Dollar General Stock Gains As Q3 Beats Market On Comps Growth, Lifts FY25 View Above Street

(RTTNews) - Dollar General Corp., while reporting higher third-quarter results above market estimates, on Thursday raised fiscal 2025 outlook above the Street view. The discount retailer also issued real estate projects for fiscal 2026.

In pre-market activity, the shares were gaining around 4.1 percent to trade at $114.50, after closing Wednesday's regular trading 0.13 percent lower.

The company attributed the revision in outlook primarily to the outperformance in the third quarter, as well as its improved outlook for the remainder of the year, amid the potential for uncertainty related to consumer behavior.

Todd Vasos, Dollar General's chief executive officer, said, "These results were highlighted by EPS growth of 44%, strong operating margin performance, and balanced sales growth, including market share gains across both consumable and non-consumable categories."

For fiscal year 2025, the company now expects earnings per share of approximately $6.30 to $6.50, compared to its previous expectation of approximately $5.80 to $6.30.

The Wall Street analysts on average expect the company to report earnings of $6.13 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales growth is now projected to be around 4.7 percent to 4.9 percent, compared to its previous expectation of around 4.3 percent to 4.8 percent.

Analysts expect sales growth of 4.62 percent for the full year, to $42.49 billion.

Further, Dollar General now expects same-store sales growth of approximately 2.5 percent to 2.7 percent, compared to the 2.1 percent to 2.6 percent growth expected earlier.

The company now expects capital expenditures to be toward the lower end of the range of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion.

In addition, the firm reiterated its plans to execute approximately 4,885 real estate projects in fiscal year 2025, including opening approximately 575 new stores in the U.S. and up to 15 new stores in Mexico, among others.

Further, for fiscal 2026, the company plans to execute approximately 4,730 real estate projects, including opening approximately 450 new stores in the U.S. and approximately 10 new stores in Mexico.

Dollar General's Board of Directors on December 2 declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.59 per share, payable on or before January 20, to shareholders of record on January 6, 2026.

In the third quarter, Dollar General's net income grew 43.8 percent to $282.66 million or $1.28 per share from $196.53 million or $0.89 per share last year.

The company's net sales for the period rose 4.6 percent to $10.649 billion from $10.183 billion last year.

The Street expected the company to report earnings of $0.93 per share on net sales of $10.60 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The net sales increase was driven by positive sales contributions from new stores and growth in same-store sales, partially offset by the impact of store closures.

Same-store sales increased 2.5 percent compared to last year, reflecting a 2.5 percent increase in customer traffic and a flat average transaction amount. The company recorded growth in each of the consumables, seasonal, home products, and apparel categories.

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