Dick's Sporting Goods loses $143M as coronavirus closings overshadow digital surge

Dick’s Sporting Goods swung to a loss as stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19 shuttered stores for the final weeks of March.

The Coraopolis, Pennsylvania-based sporting goods retailer lost $143.4 million, or $1.71 a share, in the first quarter as revenue plunged 31 percent from a year ago to $1.33 billion. Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting a loss of 57 cents a share on revenue of $1.45 billion.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
DKS	DICK'S SPORTING GOODS INC.	198.22	-0.52	-0.26%

“Although the business environment of 2020 remains uncertain, Dick's Sporting Goods is in a position of strength,” CEO Edward Stack said in a statement. “We believe coming out of the current crisis, health and fitness will become even more important to the consumer.”

First-quarter same-store sales plunged 30 percent from a year ago, but the closings helped fuel a surge in online demand: E-commerce revenue rose 210 percent year-over-year in the weeks after the shutdowns.

The company said same-store sales were down 4 percent through the first four weeks of the second quarter, and that digital sales were up more than 250 percent.

Dick's ended the first quarter with $1.5 billion cash and $1.4 billion in outstanding borrowings through its revolving credit facility.

Eighty percent of Dick's stores were reopened as of May 30. The company did not provide an updated outlook after withdrawing its full-year 2020 guidance on March 19 due to the uncertainty caused by the virus.

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Dick's shares fell 26 percent this year through Monday, lagging the S&P 500's 5.42 percent decline.