Dick’s Sporting Goods hit a new sales record in fiscal year 2023 at almost $13 billion and added nearly 7 million new customers.

During a conference call with investors, Dick’s leadership emphasized its House of Sport concept stores, including opening another eight locations in 2024, its Golf Galaxy business, and other sports-related initiatives.

For the quarter ended Feb. 3, 2024, net sales were $3.8 billion, up 7.8% compared to the prior-year period, and comparable store sales were up 2.8% in the quarter.

Net income was $296 million, up 26% compared to the same quarter last year.

Dick’s Executives Comment on Outdoor Market

Dick’s CFO Navdeep Gupta spoke about the outdoor segment in detail at the tail end of the earnings call, after an analyst asked if the company was closing its outdoor stores.

In the outdoor segment, as of Jan. 28, Dick’s operated seven Public Lands stores, 15 Going Going Gone! stores, and five Field & Stream stores.

In 2023, Dick’s integrated operations of Moosejaw – which it purchased from Walmart last year – into its Public Lands business. In September, Dick’s announced it would close 11 of its 14 Moosejaw stores by February 2024, but leadership hasn’t said anything about its Public Lands business.

“We continue to be really excited about the outdoor category when you look at the macro-level,” Gupta said. “We know there is an opportunity to similarly differentiate in terms of service and product experience as well as the overall assortment we can provide.

He mentioned that since Dick’s acquired Moosejaw it has brought Moosejaw’s back-office operations and Public Lands’ together “to be able to drive the long-term profitability in that business.”

Gupta said they are “rationalizing” some of the investments they have made.

“We are closing the Moosejaw locations, but we are confident in the go-forward business and continue to evaluate that space,” he added. “Overall, on a long-term basis, we continue to remain really confident about the opportunity in the outdoor segment.”

Dick’s Q4 2023 Results

For the quarter ended Feb. 3, 2024, net sales were $3.8 billion, up 7.8% compared to the prior-year period.

Net income was $296 million, up 26% compared to the same quarter last year.

Gross margin was up 200 basis points from the prior-year period.

By categories, Dick’s saw growth across most of its key categories, including footwear and apparel.

The only area of softness it saw was in outerwear, due to warmer-than-expected weather for the period.

Dick’s gained 2 million new “athletes,” its term for customers, in the quarter.

Dick’s Full-Year 2023 Results

“We are proud of our progress in repositioning our portfolio through House of Sport, our next-generation 50,000-square-foot Dick’s store and Golf Galaxy Performance Center,” said Ed Stack, executive chairman. “Our growth opportunities are significant, and we continue to prioritize investments in our future to fuel long-term omnichannel growth. ”

For fiscal year 2023, net sales were $12.9 billion, up 5% compared to last year.

Net income was $1.05 billion, about flat compared to last year.

Gross profit for the full year was $4.5 billion or 35% of net sales, an increase of 36 basis points from last year.

This increase was driven by lower supply chain costs, according to Gupta.

Gupta added that Dick’s year-end inventory levels increased 1% compared to last year.

“We believe our inventory is clean and well-positioned,” he said.

Full-Year 2024 Outlook

Dick’s is expecting 2024 net sales to range from $13 billion to $13.13 billion.

Comparable store sales are expected to increase by 1%-2%.

“We’re excited to continue redefining the future of retail with the continued success of our growth initiatives,” said Lauren Hobart, president and CEO of Dick’s. “We will increase our capital investments to drive our business forward, both digitally and in-store, and continue gaining market share in this fragmented $140 billion industry.”