By Senad Karaahmetovic

Shares Foot locker Premarket trades were up Friday for (NYSE:), after the company stated that it expected sales and earnings to exceed its forecast range.

FL Q1 adjustedEPS was $1.60, up from $1.96 over the previous year and higher than the consensus estimate of $1.53 per shares. Revenues were $2.18 Billion. This is a 1% increase YoY, and close to the $2.19 billion expected.

Foot Locker recorded a total of 2,815 locations in the reporting period. This is down 4.6% YoY, and lower than the analyst consensus estimate of 2,834. In the same period, the number of U.S. shops was 786. This is also lower than the consensus projection of 793.

Comparable sales fell 1.9% in Q1 compared to the previous year, up 80.3% YoY but below analyst expectations of 3.52%.

“Following our solid results from the first quarter, our strong inventory position going into the remainder of the year, and our strengthening vendor relationships, based on our current visibility, we now expect to achieve the upper end of our revenue and earnings guidance for the full year,” said CFO Andrew Page.

Kate McShane, a Goldman analyst, maintained a neutral rating and set a target price of $31.00 per share.

“We think the better gross margin outlook in the face of higher cost inflation and the potential for more markdowns across the industry is significantly better than expected,” McShane said.

Jay Sole from UBS believes these results will boost stock sentiment.

“Our conversations with investors before the print suggested sentiment is very low on FL. FL stock prices dropped 30% in 4Q21, despite the fact that they increased by 2% on the same day. Key factors were well below-consensus FY22 guidance, and FL’s announcement that Nike (NYSE:) would accelerate its shift to DTC channels. We spoke with investors and they suggested that this caused a “capitulation moment” for the stock. We think FL’s 1Q22 beat & raise report will surprise the market since expectations for FL had dropped to very low levels,” Sole said.