SGB Executive

Shares of Genesco fell $6.53, or 13.7 percent, to $41.22 Thursday after the retailer gave a cautious outlook for 2023 and launched a cost-cutting program to help offset inflationary pressures that negatively impacted its flagship Journeys chain this past holiday season. Genesco also plans to close 60 Journeys stores this year.

On his first quarterly analyst call, Bjørn Gulden, Adidas’ new CEO, said the company plans to focus on culture, wholesale service levels, local go-to-market approaches, speed to market, and brand heat to orchestrate a turnaround at Adidas.

Dick’s Sporting Goods reported plans to return to annual square footage growth, led by its House Of Sports concept, after reporting fourth-quarter results that easily surpassed Wall Street expectations, boosted by a 5.3 percent same-store gain. As many as 75-to-100 House of Sport stores are expected to open by 2027.

Overcoming supply chain obstacles during the first half, Brooks Running managed 6 percent growth in 2022 to reach record annual revenues of about $1.2 billion. Dan Sheridan, president and COO, talks to SGB about how the year played out, brand accomplishments and his outlook for Brooks and the running industry for 2023.

Founded in 1958 in Lakewood, CO, Christy Sports has grown to 63 stores across five Western states and has an online platform. CEO Matt Gold talked with SGB Executive about the store’s uniqueness, commitment to customer service, the pandemic’s impact on business, and the current inflationary environment.

Hibbett, Inc. reported comp-store sales increased 15.5 percent versus the prior-year period and increased 39.6 percent compared to the 13 weeks ended February 1, 2020. Earnings for the quarter and guidance for the current year slightly trailed Wall Street’s targets. CEO Mike Longo told analysts, “These results came from strong demand for our popular footwear brands and a recovery in inventory levels.”

On its fourth-quarter analyst call, Compass Diversified officials said some subsidiaries in its Branded Consumer segment, including BOA and PrimaLoft, had been hurt in the fourth quarter by a wholesale order slowdown caused by elevated inventories in the marketplace. Those pressures it expects will continue through the first half of 2023.

Kohl’s logged a surprise steep loss in the fourth quarter and provided EPS guidance for 2023 that was well below analyst expectations as the chain overhauls its merchandise mix to deemphasize active wear in favor of casual and career wear and explore newer opportunities in home and gifting.

Big 5 believes the current retail environment is setting itself up positively for opportunistic buys by vendors, a historical strength of the West Coast retailer as it closely evaluates inventories to remain well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

On an analyst call, John Walbrecht, president at Clarus Corp., said inventory destocking at Black Diamond’s larger retail accounts in North America continued in the fourth quarter, wiping out open-to-buy opportunities and driving a sharp revenue decline. The pain is expected to continue in the first quarter but Walbrecht said demand for Black Diamond remains healthy.

Citi Research downgraded shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods to “Neutral” from “Buy” due to margin concerns tied to the need to clear excess overall inventory in the marketplace.

SGB Executive reached out to industry executives to get their perspectives on the supply chain’s ongoing recovery efforts. Responses surveyed from Case And Zippo, Cascade Designs, Hot Chillys, Land Energy, Lowa, NetVirta, Reima, The Woolmark Company, Tread Labs, TRE US, and Vibram are outlined.

Rocky Brands reported fourth-quarter results easily topped expectations due to outperformance by its Retail segment. However, Rocky officials on an analyst call provided a cautious outlook for 2023, expecting sales to decline between 7 and 9 percent, due to low visibility into wholesale orders and uncertain consumer demand.

On a call with analysts, Matt Reintjes, Yeti’s president and CEO, said he remained confident that the drinkware and cooler maker would return to its long-term revenue target of 10 percent to 15 percent growth despite sales growth expected to fall well below that rate in the current year due to a massive recall and a slowdown at wholesale.

Led by a hike in pickleball participation, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) Topline Participation Report found that physical activity rates increased in the U.S. for a fifth consecutive year. The report also indicates that activities ranging from golf to tennis, basketball, kayaking and surfing continue to build on pandemic-related gains.