In the slow-growing sporting-goods market, Dick's Sporting Goods is leaving the competition in the dust.


The company has an 8.5% market share, ahead of rival Foot Locker, with 6%. Dick's counts Nike and Under Armour as leading suppliers, and is benefiting from the growth of both brands.

Dick's stock trades at around $50, but the shares could reach $60 in the next 12 months, as earnings grow. Some analysts think Dick's could earn as much as $3 a share in the fiscal year ending January 2014. That's up from an estimated $2.56 a share for fiscal 2013.

Based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Coraopolis, Pa., Dick's operates primarily in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and New York. The company expects to operate 900 stores before reaching saturation, almost double its current store base. Some analysts think Dick's could open at least 36 new stores this year, which would help power earnings growth.

Dick's shares peaked in September at $54.24, amid concern that warmer-than-usual winter weather would crimp sales of outerwear and winter sports equipment.

Investors also worried about the future of the company's gun sales, after the Dec. 14 shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., led to talk of Congress banning certain types of rifles and ammunition clips.

After the shootings, Dick's announced it would suspend temporarily sales of so-called modern sporting rifles in all its stores. The worries seem misplaced as semiautomatic rifles represent only 1% of the company's total sales.

Dick's has the goods to equip every member of a sports-loving family. The stock's got game, too.

Christopher C. Williams is a writer for Barron's. For more stories, see