Dick’s Sporting Goods cuts Foot Locker profit forecast amid sales decline

PITTSBURGH — Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) reported a sales stumble in its ongoing transition to revive the Foot Locker retail chain it bought last year.

Amid overall sales gains for the flagship Dick’s brand, as the company continues to expand its House of Sport growth vehicle, the Coraopolis-based sporting goods retailer reported that sales at its Foot Locker stores declined by 3.1%. That’s a total operating loss of $31.9 million for the quarter. The decline resulted in a dramatic revising of its sales guidance for the mall-based footwear retail brand, expecting store sales in the range of a 2% decline to flat, down from previous expectations of seeking out a 1.5% to 3% quarterly sales gain.

A challenging quarter in the athletic footwear business overall translated into Dick’s expecting annual sales to be in the range of a $40 million to $80 million loss, a steep come down from profit expectations of $110 million to $150 million.