Dick’s Sporting Goods smashes same-store sales expectations for holiday quarter

Dick’s Sporting Goods on Tuesday reported holiday quarter results that beat Wall Street’s expectations, citing a sales boost from the gift-giving season even with inflation-weary consumers.

Same-store sales increased 5.3% during the fourth quarter, more than double analysts’ estimates of 2.1%, according to StreetAccount. That metric measures sales online and in stores open for 14 months or more.

Shares of the company were up roughly 6% in premarket trading on Tuesday.

The sporting good retailer’s performance has remained resilient in the face of an inflationary macroenvironment and industry-wide inventory struggles. It said Tuesday that even amid shaky consumer demand across the sector, its shoppers continued buying.

Footwear, athletic apparel and team sports products were the primary drivers of performance in the fourth quarter and the full year, a company spokesperson said. Dick’s Sporting Goods said that its size and scale of reach remained appealing to vendors, even as they pare down their distribution partners. That means that Dick’s can price up popular products like Nike’s Jordan shoes, Hoka running shoes, and Brooks sneakers.

Dick’s is going into its next fiscal year with continued confidence. It anticipates full-year earnings per share between of $12.90 and $13.80, up from $10.78 per share for fiscal 2022. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected fiscal 2023 EPS of $12.

It expects same-store sales growth for the fiscal year to be flat to up 2%.

Here’s how the company did in the quarter ended Jan. 28 compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

• Earnings per share: $2.93, adjusted, vs. $2.88 cents expected
• Revenue: $3.60 billion vs. $3.45 billion expected

The company posted net income of $236 million, about 32% lower than the $346 million it reported a year earlier.

Dick’s has not been completely immune to the industry-wide retail pains like inventory headwinds. Supply chain disruptions led Dick’s to stock up on products to meet pandemic-era demand, only for those products to be out of season by the time they arrived.

But the company feels confident it has resolved its supply chain dilemma as it heads into the 2023 fiscal year.

“As planned, we continued to address targeted inventory overages, and as a result our inventory is in great shape as we start 2023,” said CEO Lauren Hobart.

The company will host a conference call at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

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