• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, March 14, 2024

Dick’s Sporting Goods’ fourth-quarter results reflect an unexpectedly strong holiday season and evidence that recent product, marketing and concept initiatives are paying off.

Net sales rose 8% to $3.88 billion from $3.6 billion in the comparable quarter of 2023. Net income soared 26% to $296 million from $236 million. For the full year, sales rose 5% to $12.98 billion. And while many other retailers are predicting sales declines in the coming year, Dick’s is forecasting a slight increase, anticipating revenues will rise to between $13 billion and $13.13 billion.

“We capped off the year with an incredibly strong fourth quarter and holiday season,” says Lauren Hobart, president and CEO, in the announcement. “Even excluding the extra week, this was the largest sales quarter in the company's history, and we continue to gain market share.”

She credited the company’s new store formats -- including House of Sport and Public Lands -- and omnichannel experience for the stand-out performance. “We will accelerate our investment in growth strategies to drive our business forward and continue gaining market share in a fragmented $140 billion industry.”

Observers are impressed by the Pittsburgh-based retailer’s performance. Brian Nagel, who follows Dick’s for Oppenheimer & Co., continues to expect the company to outperform its peers, with “competitive positioning of the company’s unique business, within one of the healthier segments of consumer discretionary spending.”

With the retailer's fifth consecutive quarter of traffic increases, “we interpret positive transactions counts at Dick’s, particularly against a challenged discretionary backdrop, as reflective of a now stronger, digitally enabled product offering,” Nagel says.

Dick’s recently released a new ad campaign promoting those digital offers, featuring actors Will Arnett and Kathryn Hahn in a new campaign for its ecommerce business.

The 30-second spots, produced with Juxtapose Studio, showcase the seamless experience of shopping Dick’s online.

America’s still-growing love for athleisure is also part of Dick’s ongoing share gains. “Since 2019, overall spending on casual clothing has risen by 22.6% in the U.S.,” writes Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, in his note on Dick’s results. “At Dick’s, sales of casual clothing have risen by a whopping 123.3%. Market share, while still very small, has almost doubled. The increase has added over $447 million to Dick’s sales line.”

And while many stores and brands are capitalizing on that trend, “shopping at Dick’s is often easier and more pleasant than visiting department stores,” he says.