hibbett inc reported higher sales and earnings for the third quarter on tuesday though the results missed wall street analyst estimates the sportinggoods retailer posted net income of 256 million for the quarter ended oct 29 compared with 252 million in the same period a year ago on a pershare basis earnings were 194 up from 168 last year analysts polled by factset had expected earnings of 252 a share net sales were up 135 to 4332 million missing analyst expectations of 4455 million according to factset the birmingham alabased company said comparable sales were up almost 10 from the yearago quarter and more than 51 higher than the same quarter in 2019 prior to the pandemic meanwhile its gross margin contracted due to high freight and fuel costs as well as wage inflation according to chief executive mike longo