Dick’s Sporting Goods posts strong Q4; offers confident outlook

Dick’s Sporting Goods ended its year on an upbeat note, reporting better-than-expected sales and earnings and revealing ambitious expands plans for its newest store concept.

The sporting goods giant said it plans to open 20 locations for its experiential store concept, "Dick's House of Sport," during the next two years, including nine stores this year.  Looking ahead, Dick's sees a total of 75 to 100 House of Sport locations during the next five years. The retailer debuted the concept in April 2021, and has since opened two additional locations.

In reporting its fourth-quarter results, Dick's provided an upbeat earnings outlook that stood in mark contrast to those offered by most other retailers this earnings season, with companies from Walmart to The Home Depot taking a cautious to downbeat stance.

The sporting goods giant posted net income of $236 million, with adjusted earnings per share of $2.93, for the quarter ended Jan. 28, compared to $346 million in the year-ago period. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $2.88.

Net sales rose to $3.597 billion from $3.352 billion last year, beating estimates of $3.451 billion. 

Comparable sales rose 5.3% as the company said it gained market share.

“Our 2022 results provide a strong foundation upon which we will build in 2023 and well into the future,” said Lauren Hobart,” CEO, Dick’s Sporting Goods. "Our fourth quarter was a strong ending to another strong year. As planned, we continued to address targeted inventory overages, and as a result our inventory is in great shape as we start 2023. We couldn't be more excited about our spring assortment."

For the full year, Dick’s net sales rose to $12.368 billion, compared to $12.293 billion last year.

For fiscal year 2023, Dick’s expects earnings of $12.90 to $13.80 a share, more than the $12.00 per share analysts were looking for. Same-store sales are flat to up 2%, compared with Street expectations of up 0.2%.

“In 2023, we will grow both our sales and earnings through positive comps, a return to square footage growth and higher merchandise margin,” stated Hobart. "Our consistent performance and financial strength position us to increase the rate of investment in our business to fuel long-term growth opportunities, and also return significant capital to shareholders. The step-change increase in our dividend clearly reflects our strong conviction in our structurally higher sales and earnings."

The company operates more than 850 Dick’s Sporting Goods, Golf Galaxy, Public Lands, Going Going Gone! and Warehouse Sale stores. Dick’s also owns and operates Dick’s House of Sport and Golf Galaxy Performance Center stores as well as GameChanger, a youth sports mobile app for scheduling, communications, live scorekeeping and video streaming.