Business Description

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. See the section of this Annual Report entitled “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” When reviewing the discussion below, you should keep in mind the substantial risks and uncertainties that characterize our business. Known material factors that could affect our financial performance and actual results, and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements included in this discussion or otherwise made by our management, are described in the “Risk Factors” section of this Annual Report. Who We Are Academy Sports + Outdoors is a leading full-line sporting goods and outdoor recreation retailer in the United States. Originally founded in 1938 as a family business in Texas, we now operate 322 stores across 21 contiguous states as of January 31, 2026. Our mission is to provide “Fun for All” and we fulfill this mission with a localized merchandising strategy and value proposition that deeply connect with a broad range of consumers. Our product assortment focuses on key categories of outdoor, sports & recreation, apparel, and footwear (representing 31%, 22%, 27% and 20% of our 2025 net sales, respectively) through both leading national brands and a portfolio of 19 private label brands, which go well beyond traditional sporting goods and apparel offerings. We believe the following attributes differentiate us from our competitors: • Value-based assortment that enables our customers to participate and have fun, no matter their budget. • Broad assortment that extends beyond sporting goods and apparel to outdoor recreation and is localized for individual stores. • Emerging, growing and profitable omnichannel strategy that leverages our buy-online-pickup-in-store program (“BOPIS”) and shipping fulfillment capabilities. • Strong customer loyalty, with opportunities to increase penetration in existing markets. • Regional focus primarily in the southern United States with a growing presence in some of the fastest-growing Metropolitan Statistical Areas (or “MSAs”). • Core customers comprising active families that we support with one-stop shop convenience. • Significant whitespace opportunity for new stores for both existing and adjacent geographies and new markets. We believe we sit in a sweet-spot of consumer demand, offering a broad, value-based assortment of sporting goods and outdoor recreation products, so our customers can participate and have fun, no matter their budget. We carefully curate our products to provide the right assortment that appeals to customers from beginners to experts, including families and casual participants. Our access to national brand and private label brand merchandise creates a comprehensive portfolio of value-based and diversified products, spanning various price-points, that differentiates our assortment from our peers. Our category, brand and price-point mix is unique to Academy and difficult to replicate at other retailers. Approximately 78% of our 2025 merchandise sales was comprised of national brand products, with the remainder coming from exclusive products in our portfolio of private label brands. No single brand we carry accounted for more than approximately 12% of our 2025 sales. We endeavor to offer products for customers of all ages, incomes and aspirations across sporting and outdoor recreation activities, seasons and experience levels. As such, we have a balanced, year-round business and a large customer base. Our average customer visits our stores anywhere fr o m two to three times per year. 6 Merchandising Our merchandise consists of a full range of industry-leading national brands and strong private brands providing our customers with diversified product categories of good, better, and best price points. We deliver Academy’s unique product assortment through our strong partnerships with our vendors. In 2025, we purchased merchandise from approximately 1,500 vendors. For 2025, 2024 and 2023 no vendor represented more than 12% of our total purchases.…