Driven by strong sales and gross margin rate expansion, the group reported consolidated net income of $316.5 million or $2.78 per diluted share for the third quarter of fiscal 2021.
The company’s e-commerce sales also increased by 97 per cent in the third quarter of FY21 compared with the third quarter of 2019 and 1 per cent compared with the third quarter of 2020.
"Our strategies continue to work as we reimagine the athlete experience in our core business and with new concepts. As we said before, we believe this will be the most transformational year in our history, and we expect to continue this transformation into 2022. I couldn't be more excited about the future of Dick's Sporting Goods," Edward W Stack, executive chairman of the company, said in a press release.
During the third quarter of 2021, the company repurchased 2.17 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $125.80 per share, for a total cost of $273.4 million, under its share repurchase programme.
It also paid over $500 million in dividends to stockholders during the 13 weeks ended October 30, 2021, which included the previously announced special dividend of $5.50 per share on the company's Common Stock and Class B Common Stock.
The company ended the third quarter of FY2021 with approximately $1.37 billion in cash and cash equivalents and there were no outstanding borrowings under its $1.855 billion revolving credit facility. The total inventory of the group also increased by 7.3 per cent at the end of the third quarter of 2021 compared to the end of the third quarter of 2020.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DD)