Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG) and Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) released their latest earnings reports before opening bell this morning. Dollar General reported earnings of $1.08 per share on $5.39 billion in sales. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $1.09 per share and $5.45 billion in revenue. In last year’s second quarter, earnings amounted to 95 cents per share, while sales were $5.1 billion.
Dollar Tree posted earnings of 72 cents per share on $5 billion in revenue, compared to the consensus estimates of 73 cents per share and $5.08 billion in sales. In last year’s second quarter, the retail chain reported losses of 46 cents per share and $3.01 billion in revenue.
Dollar General’s same store sales disappoint
Dollar General’s same store sales grew 0.7% in the second quarter, which management said fell short of their expectations. The discount retail chain said retail food deflation and lower SNAP participation rates and benefit levels weighed on its same store sales. The company also cited unseasonably mild spring weather and intensifying competition in some geographic areas. Consumables drove the small increase in same store sales, while sales were flat in the seasonal category, although sales in the apparel and home goods categories shrunk year over year.
The retail chain repurchased 2.5 million shares for $88.55 per share, on average, during the second quarter. The board also authorized another $1 billion worth of share repurchases to extend the authorization to about $1.4 billion with no expiration date. The board
Dollar General also reaffirmed its full-year guidance of between 10% and 15% growth in diluted earnings per share.
Shares of Dollar General tumbled by as much as 7.89% to $84.55 in premarket trading following this morning’s results.
Dollar Tree issues weak guidance
Dollar Tree’s same store sales grew 1.2%. The discount retail chain said this year’s second quarter includes nine additional weeks for the Family Dollar segment compared to the year-ago quarter, which included four weeks of Family Dollar results
Dollar Tree expects third quarter sales to be between $5.02 billion and $5.1 billion, which came up far short of the FactSet consensus of $5.13 billion. The discount retailer expects third quarter earnings to be between 76 cents and 82 cents per share, compared to the consensus of 76 cents per share. It expects full-year earnings to be between $3.67 and $3.82 per share, compared to the previous outlook of $3.58 to $3.80 per share and the $3.78 per share consensus. Dollar Tree projects full-year sales of $20.7 billion to $20.9 billion, which was weak versus the consensus at $21 billion.
Shares of Dollar Tree slipped by as much as 6.77% to $88.50 in premarket trading this morning.
