Dick's Sporting Goods execs on Thursday said the company is making a play for a "very small number" of closing Sports Authority stores, according to Alicia Wallace of the DENVER POST. Dick's during its quarterly earnings call said that the company "will bid for nearly two dozen of the hundreds of leases that will be auctioned in June as part of Sports Authority's bankruptcy." On Monday, liquidators "bought all of Sports Authority's inventory in a bankruptcy auction." Dick's Chair & CEO Ed Stack said that because the liquidation sales could "extend into the back-to-school shopping season, they probably will take a bite out of Dick's near-term revenue." Wallace notes getting the Sports Authority leases out of Chapter 11 "will require Dick's to assume the contracts as they stand and 'cure' any missed payments." Stack added that Dick's will not try to "chase the liquidation pricing at Sports Authority's going-out-of-business sales" (DENVER POST, 5/20).
MONEY TALKS: Stack said that Dick's posted a 10% decline in Q1 profits and "expects earnings to be under pressure for the rest of the year as customers seek out bargains at other stores." In Pittsburgh, Chris Fleisher notes Dick's forecasted its earnings "will decline" by as much as 19% in Q2 as a result. E-commerce has become "increasingly important to Dick's," accounting for 9.2% of total sales in Q1. The company "continues to invest in e-commerce initiatives and integrate its website with brick-and-mortar stores." Dick's "reported net income" of $56.9M in the period that ended April 30. That "was down" from $63.3M in the same period a year ago (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 5/20). At presstime, shares of Dick's were trading at $43.06 per share, up 4.11% from the close of business Thursday (THE DAILY).
