Shares of Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. SBH increased 11.3% yesterday, owing to its better-than-expected earnings in third-quarter fiscal 2019. Also, management stated that it is well on track with its Transformation Plan.However, sales disappointed due to reduced store count and currency headwinds. Notably, this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company recorded its fourth straight sales miss in the reported quarter. Shares of this Denton, TX-based company have lost 19.4% year to date against the industry’s growth of 11%.Q3 in DetailSally Beauty reported adjusted earnings of 60 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 58 cents and remained flat year over year. Including one-time items, earnings increased 22.9% to 59 cents per share, courtesy of lower SG&A costs and reduced restructuring charges.Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. QuoteConsolidated net sales dipped 2.1% to $975.2 million and fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $984 million. The top line was majorly affected by reduced store count compared to the year-ago period. Also, unfavorable foreign-currency translation negatively impacted sales by roughly 80 basis points (bps) in the reported quarter.Consolidated same-store sales improved marginally by 0.1%. Nevertheless, e-commerce sales increased 25.9% from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.The gross margin remained nearly flat at 49.5% as improvements in the North American business of Sally Beauty Supply segment was negated by continued difficulties in Beauty System Group’s European business.Adjusted SG&A expenses declined $10.5 million in the quarter. Adjusted operating earnings declined 0.6% to $122 million, while adjusted operating margin expanded 20 bps to 12.5%.Segment DetailsSally Beauty Supply (“SBS”): Net sales of the SBS segment dipped 2.8% to $575 million in the quarter due to lesser stores than the prior-year quarter, continued hurdles in Europe and foreign-currency headwinds. Foreign-currency translation adversely impacted sales by almost 120 bps. Global segment same-store sales slipped roughly 0.6%, whereas the same in Canada and the United States inched down 0.2%.Net store count at the end of the quarter was 3,705, reflecting a decrease of 70 from the year-ago period.Beauty Systems Group (“BSG”): Net sales of the BSG segment fell 1.1% to $400.1 million due to weakness in the full-service business. Also, foreign-currency translation hurt sales by roughly 30 bps. Moreover, the net store count at the end of the quarter was 1,384, representing a decrease of 11 from the year-ago period. Same-store sales rose 1.4%. Total distributor sales consultants at the end of the quarter were 791 compared with 837 in the year-ago period.Other Financial AspectsSally Beauty ended the reported quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $57.9 million, long-term debt including capital leases of $1,589.7 million and total stockholders’ deficit of $70.5 million.During the quarter, cash flow from operations was $93.7 million, while capital expenditures amounted to $20.4 million. The company’s operating free cash flow totaled $73.4 million, which was utilized to reduce debt load.Transformation Plan & OutlookManagement is on track with its Transformation Plan, as part of which it is progressing well with its four key goals — improving customers’ experience, strengthening e-commerce capacities, curtailing costs and enhancing retail fundamentals.Salle Beauty intends to be committed toward its transformation endeavors. To this end, it is preparing for the country-wide launch of Sally Beauty brand campaign, building on the successful launches of core brands like Pravana, My Black is Beautiful and more; continuing with its efforts to modernize supply chain, speeding up the rollout of its new Oracle-based point-of-sale systems and revitalizing BSG’s e-commerce site, among other efforts.All said, management reiterated its guidance for fiscal 2019.Don’t Miss These Solid Retail StocksDICK'S Sporting Goods DKS, with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has a long-term growth rate of 5.6%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Ulta Beauty ULTA, also with a Zacks Rank #2, has a long-term growth rate of 18.4%.Burlington Stores BURL, with a Zacks Rank #2, has a long-term growth rate of 17%.Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana. Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look.See the pot trades we're targeting>>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Burlington Stores, Inc. (BURL): Free Stock Analysis Report Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (SBH): Free Stock Analysis Report DICK'S Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS): Free Stock Analysis Report Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research