Dick's Sporting Goods Working On Female Appeal, While Golf Galaxy Hurting Bottom Line

Dick's Sporting Goods "is working extra hard to make its brand appealing to women," according to Teresa Lindeman of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. Company Chair & CEO Ed Stack yesterday said that marketing, store environments and merchandise "have all been carefully targeted to that segment." Stack during a Q1 earnings call said that Calia, a new private-label women’s fitness clothing line created with singer Carrie Underwood, "has been doing well and could become the company’s third best-selling women’s athletic apparel brand" by the end of '16. Dick’s "recently launched its first marketing campaign specifically aimed at women." Stack said that new stores also "are being designed with women in mind." Dick’s "has been fine-tuning its overall strategy as traditional categories such as golf have slowed and as its Field & Stream outdoor concept has picked up steam" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 5/20).

GALAXY QUEST: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Lisa Beilfuss notes Dick’s Q1 profit "fell 10%, as the company’s Golf Galaxy stores continued to struggle while expenses rose." Dick’s "has been trying to turn around its struggling Golf Galaxy division, which the company said would hit bottom during the fourth quarter of 2014 and then return to profitability this year." But same-store sales for Golf Galaxy locations "plunged 11% in the first quarter." E-commerce penetration during Q1 was 8.5% of total sales, versus 7% a year earlier. The company "opened 10 stores in the quarter and total sales rose 8.8%." In all for the period, the company reported a profit of $63.3M, "down from a year-earlier profit" of $70M. Revenue increased to $1.6B from $1.4B, while operating expenses rose 11.6% to $367M (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/20). In Pittsburgh, Alex Nixon notes the golf and hunting categories "have been hurting financial performance at Dick's for several quarters." But Stack said that the company "is making strides in more profitable women and kids athletic clothing and from team apparel." With a concentration of stores in the Northeast and upper Midwest, Stack said that bad winter weather "affected sales early in the quarter that started in February" (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 5/20). At presstime, shares of Dick's were trading at $53.27, down 0.3% from the close of business yesterday (THE DAILY).