Dick's Sporting Goods 3Q View Spooks Shareholders

Dicks Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) scored a 43% leap in second-quarter profits, but the retailer issued a cautious third-quarter outlook, sending its stock retreating 4%.

Pittsburgh-based Dicks said it earned $73.8 million, or 59 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $51.5 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, it earned 52 cents, exceeding forecasts from analysts by 2 cents.

Sales increased 6.6% to $1.31 billion, but that narrowly trailed the Streets view of $1.32 billion. Same-store sales were up 2.5%.

We delivered profitable growth that exceeded our earnings projections while continuing to strengthen our balance sheet, CEO Edward Stack said in a statement. While top line sales started slow in the quarter, June and July comps accelerated at a pace above our quarterly target of approximately 3%.

Dicks raised its 2011 non-GAAP EPS view to $1.94 to $1.96, up from $1.91 to $1.93 previously and well above expectations for $1.59.

However, the largest U.S. sporting goods retailer anticipates third-quarter EPS of just 24 cents to 26, which compares unfavorably with analyst estimates of 28 cents.

In early trading, shares of Dicks slid 4.10% to $31.57, compared with a 1.2% decline on the S&P 500. Dicks stock was off more than 12% in 2011 as of Mondays close.