Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) is set to report its fiscal second-quarter financial results on Friday before the markets open. The shoe retailer has consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that call for $0.69 in earnings per share (EPS) on $1.66 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $0.64 in EPS on $1.64 billion in revenue.

Analysts from Cowen are very bullish on this top retail stock. Foot Locker is a specialty athletic retailer that operates 3,419 stores in 23 countries in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, through its Foot Locker, Footaction, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, SIX:02, Runners Point and Sidestep retail stores, as well as its direct-to-customer channels, including Eastbay.com, FootLocker.com and SIX02.com.

The Cowen team points out that consumers are bearing price increases from the top companies like Nike and Under Armour. They also say that currently athletic apparel and footwear companies are continuing to see higher gross margins and return-on-invested-capital, which they think is a source of multiple expansion. That should be just the ticket to get a further lift in the stock price.

Separately other analysts weighed in on Foot Locker prior to the earnings report:

• Barclays has an Overweight rating and raised the price target to $76 from $70.
• B. Riley reiterated a Neutral rating with a $72 price target.
• Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $78 from $72.
• Deutsche Bank reiterated a Buy rating with a $78 price target.
• Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating.
• Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an Outperform rating and raised the price target to $74 from $70.

So far in 2015 Foot Locker shares have outperformed the market; year to date shares are up 33% and in the past 52-weeks shares are up nearly 45%. Shares of Foot Locker were down 2.2% at $72.40 on Thursday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $70.45 and a 52-week trading range of $51.12 to $74.95. Foot Locker pays a 1.4% dividend.

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