Sporting Goods Retailer Stumbles in First Quarter

Some sporting goods retail giants have continued their momentum from the start of the pandemic, while others haven’t been as fortunate — like Big 5 Sporting Goods.

The California-based company reported first-quarter revenue of $242 million, a significant decrease year-over-year from a company-record $272.8 million in Q1 FY2021. Net income for the quarter was $9.1 million, less than half the record $21.5 million recorded during the same quarter the year prior.

The company’s chairman, president, and CEO Steven G. Miller attributed some of the loss to “unfavorable winter weather, Omicron-related challenges, supply chain disruptions, and inflation pressures.”

“As a reminder, sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2021 benefited from strong pent-up demand following an easing of pandemic-related restrictions,” the company noted.

Sporting Good and Bad

Unlike Big 5, other sporting goods retailers have thrived.

• Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has 730 brick-and-mortar locations with another 131 specialty concept stores, reported a 7% year-over-year revenue increase to a record $3.35 billion in the quarter ending Jan. 29, 2022, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.31 billion.
• Academy Sports + Outdoors, which had 259 stores at the end of its fourth quarter, saw net sales increase 13.2% to a record $1.8 billion.

For comparison, Big 5 has 431 operating stores with plans to open four more this year. In Q2, Big 5 expects same-store sales to fall into the high teens — during the same quarter last year, Big 5 reported record sales.