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Key Takeaways
- Dick’s Sporting Goods stock popped in early trading Thursday after it reported its fourth-quarter earnings.
- Net sales, income, and EPS all surpassed analysts’ expectations.
- The company also announced a 10% increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share after paying $351 million in dividends over the last fiscal year.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) shares surged in early trading Thursday after the retailer posted fourth-quarter earnings that significantly surpassed analyst estimates for the holiday quarter.
For the quarter ended Feb. 3, the largest U.S. sporting goods chain posted $3.88 billion in net sales, a record high, along with adjusted income and earnings per share (EPS) of $320 million and $3.85, respectively. Each of those figures surpassed analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.
The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.10 per share, up 10% from the previous quarterly dividend. It is set to be paid April 12 to stockholders of record when markets close on March 29.
Shares of Dick’s were up 11.9% at $210.20 at around 10:45 am. ET, after moving as high as $222.92 in the opening minutes of trading. The stock has gained about 45% since the start of the year.
The sporting goods retailer bought back about $649 million in its own stock in the 2023 fiscal year, and also paid $351 million in dividends. Dick’s has another $780 million still allotted for stock buybacks going forward, but did not include plans to do so in its 2024 guidance.
Dick’s reported comparable sales growth of 2.8% in the fourth quarter across the 855 stores it operates, mostly under its own name, along with 131 locations under a number of more specific sports brands like Golf Galaxy.
The company projects 2024 comparable store sales growth of between 1% and 2%. Net sales for the full year are pegged at between $13 billion and $13.13 billion, compared with $12.98 billion in 2023, while diluted EPS is seen at $12.85-$13.25.
“We are guiding to another strong year in 2024,” Dick’s Sporting Goods chief executive Lauren Hobart said. “We plan to grow both our sales and earnings through positive comps, higher merchandise margin and productivity gains.”