Academy returns to profitability with 39.1% sales growth in first quarter

Academy Sports + Outdoors Inc. reported net income of $177.8 million for the first quarter of 2021, compared to a loss of $10 million in the same period last year. This excludes the impact of certain non-cash and extraordinary items, and pro forma adjusted net income increased from $0.4 million to $182.5 million.

The company's net sales for the first quarter were $1.58 billion. Comparable sales increased 38.9%. Sales increased 46.8% compared to the first quarter of 2019.

E-commerce sales fell 21% in the first quarter as the site saw triple-digit growth in the first quarter of 2020 when consumers turned to online ordering at the beginning of the pandemic last year. Looking back over the past two years, first-quarter e-commerce sales have grown 300%.

Apparel and footwear were the two strongest categories in the first quarter. Among them, apparel grew 80% year-on-year in the previous quarter, 38% higher than the previous quarter in 2019; footwear grew 58% last quarter, 23% higher than the previous quarter in 2019. Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Columbia Sportswear and The North Face were the best-selling brands last quarter.

By category, sports and entertainment grew 36%, helped by the resumption of professional and college sports. Hicks observed that baseball has been very strong, while golf has remained strong throughout the pandemic because it is more of an individual sport.

Sales of football equipment and racket sports were also very strong, as well as hot sales of football equipment due to spring football and water sports. In addition, outdoor cooking and outdoor furniture also performed well, with sales increasing as the weather warmed up last quarter. Bicycles, as a category that has always been very active, especially adult bicycles, were almost sold out in seconds after they were put on the shelves.

Academy said it is beefing up its functionality, including adding Apple Pay, improved, faster search features and more content, such as explaining how to use the gridiron or buy a football helmet, to increase consumer purchases.

Academy

USA

First Quarter