Dick’s Sporting Goods Q4 breaks sales records, cautious about 2025
Dick’s Sporting Goods reported its best sales quarter ever, but joined other retailers in offering a disappointing outlook for fiscal 2025, saying profits will not meet Wall Street expectations.
Despite the soft guidance, the nation’s largest sporting goods retailer plans a “significant investments” in stores and digital this year, CEO Lauren Hobart said on the company's earnings call. On the brick and mortar front, plans include the opening of 16 House of Sport stores and 18 Field House locations this year. The majority of openings are relocations or reimaginings of existing stores.
Dick's is also planning to enhance and expand its online presence with added speed and convenience.
Fourth Quarter
Dick'a posted net income of $300 million, or $3.62 a share, for the quarter ended Feb.1, up 1% from $296 million, or $3.57 a share, in the year-ago period. Earnings per share, beat analyst projections of $3.53.
Meanwhile, net sales rose 0.5% to $3.89 billion from $3.88 billion. Wall Street had been expecting net sales of $3.78 billion. Same-store sales rose 6.4%, more than double the 2.9% Dick's reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.
"Our fourth quarter was an exceptionally strong finish to another great year,” said Hobart stated in the earnings release. “With a 6.4% fourth quarter comp we delivered the largest sales quarter in company history. For the full year, our comps increased 5.2%, we drove meaningful pre-tax profit margin expansion, and we gained significant market share."
Dick’s is offering a mixed prediction for fiscal 2025 results. The company predicts earnings per share ranging between $13.80 to $14.40, compared to Wall Street estimates of $14.86 per share reported by the London Stock Exchange.
The retailer expects net sales for fiscal 2025 between $13.6 billion and $13.9 billion, while the London Stock Exchange reported Wall Street projections of $13.9 billion. Same-store sales growth estimates of 1-3% Dick’s expecting comparable sales to grow between 1% and 3% are in range of the 2.5% Wall Street forecast reported by StreetAccount.
Despite these forecasts, Hobart offered optimistic commentary on the upcoming year.
"For 2025, our outlook reflects strong confidence in our strategies and operational strength while acknowledging the dynamic macroeconomic environment," said Hobart. "With this in mind, we expect to drive continued comp growth, strategic expansion of our square footage, and improved gross margin. Leaning into our strategic pillars, we are investing in three exciting growth areas, each with significant potential: repositioning our real estate and store portfolio, driving continued strong growth in footwear, and accelerating our e-commerce business."
[READ MORE: Dick’s Sporting Goods Q3 beats estimates, raises guidance]
For the full fiscal year 2025, Dick’s reported net income of $1.16 billion, up 11% year-over-year from $1.05 billion. Net sales grew 3.5% to $13.44 billion from $12.98 billion. Same-store sales rose 5.2%, double the 2.6% rate reported in fiscal 2023.
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Dick’s Sporting Goods operates more than 850 Dick’s Sporting Goods, Golf Galaxy, Public Lands and Going Going Gone! stores, online, and through the Dick’s mobile app. The company also owns and operates Dick’s House of Sport and Golf Galaxy Performance Center, as well as GameChanger, a youth sports mobile platform for live streaming, scheduling, communications and scorekeeping.
