Dick's Sporting Company profile
What is Dick’s Sporting Goods?
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) is one of the major American retailers of sporting goods. The head office is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the company is in the Fortune 500.
Dick’s operates over 600 stores in 47 US states. The company also manages and owns Field & Stream, Golf Galaxy, Chelsea Collective and True Runner specialty stores. Dick’s Sporting Goods has been an active sponsor of many major sports events including Summer Olympics 2016, Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, Dicks Sporting Goods Park, etc.
What’s the history of the company?
Originally founded in 1948, Dick’s Sporting Goods was established by Dick Stack, who at the time was an 18-year-old working at an army surplus store in the state of New York.
After suggesting an idea to his boss to open a fishing tackle business, he faced strong rejection, which lead him to quit his job. In fact, the initial funding behind Dick’s Sporting Goods came in the unusual form of a $300 investment from his grandmother, who he told this idea to, saying it would take this amount to ‘do it himself’.
With this $300-dollar investment and a strong work ethic, Dick opened a bait-and-tackle shop in his hometown of Binghamton, New York State. By 1958, at 28 years’ old, he had already expanded his product line and began to build the brand known today as Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Today, the company is headed by Ed Stack, the son of its founder. Together with his siblings, Ed developed the brand after buying it from their father, and taking it from just two stores to over 675.
The sports-passionate family continues to develop the brand under the mission, “to be recognised by our customers as the #1 sports and fitness specialty omni-channel retailer that serves and inspires athletes, and outdoor enthusiasts to achieve their personal best through the relentless improvement of everything we do.”
What’s the latest company news?
The company’s 2017 Q4 reports show the company ended the year with $101 million in cash or equivalents, no outstanding borrowing and a consolidated net income for the fourth quarter of $116 million, $1.11 per diluted share. During the preceding year the company returned $357 million to shareholders through share repurchases and quarterly dividends, and invested into omni-channel growth, as per their mission.
Additionally, Dick’s Sporting Goods recently made headlines for their support in advocating gun control. This move by company, who themselves are a major supplier of weapons, following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has faced harsh opposition by firearm’s activists and the NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation). The financial ramifications of the decision, if any, will be seen in the coming financial reports.
Where can I trade Dick’s Sporting Goods?
The company went public on 15 October 2002, with its shares quoted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol DKS. Visit Capital.com to see the latest DKS charts, keep up to date with real-time Dick’s Sporting Goods share price data to make smart trades on the sports retailer giant.