Dick's Sporting Goods 3Q profit more than triples

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. said Thursday that its third-quarter profit more than tripled, as the prior year's results were burdened by higher expenses.

But the sporting-goods retailer expects fourth-quarter earnings to come in below analysts' expectations, which sent its shares down $2.47, or 10 percent, to $22.35 in morning trading.

Dick's earned $18.9 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with $6.2 million, or 5 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts predicted a profit of 9 cents per share, according to a Thomson Reuters poll. These estimates generally exclude one-time items.

The previous year's results included $3.1 million in merger and integration costs as well as higher pre-opening expenses of $7.5 million compared with $4.6 million in those expenses for the current quarter.

Sales for the period ended Oct. 31 increased 7 percent to $989.8 million from $924.2 million as sales at stores open at least a year - including Golf Galaxy and its namesake stores - climbed 1.9 percent. The performance beat Wall Street's revenue estimate of $961.5 million.

The retailer also credited its higher sales to new store openings and the addition of e-commerce sales.

"We believe we benefited from a shift of cold weather product sales from the fourth quarter to the third quarter as a result of colder weather conditions relative to last year," Chairman and CEO Edward Stack added.

Dick's raised its full-year adjusted profit guidance to a range of $1.04 to $1.09 per share from a range of $1.02 to $1.07 per share.

Analysts forecast earnings of $1.13 per share for the year.

For the fourth quarter, the retailer anticipates earnings of about 41 cents to 46 cents per share, which is less than the 57 cents-per-share that analysts predict.

Dick's opened 11 of its namesake stores in the quarter and relocated one store. It ran 420 of its namesake stores and 91 Golf Galaxy stores at quarter's end.

In morning trading, shares of Dick's fell $2.68, or 11 percent, to $22.14.