Dick’s Sporting Goods said its newly acquired Foot Locker business returned to comparable sales growth and profitability in Q1 — a sign that the retailer’s turnaround efforts are starting to take hold.

For its fiscal quarter ended May 2, Dick’s reported a 6.0% increase in comparable sales for its namesake banner. During the same period, Foot Locker’s pro forma comparable sales edged up 0.6%. The U.S. Foot Locker banner performed better, posting a 6.4% comparable sales gain, according to executives.

“With Foot Locker, our excitement and confidence continue to build as we execute our plan, and in Q1 we saw encouraging proof points, returning the Foot Locker Business to positive comps and profitability,” executive chairman Edward Stack said in the retailer’s earnings release.

The results are an early sign of progress for Dick’s following its $2.4 billion acquisition of the sneaker chain in September. While the deal pushed Dick’s further into athletic footwear and expanded its omnichannel footprint, it also handed the company a major turnaround project that will stretch into the coming year.

Dick’s Sporting Goods ranks No. 33 in the Top 2000 Database. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by annual ecommerce sales.

In addition to its namesake banner, Dick’s owns Golf Galaxy, Public Lands, Going Going Gone!, House of Sport and GameChanger, a youth sports mobile platform. The Foot Locker business includes Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS and atmos.

Dick’s Q1 sales rise with Foot Locker contribution

In Q1, Dick’s Sporting Goods’ consolidated net sales rose 62.7% year over year to $5.16 billion, reflecting the addition of Foot Locker revenue.

The core Dick’s banner generated $3.38 billion in net sales, up from $3.17 billion a year earlier. Comparable sales for the Dick’s Sporting Goods business rose 6.0%, helped by shoppers spending more per trip.

“Dick’s business comp reflects a 5.5% increase in average ticket and a 0.5% increase in transactions, with a broad-based trend across footwear, apparel and hardlines,” chief financial officer Navdeep Gupta said on the company’s earnings call.

Foot Locker added about $1.79 billion to consolidated Q1 net sales. North America helped drive the segment’s improvement, with comparable sales up 1.4%, Gupta said.

Within that region, the Foot Locker banner in the U.S. stood out, posting 6.4% comparable sales growth, he noted.

Stack said it was Foot Locker’s first quarter of positive comparable sales since Q4 2024.

“We remain highly focused on the transformational opportunity ahead and on delivering an inflection point in sales and profitability, starting with back-to-school,” Stack said. “Our excitement and confidence continue to build as we execute our plan, and in Q1, we saw encouraging proof points.”

Dick’s expands Foot Locker store reset

Central to the Foot Locker turnaround is “Fast Break.” The store reset program is focused on simplifying product assortments, improving presentation and reintroducing more curated apparel offerings.

Stack said locations with Fast Break delivered double-digit comparable sales growth and stronger merchandise margins in Q1. As part of the Foot Locker reset, Dick’s has also cleaned up inventory and restored relationships with key athletic vendors, he said.

During Q1, Dick’s expanded the program to about 100 global locations. The retailer plans to scale the program to about 250 stores across Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker and Champs ahead of the back-to-school shopping season, with more expansion planned before the holidays.

The upcoming back-to-school period will be a larger test for the strategy. Stack said it will be the first season in which the team bought the full assortment, alongside a broader relaunch of the Foot Locker brand.

Dick’s invests in AI and mobile tools

On the digital front, Dick’s Sporting Goods has been expanding its website and mobile app capabilities.

That includes the upcoming June rollout of “Coach by Dick’s,” an agentic artificial intelligence (AI) conversational assistant built using the Adobe Brand Concierge platform.

According to Dick’s Sporting Goods, the natural-language tool integrates the retailer’s product knowledge to deliver training tips, tailored product recommendations and guidance, which adapt to user behaviors over time.

“Coach extends the expertise of our teammates into a personalized conversational experience, helping athletes make more confident decisions across product, training, and services,” CEO and president Lauren Hobart said on the earnings call.

The rollout comes as Dick’s continues to build out its broader first-party ecosystem.

In Q1, the company added 1.5 million new athletes to its customer database, Hobart said.

Growth also continued at GameChanger, the youth sports mobile platform that Dick’s acquired in 2016.

Backed by new 1080p livestreaming and AI-powered coaching tools, a record 50% of all sports games covered on GameChanger were streamed live in Q1, Hobart said. The company continues to scale the platform as “a key driver of engagement and innovation within the Dick’s ecosystem,” she said.

Looking ahead

Following the Q1 performance, Dick’s Sporting Goods raised the low end of its full-year comparable sales guidance for both operations.

The retailer now expects core Dick’s Sporting Goods comparable sales to grow 2.5% to 4.0%. That range is up from a previous estimate of 2.0% to 4.0%. For the Foot Locker business, comparable sales are now projected to rise 1.5% to 3.0%. That expectation is up from 1.0% to 3.0% previously.

Gupta said growth will likely lean toward the first half of the fiscal year. He sees that growth buoyed by retail demand tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup starting June 11.

To help support its growth, the company plans $1.4 billion in net capital expenditures this year. Roughly 70% will fund core Dick’s store growth and improvements, relocations, technology, and supply chain projects, Gupta said, with the remainder backing Foot Locker’s store fleet and Fast Break initiative.

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