NEW YORK – The outlook for next year from Dick's Sporting Goods overshadowed a strong quarter and pushed shares down sharply in early trading Tuesday.
The company, based just outside of Pittsburgh, expects a sharp profit drop in 2018 as it boosts its online spending at a time of tightening margins and flat sales.
"We expect earnings per diluted share to decline by as much as 20 percent in 2018," said CEO Edward Stack.
The company reported a 25 percent profit drop during the third quarter to $36.9 million, or 35 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains, were 30 cents per share, which topped Wall Street expectations by four cents, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue rose 7.4 percent to $1.94 billion, also beating Street forecasts.
For the current quarter ending in January, Dick's expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.12 to $1.24. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.10.
The company expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.92 to $3.04 per share. That's a shift from a prior range of $2.85 to $3.05 per share.
Shares of Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. have declined 50 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has declined 56 percent in the last 12 months.
Shares fell almost 7 percent, to $24.55, at the opening bell.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DKS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DKS
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