Dick’s Sporting Goods will log another growth quarter, outpacing the broader retail market, when it reports third-quarter results next Tuesday, November 25, but analysts will also be listening closely as the company is expected to announce further details on cost synergies, potential store closings and turnaround strategies for the recently acquired Foot Locker banners.

For the third quarter, analysts’ consensus estimates show Dick’s is expected to post earnings of $2.70 a share, down from $2.75 a year ago. The decline largely reflects pre-opening expenses in the current period to support the opening of 13 House of Sport and six Field House locations.

Sales are expected to reach, on average $3.18 billion, up 4 percent year-over-year, with same-store sales ahead 3.5 percent.

The $2.5 billion Foot Locker deal closed on September 8. Dick’s management previously disclosed it expects $100 million to $125 million in the medium term from procurement and sourcing efficiencies while promising to dive deeper into potential synergies and divestitures on the third-quarter call. Most analysts’ current estimates are based on the standalone Dick’s business, with many planning to incorporate Foot Locker into their models following the Q3 call.

Paul Lejuez, at Citi Research, sees Dick’s Q3 comps in its core business climbing 5 percent in the quarter, ahead of consensus targets of 3.5 percent, but forecasts the Foot Locker business saw a 2.5 percent comp decline, below consensus estimates calling for a 2 percent decline.

Lejuez sees earnings slightly below consensus but expects Dick’s to still raise its EPS guidance for the year on strong top-line momentum, despite headwinds from Foot Locker’s equity dilution.

Lejuez suspects Dick’s will not give “a lot of detail on” Foot Locker, given that the transaction recently closed on September 8, but he expects management to provide more information on Foot Locker’s sales and margin opportunities, including the potential for synergies beyond the medium-term expectations of $100 million to $125 million called out. He wrote, “Now that the deal has closed, we believe management will speak to additional potential synergies in other areas of the business, including in corporate overhead, IT/marketing and within their distribution network.”

Lejuez expects approximately $150 million in additional synergies over the next five years, positively impacting SG&A expenses.

Lejuez also suspects Dick’s management will be more open to discussing potential store closings after the deal is completed and believes Dick’s has more leverage than Foot Locker to get out of underperforming store leases. Lejuez said, “Landlords are very attracted to the DKS House of Sport store opening/remodel strategy given these stores help drive traffic to malls, which is a bargaining chip for DKS mgmt. in negotiations.”

Store concepts likely to face closures, according Lejuez, include Champs Sports, which has been underperforming and, most directly, competes with Dick’s among Foot Locker banners. He also believes closing Foot Locker Kids stores could present better opportunities at the flagship Foot Locker banner to target kids’ offerings.

Outside of Foot Locker, Lejuez believes investors will be looking for DKS to provide more assurances that the momentum in the core Dick’s chain is sustainable. He noted that the strength has been driven by strong demand for athletic footwear over the last several years, including from upstarts like Hoka and On, but also continued growth at Nike. He believes Dick’s will be a “big winner” if Nike’s turnaround efforts prove successful and sees key sporting events like the 2026 World Cup (in the U.S.) and the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA as catalysts for Dick’s future growth.

Lejuez reiterated his ‘buy” rating on DKS at a $280 price target, writing, “Given core biz strength/potential for good news related to FL acquisition, we see a favorable risk/reward.”

Cristina Fernández, at Telsey Advisory Group, expects Dick’s to report earnings slightly ahead of consensus estimates with same-store sales climbing 4 percent.

“We expect Dick’s sales to have remained strong, driven by traffic to its stores, a differentiated merchandise assortment with a unique mix of national and private brands, successful opening of new concept stores (Dick’s House of Sport and Dick’s Field House), controlled promotional activity, and operational execution,” said Fernández. “We expect Foot Locker to add [about] $1B in sales in 3Q25 but be more challenged YoY given the banner’s dependence on Nike and the basketball/casual business, as well as ongoing promotional activity to clean up inventory.”

Fernández said her team will be looking to hear from the retailer how its plans to further differentiate Foot Locker product from Dick’s, possible store closures or expansion potential among Foot Locker banners, planned investments to improve Foot Locker’s operations, and strategies for Foot Locker’s international business that’s performing worse than the U.S. Fernández added, “As it relates to the Dick’s business, we will listen for color on consumer and merchandise trends, promotional activity across the marketplace, the impact of tariffs, and planned investments for 2026.”

