Dick’s Sporting Goods 3Q same-store sales up 5.1%

Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) echoed its national outdoor and fitness retail peers, reporting its third-quarter 2012 same-store sales up 5.1 percent to finish a strong spring and summer.

The figure includes a 3.9 percent same-store sales improvement at Dick’s Sporting Goods stores, a 2.3 percent same-store sales increase at Golf Galaxy and a 46.7 percent increase the combined stores’ e-commerce business.

The Pittsburgh-based retailer shined even more in the third quarter by adding 21 new Dick’s Sporting Goods locations during the period, resulting in a total revenue gain of 11.2 percent to $1.3 billion. At the close of the quarter, ended Oct. 27, 2012, Dick’s Sporting Goods had 511 locations in 44 states, and Golf Galaxy had 81 locations in 30 states.

The company reported net income for the third quarter at $50.1 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, versus a net income of $41.5 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, a year ago.

Looking ahead, officials expect same-store sales to increase by 4 percent in the fourth quarter 2012, which indicates optimism over last year’s weak winter, which brought just a 0.1 percent increase.

Investors cheered the news, sending Dick’s Sporting Goods’ stock up nearly 5 percent on an overall down day for the markets.

Both Big Five Sporting Goods and Sport Chalet reported similar improved third-quarter results earlier in the month, and Hibbett Sports is scheduled to report at the end of this week.



–David Clucas