DICK'S Sporting (DKS) Strengthens Base With 5 New Stores

In an effort to improve its existing store base and widen market reach, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Inc. (NYSE:DKS) recently announced the opening of five new stores in four cities spread across Florida and California.

Grand events related to the opening of store in Torrance were held between Jun 2 and Jun 4. Events in Miami, Aventura and Sunrise will be held between Jun 16 and Jun 18. Miami will have two store opening events in the said time period, while Aventura and Sunrise will be inaugurating one new store each. With the opening of these new stores, the store count of DICK’S Sporting Goods will reach 702.

Moreover, in order to attract customers during the celebration, the company has announced attractive opportunities of winning prizes. Also, several special guests are invited to make in-store appearances. Through opening new stores, management at DICK’S Sporting hopes to serve consumers in a better manner by providing a wider array of products.In the first quarter, DICK’S Sporting inaugurated 15 namesake stores, two Field & Stream outlets and eight Golf Galaxy stores.

However, given the challenges looming over the retail space, many retailers have opted for store closures. Following suit, DICK’S Sporting also announced plans to bring a slowdown in its store growth plan. The company plans to reduce its store openings significantly from 43 namesake openings expected in fiscal 2017 to 15–20 anticipated in fiscal 2018 and narrowing down from 5 to no store openings in fiscal 2019.

In the last six months the company’s shares have underperformed Zacks categorized Retail-Miscellaneous/Diversified industry. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) shares declined 32.9% compared with the industry’s loss of 8.3%.

Nevertheless, DICK’S Sporting strategies of constant product and service upgradation efforts within its stores, along with dedicated initiatives to improve eCommerce sales are expected to benefit in the long run.

Key Picks

Better-ranked stocks in the Retail/Wholesale space include Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV) , The Children's Place, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) and Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE:BBW) each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Big 5 Sporting has an average positive earnings surprise of 94.5% over the trailing four quarters and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 12%.

The Children's Place has an average positive earnings surprise of 36.6% over the trailing four quarters and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 8%.

Build-A-Bear Workshophas an average positive earnings surprise of 67.5% over the trailing four quarters and has a long-term earnings growth rate of 22.5%.

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