Fernández reiterated her “buy” rating at a $255 price target.

Simeon Gutman, at Morgan Stanley, reiterated his “Overweight” rating at a $253 price target in his earnings preview. He expects Dick’s third-quarter results to come generally in line with consensus targets, with continued top-line momentum and gross margin improvement. Said Guttman, “We believe core DKS maintains healthy comp momentum in the +MSD [mid-single digit] percentage  range, supported by its retail experience elevation, omnichannel shopping, growing GameChanger user base, and early progress in developing the DICK’s Media Network income.”

Gutman forecasts gross margins will increase by 30 basis points in Q3, benefiting from higher on-trend assortment allocations from key brand partners, while SG&A leverage should moderate going forward after stepped-up investments in technology, staff and marketing in the first half.

Gutman suspects comps in the Foot Locker business were down low- to mid-single-digits in Q3 and believes Dick’s could face margin pressures if aggressive inventory clearance is necessary at the acquired business. Beyond updates on potential synergies, Gutman plans to seek more details on Dick’s capital structure post-merger as well as the possibility of share repurchases, given that most former Foot Locker shareholders opted to receive Dick’s shares in the deal.

Robby Ohmes at Bank of America Securities expects Dick’s to post Q3 earnings of $2.69, just below consensus targets, but he sees an opportunity for the retailer to surpass his firm’s 2.5 percent comp forecast. In a note, Ohmes cited Bloomberg Second Measure credit and debit card data that implied the Dick’s banner only saw a slight deceleration from the comp gain of 5.0 percent reported in Q2.

Ohmes remains bullish on the Foot Locker merger, expecting it to further strengthen Dick’s brand partnerships. He also sees a “sizeable opportunity for combined Nike penetration (~38 percent pro forma) to return to pre-2019 levels, also potentially supporting a higher EBIT margin.”

Ohmes maintained his “buy” rating on DKS at a $245 price target due to improved vendor allocations and longer-term higher profit contribution from Foot Locker, digital, and clearance capabilities that “should support sales and gross margin upside potential.”

Joseph Civello, at Truist Securities, expects DKS’ Q3 EPS to come in below consensus targets, but he sees comps climbing a healthy 4.5 percent. The analyst reiterated his “buy” rating at a $275 price target in part due to the potential of several key growth initiatives (House of Sport (HoS), GameChanger and retail media).

Civello also believes Dick’s premium positioning, differentiated products and access to higher-income customers have made the flagship chain less vulnerable to the “choppy” broader retail climate. He believes Foot Locker’s business is “more challenged” due to exposure to lower- and middle-income consumers and comparatively fewer premium offerings but believes Dick’s will be able to elevate product offerings to support recovery efforts.

Civello wrote, “We believe access to more premium products has been the key driver of DKS’ outperformance, and we are bullish that DKS’ better brand relationships (along with Nike’s own turnaround) should help improve FL’s merchandise & strengthen trends at the banner (on top of lapping fairly easy comparisons in 2026).”

TD Cowen on Friday, November 21, trimmed its FY25 EPS estimate to $14.13 from $14.53 due to the closing of the Foot Locker deal while increasing its pro-forma EPS estimate for FY26 to  $15.21 from $14.46 on the potential for a share buyback, supported by debt issuance.

Analyst John Kernan also raised his price target to $234 from $233.

Kernan noted that TD Cowen’s proprietary Consumer Tracker Survey suggests that DKS is gaining sneaker and sporting goods retail share preference. Kernan wrote,  “Improved allocations of product from Nike and Adidas have helped along with premium footwear deck installation (90 percent store base penetration). Our conversations with management teams at Nike, Adidas, Yeti, On and Deckers (HOKA) have all been increasingly constructive regarding their relationships with Dick’s Sporting Goods – which we take as a sign Dick’s is scaling beyond its peers across sporting goods and taking market share.”

However, he still kept his “hold’ rating on the stock due in part to increasing concerns over a slowdown of the “sneaker/footwear” cycle that’s been particularly driving sales gains over the last few  years as well as challenges driving Foot Locker’s margin recovery. Kernan wrote in a note, “We are cautious on the company’s acquisition of Foot Locker given the undertaking of returning FL to a MSD [percentage] EBIT margin business.”

Image courtesy Dick’s Sporting Goods