Joseph Schmidt
Analyst · Citi Research
Thank you, Ed. In the fourth quarter of 2013, we continued to expand our omni-channel reach and capabilities. We opened 6 new DICK'S stores, bringing our store base to 558 stores in 46 states, and fully remodeled 1 store. New store productivity was 91.7% in the fourth quarter. Within our stores, we have 218 shared-service footwear decks, 285 Nike Fieldhouse shops, 238 Under Armour All-American and Blue Chip shops and 90 The North Face permanent shops.
In the fourth quarter, we again improved our ship-from-store capabilities by increasing the assortment available by over 120%, further leveraging our store base to fulfill eCommerce demand. In January, we began testing Buy Online, Pick Up in Store in select stores as we worked to add an additional function that further integrates our stores and eCommerce operations.
As Ed mentioned, in 2014, we expect to open approximately 50 new DICK'S locations. We also plan to relocate 6 stores to preferred locations and fully remodel 5 stores. We are pleased with the improvement we are seeing in the commercial real estate market, with approximately 75% of our 2014 openings attributable to new builds. We will continue to invest in our existing stores through our space reallocation plan, which allows us to touch all of our stores and to increase their productivity. This program will allow us to expand in strategic growth areas such as young athletes and women's, where we see some great opportunities. This year, we are also continuing our journey towards eCommerce independence, building a multi-banner platform with our best-in-class partners and planning to bring golfgalaxy.com onto our own platform later this year.
Looking at our specialty concepts, we ended 2013 with 79 Golf Galaxy stores. We made the decision to close 3 underperforming Golf Galaxy stores in the fourth quarter as we continue to evaluate our store portfolio to maximize productivity. We are pleased with the performance of the 2 Golf Galaxy stores we opened earlier this year in our new larger prototype as we have been able to increase our apparel penetration and enhance the customer experience. In 2014, we expect to open 1 new Golf Galaxy store and relocate 2 stores all in this new format.
During 2013, we opened 2 Field & Stream specialty stores, and we are seeing very positive reactions and enthusiasm from customers, vendors and our associates. Our brand openings were the most successful brand openings of any stores we've ever opened. And this momentum with our customers continues with rapid sign-up and usage of our Sportsman's Advantage card loyalty program.
The vendor community is also excited about Field & Stream, not only about the look and feel of the stores, but also about our extremely talented associates, many who have run their own outdoor businesses prior to joining the Field & Stream team. The enthusiasm from these constituents is in response to just 2 stores. So as we go into 2014 with plans to open an additional 8 stores, we are very excited about the opportunity ahead of us.
I'll now turn the call over to André to review our financial performance and outlook in greater detail.
André Hawaux: Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Today, I want to review with you 4 primary areas: Our fourth quarter results, our balance sheet and capital allocation, our 2014 outlook and our long-term financial targets.
Beginning with our fourth quarter results. Our fourth quarter sales grew 7.9% to $1.9 billion on a 13-week to 14-week basis compared to the fourth quarter last year. On a 13-week to 13-week basis, total sales increased 12.5%.
Adjusted for the shifted calendar due to the 53rd week in 2012, consolidated same-store sales increased 7.3%. DICK'S Sporting Goods same-store sales increased 7.9%, while Golf Galaxy decreased 11.7% in the fourth quarter. The same-store sales increase in the DICK'S Sporting Goods business was driven by a 6.3% increase in traffic as we benefited from our traffic-driving initiatives, and by 1.6% increase in sales per transaction.
Unshifted consolidated same-store sales increased 6.3%. For DICK'S Sporting Goods, unshifted same-store sales increased 6.8%, and for Golf Galaxy, they decreased 9.4%.
eCommerce penetration was 12.2% of the total sales in the quarter. Keep in mind that our same-store sales figures include eCommerce, as we believe providing same-store sales on a combined basis is more meaningful given the symbiotic relationship between our stores and eCommerce.
Consolidated gross profit was $628.1 million or 32.25% of sales and was 36 basis points lower than the fourth quarter of 2012. Merchandise margin expanded 33 basis points. This was offset by an increase in shipping expense due to the growth in eCommerce and by occupancy de-leverage. Without the impact of the 53rd week and the calendar shift, occupancy expense would have leveraged slightly.
SG&A expenses in the fourth quarter of 2013 were $402.9 million or 20.69% of sales, compared to SG&A expenses of $375.8 million or 20.82% of sales in last year's fourth quarter. The 13 basis points lower SG&A expense as a percentage of sales was primarily lower due to lower administrative expenses.
Earnings per diluted share were $1.11 in the fourth quarter. This was above our previous expectations and compared with consolidated earnings per diluted share of $1.03 for the same period in 2012. You'll recall that the fourth quarter 2012 included approximately $0.03 benefit from the 14th week.
