Impacted by wildfires, Big Five reports Q3 sales slide

Net income and revenue reported by Big 5 Sporting Goods for the third quarter both dipped compared to last year.

Impacted by wildfires in key western markets and by pre-Fourth of July sales moving to Q2, net income slipped 18% to $24 million and revenue 5% to $290 million. By month, July was down 9% over 2020 but up 17.7% over 2019, August up 3.8% over 2020 and 6.4% over 2019 and September up 4.5% over 2020 and 15.9% over 2019.

Hard goods, which benefited most from pandemic sales in outdoor recreation and fitness, were down low teens over 2020 and up nearly 20% over 2019. Hard goods also felt the biggest impact from this year’s wildfires, which closed some stores during the Labour Day selling period. Reduced promotional activity, higher selling prices due to product purchase costs and a shift in product mix, all contributed to a gross margin improvement from 36.1% to 37.3%. One store opened and two closed in the quarter, while for the full year, five openings and four closures brings the total store count to 431.

While facing the same logistics issues as the rest of the industry, Big 5 says it is confident in having supply for Q4 to fuel potential growth, reporting that most of Black Friday and Christmas holiday inventory is now in. Guidance for the fourth quarter points to same-store sales being down between low single digits and up low single digits, resulting in an increase of 10.5% over the prior year.