HAST  ) released first-quarter earnings for the period ended April 30.

• Sales declined by 2.6% to $128 million. Overall same-store sales fell 3.9%. A 3.2% drop from lower merchandise sales, coupled with a 6.9% downfall in movie rentals, just doesn't cut it.
  
  
• Fortunately, the company made profitable sales and rental revenue, improving gross margin 180 basis points.
  
  
• For fiscal 2008, Hastings estimates earnings per diluted share of $0.55 to $0.60.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data.)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Sales	$128.0	$131.4	(2.6%)
Net Profit	$2.5	$1.9	29.0%
EPS	$0.22	$0.17	29.4%

Get back to basics with the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change*
Gross	37.3%	35.5%	1.8
	3.7%	2.9%	0.9
	1.9%	1.5%	0.5

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$5.2	$7.0	(25.1%)
Inventory	$164.4	$160.1	2.7%

Liabilities	Q1 2007	Q1 2006	Change
Accounts Payable	$68.2	$72.0	(5.2%)
Long-Term Debt	$46.8	$46.1	1.3%

The balance sheet reflects the company's health.

Cash Flow Highlights

No cash flow data? That's like watching a movie without popcorn.

Free cash flow is a Fool's best friend.

Related Foolishness:

• Hastings' Pudding
• It's in the Box, Movie Gallery
• Foolish Forecast: Movie Gallery's Kick in the Can

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.