When you look at our results compared to the guidance we provided on our third quarter call, our Q4 2013 earnings reflect better-than-expected sales and merchandise margin, partially offset by higher-than-planned incentive compensation as a result of the better performance, and to a lesser extent, the accelerated eCommerce growth that we had in the quarter. As you know, our eCommerce business currently has lower operating margins. We are continually improving the profitability of the channel and expect online transactions to be more profitable than in-store transactions by the end of fiscal 2016.
Looking to our balance sheet, we ended fiscal 2013 with approximately $182 million of cash and cash equivalents compared to $345 million at the end of fiscal 2012 and no borrowings under our $500 million revolving credit facility. Over the past 12 months, we have invested in omni-channel growth, remodeled our stores and returned capital to our shareholders.
Total inventory increased 12.4% at the end of the fourth quarter of this year compared to the end of the fourth quarter of last year. Our inventory growth supports both our stores and our eCommerce business and was in line with our 13-week to 13-week sales growth of 12.5%.
In the fourth quarter, we repurchased an additional 2.6 million shares for a total cost of $150 million. In total for 2013, we repurchased over 4.8 million shares for a total cost of $255 million. In 2013, we made investments to support our omni-channel growth, launch our Field & Stream concept and drive traffic. These initiatives contribute to the accelerated growth in our eCommerce business, the very successful launch of Field & Stream, and the increase in traffic we saw in the second half of the year.
We also increased our return on invested capital to 12.1% in 2013, from 11.8% in 2012. Since 2009, we have increased our return on invested capital by approximately 290 basis points.
Before I move on to guidance, I wanted to discuss 1 housekeeping item with you, related to the calculation of new store productivity. Beginning next quarter, we will calculate our new store productivity figure on a trailing 12-month basis as a relative comparison of the sales per square foot for new stores compared to our existing stores. We believe that looking at the relative sales per square foot over 4 quarters more accurately reflects the performance of our stores and will minimize fluctuations in the metric due to the difference in timing of new store openings. We have provided a more detailed explanation of the change in our press release.
Now, turning to our 2014 guidance. For the first quarter of 2014, we anticipate consolidated earnings per diluted share of $0.51 to $0.53. Consolidated same-store sales are expected to increase approximately 3% to 4% compared to a 3.8% decrease in our shifted comp in the first quarter of last year. Gross margins are expected to increase slightly, with an increase in merchandise margins. SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales is expected to be flat. We are anticipating preopening expenses to increase year-over-year in the first quarter due primarily to an increase in the number of new store openings relative to last year's first quarter. The timing of these store openings will have an approximate $0.03 effect in the first quarter.
For the full year 2014, we anticipate consolidated earnings per diluted share of approximately $3.03 to $3.08. Consolidated same-store sales are expected to increase approximately 3% to 4% on top of a 1.9% increase in 2013. Slight gross margin expansion and SG&A leverage are expected to result in operating margin expansion. With our share repurchases in 2013, diluted shares outstanding are expected to be approximately 124 million outstanding shares compared to approximately 126 million outstanding shares in 2013.
Our 2014 guidance contemplates a $0.03 impact on earnings per diluted share from eCommerce and an additional $0.03 from Field & Stream. The impact from eCommerce reflects initiatives to bring our eCommerce business in-house by the end of fiscal 2016. As Joe mentioned, this year, we are building a multi-banner platform and developing the capabilities to run our Golf Galaxy site as we lay the groundwork to run the much larger DICK'S Sporting Goods site. We expect Field & Stream to be dilutive in 2014 and the ramp-up to continue into 2015, but it should impact earnings to a lesser degree that year.
In 2016, we anticipate the Field & Stream concept to be accretive. The initial reactions to our new concept have been incredible. Our 2 Field & Stream stores are more productive than our DICK'S stores, generating higher sales per square foot, are performing above plan and are profitable on four-wall basis. We have clearly created disruption in this space and believe there is much to be gained here.
Net capital expenditures for the full year 2014 are expected to be approximately $265 million or about $360 million on a gross basis. 2013 net capital expenditures were $238 million or $286 million on a gross basis.
Now, as we look to our long-term targets for $10 billion of sales and 10.5% operating margin by 2017, we remain confident in our ability to reach these goals. We do not expect our operating margin expansion to be linear over the next several years. The in-sourcing of our eCommerce platform and the launch of our Field & Stream will create short-term pressure on the growth rate of our operating margin. Now to be clear, we will see operating margins increase every year, but we expect to see meaningful operating margin expansion once we bring our eCommerce business in-house, which is planned for the end of fiscal 2016. We also expect Field & Stream to become accretive to earnings in 2016.
To sum it up, we had a strong fourth quarter, and we are excited about the opportunities in our business for 2014. We have a leading brand, a powerful omni-channel platform and excellent vendor relationships. We have a clear strategy that has delivered results and a strong and flexible balance sheet. Most importantly, we have a highly-experienced and motivated team who constantly works to make our vision a reality.
I want to thank all of you for your interest in DICK'S Sporting Goods. This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, you may now open the line for questions.