Dick’s to Stop Selling Firearms in Half Its Stores

Dick’s Sporting Goods said it would stop selling firearms in more than half its stores this fiscal year, the latest move by the retailer to scale back its guns business.

Published: March 10, 2020

The company’s plans to eliminate the hunting department at about 440 more Dick’s Sporting Goods locations follows the earlier removal of the department at 135 stores. The company had 850 stores at the end of the last fiscal year, most of which were Dick’s Sporting Goods locations.

In 2018, following the mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school, Dick’s said it would sell guns only to people at least 21 years old, and would stop selling assault-style rifles at its 35 Field & Stream stores. The company stopped selling assault-style rifles at its flagship Dick’s stores following the 2012 deadly shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Firearms and ammunition are a shrinking part of the company’s business but Dick’s CEO Edward Stack has taken a public stance on the issue and lobbied for more stringent restrictions on firearms sales.

Dick’s, which also reported its latest financial results Tuesday, said it expects same-store sales for this fiscal year to be between about flat to up 2%. Analysts’ consensus is within that range, according to FactSet, though the outlook is less than the company’s same-store sales increase in the previous fiscal year of 3.7%.

Dick’s also cautioned the coronavirus could affect its coming results.

“The company’s outlook balances the enthusiasm it has for its business with the rapidly evolving coronavirus situation,” Dick’s said in a press release. The company said the lower end of its current fiscal-year guidance “includes some caution related to supply chain disruption potentially impacting its results beginning in the second quarter.”

Dick’s said it expects earnings of between about $3.60 a share and $4 a share. Analysts’ consensus, according to FactSet, is for results within that range.

Shares of Dick’s rose 13%.

For the last quarter of 2019, the company reported earnings of $69.8 million, down from $102.6 million a year prior. Earnings were 81 cents a share, down from $1.07 a share a year ago.

The company said it had almost $49 million in pretax restructuring charges from deciding to remove its hunting department from more stores.

Adjusted earnings of $1.32 a share beat analysts’ consensus, according to FactSet.

Net sales were $2.61 billion, higher than Wall Street expected, and up from $2.49 billion a year ago. Same-store sales rose 5.3%. Analysts expected them to rise 3%.