For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, the Company now expects to report a loss per basic share in the range of $0.94 to $0.97, which compares to the Company’s previous guidance for a fourth quarter loss per basic share in the range of $0.80 to $1.05. The Company’s updated earnings guidance for the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter includes a net benefit of $1.0 million, or $0.04 per basic share, related to an insurance settlement.
For the fiscal 2024 full year, the Company now expects to report a loss per basic share in the range of $3.14 to $3.17, which includes the aforementioned net benefit related to an insurance settlement, in addition to a non-cash charge for the establishment of a valuation allowance related to deferred tax assets of $21.8 million, or $0.99 per basic share, recorded in the third quarter of fiscal 2024. Financial results for the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and full year are unaudited, preliminary, and subject to final year-end accounting entries.
The Company ended the 2024 fiscal year with a cash balance of $5.4 million and borrowings of $13.8 million under its recently-renewed $150 million credit facility with Bank of America, N.A. Merchandise inventories decreased by 4.1% as of the end of fiscal 2024 versus the end of the prior fiscal year.
The Company expects to issue earnings results for the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter and full year in late February 2025.
About Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation
Big 5 is a leading sporting goods retailer in the western United States, currently operating 418 stores under the “Big 5 Sporting Goods” name. Big 5 provides a full-line product offering in a traditional sporting goods store format that averages 12,000 square feet. Big 5’s product mix includes athletic shoes, apparel and accessories, as well as a broad selection of outdoor and athletic equipment for team sports, fitness, camping, hunting, fishing, home recreation, tennis, golf, and winter and summer recreation.
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause Big 5’s actual results in current or future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the economic impacts of COVID-19, including any potential variants, on Big 5’s business operations, including as a result of regulations that may be issued in response to COVID-19, global supply chain disruptions resulting from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East, changes in the consumer spending environment, fluctuations in consumer holiday spending patterns, increased competition from e-commerce retailers, breach of data security or other unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal or confidential information, the competitive environment in the sporting goods industry in general and in Big 5’s specific market areas, inflation, product availability and growth opportunities, changes in