Coraopolis, Pa.-based Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS +0.94%) saw its share price slip in Tuesday trading, following the rest of the market down despite reporting Q3 earnings that exceeded expectations.
Dick's reported Q3 2013 earnings of $0.40 per diluted share "beat" analyst estimates by a penny. Revenues for the quarter -- $1.4 billion -- likewise edged out estimates, where analysts had been looking for just $1.37 billion in revenue. Dick's had guided investors to expect that its same store sales would increase at most 1% in the quarter. In fact, they rose 6.7%.
Commenting on the quarter, CEO Edward Stack explained that "despite the continued challenging consumer environment, we delivered better than expected results in the third quarter, exceeding both our sales and earnings expectations."
Stack noted further that the company's focus on better marketing, improved "customer experience," and selective "pricing initiatives" -- i.e., putting items on sale -- helped to boost sales in the quarter, albeit at the cost of lower profit margins.
Looking forward. Dick's says it will probably earn between $1.04 and $1.07 in this current, final, fourth quarter of the year, a small increase over last year's earnings.
