Dick’s Sporting Goods reported a 3.6 per cent increase in net sales for the second quarter ended July 29.

Comparable store sales grew 1.8 per cent year over year driven by an increase in transactions and continued market share gains.

The company maintained its comparable store sales outlook in the range of flat to positive 2 per cent.

Earning before tax margin saw a double-digit increase of 10.1 per cent.

“Within the quarter, sales accelerated significantly in July, and we remain confident in delivering positive comp sales for 2023. While we posted another double-digit EBT margin, our Q2 profitability was short of our expectations due in large part to the impact of elevated inventory shrink, an increasingly serious issue impacting many retailers,” said Lauren Hobart, president and CEO at Dick’s.

The slight slowdown in growth at Dick’s suggests consumer spending is under a bit of pressure, commented Neil Saunders, MD of GlobalData.

However, the solid numbers still help the company remain one of the winners in retail, with second-quarter sales up by an impressive 42.7 per cent since pre-pandemic 2019, Saunders continued.

“Dick’s has increased its share of spending and customers across almost all the sporting categories it operates in. This includes clothing and footwear, where Dick’s has made some extensive inroads not just into sporting-related apparel but into items for casual use.”

While the sales line is robust, the bottom line is in a different position with operating income down by 32.3 per cent and net income down by 23.3 per cent, Saunders elaborated.

“As operating costs are reasonable and under control, a large element of this decline appears to be because of the growing problem of theft.”