NEW YORK, June 2, 2026, 19:07 (EDT)
Academy Sports and Outdoors shares slid Tuesday with traders looking ahead to next week’s fiscal Q1 results. The stock dropped about 2.3% to $51.38, after hitting a session low of $50.85. Options markets showed an implied move of 8.2% for the report due before the bell June 9, according to Bloomberg data cited by Investing.com.
June 9 is in focus as Academy’s spring sales got a bounce, but now the question is if that will show up in earnings. Analysts polled by Benzinga are looking for EPS at 94 cents, revenue at $1.44 billion. EPS stands for profit per share.
Academy raised its sales outlook for April. The company now sees first-quarter sales up 6% to 7%, and comparable sales up 2% to 3%. Academy said it will update its fiscal 2026 guidance when it gives full results in June.
The company said on May 26 it will report results before the market opens Tuesday, June 9, and host a call at 10 a.m. Eastern. Investors now have a week to figure out if Tuesday’s stock move is positioning, jitters, or a red flag.
Academy Sports & Outdoors left a mixed picture in its last full report. For the fourth quarter in March, sales came in at $1.72 billion, up 2.5%. Comparable sales dropped 1.6%. Full-year sales added 2.0% to $6.05 billion, but net income slid 9.9% to $376.8 million. CEO Steve Lawrence called 2025 an “inflection point,” while CFO Carl Ford said the “American consumer is still under financial pressure.” Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc.
Academy is still focusing on stores. The company said May 19 it will open three more in the second quarter: Altoona, Pennsylvania; North Knoxville, Tennessee; and Morristown, Tennessee. There were two new stores in the first quarter. Academy opened 24 locations in 2025 and plans 20 to 25 new stores in 2026.
The shares underperformed the market and peers. Dick’s Sporting Goods dropped around 1.0%. Sportsman’s Warehouse gained 3.3%. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which follows the S&P 500, climbed 0.1%.
Academy isn’t just taking on Dick’s by getting bigger. Retail Dive wrote in April that Academy’s goal to add 125 stores in five years focuses on exurbs and smaller satellite spots. Lawrence called it an “outside-in strategy.” Matt Powell, senior adviser at BCE Consulting, told Retail Dive there are a lot of smaller markets, and most haven’t been served well. Retail Dive
Wall Street isn’t cheering the stock. MarketBeat data showed just one Strong Buy, six Buys, and 11 Holds, with the average price target at $59.87. Barclays has the shares at Equal Weight, Guggenheim says Buy, Stephens calls Overweight, and Telsey Advisory Group is at Outperform, according to the report.
Investors might not be satisfied with just a solid sales figure from Academy. If gross margin drops or the company cuts its outlook, the April sales numbers could get overshadowed. Academy has already warned about consumer stress, inflation, competition, and tariff or trade worries as possible problems for performance.
Academy’s earnings are in focus, with the market bracing for an 8.2% swing. That number isn’t about which way shares go. There’s uncertainty around whether gains in store traffic, new openings and sharp pricing will actually drive better profit growth.
