Dollar General Corp. DG, -3.12% stock fell 4.5% in Thursday premarket trading after the discount retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of expectations and gave weak guidance. Net income totaled $642.7 million, or $2.62 per share, up from $535.4 million, or $2.10 per share, last year. Sales totaled $8.41 billion, up from $7.16 billion last year. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $2.72 and sales of $8.30 billion. Same-store sales rose 12.7%, beating the FactSet consensus for 11.5% growth. Dollar General declared a dividend on March 16 of 42 cents per share payable on or before April 20 to shareholders of record as of April 6. Dollar General is guiding for fiscal 2021 net sales in the range of flat to a 2% decline, a same-store sales decline of 4% to 6% and EPS in the range of $8.80 to $9.50. The FactSet consensus is for sales of $34.10 billion, suggesting a 1.6% increase, a same-store sales decline of 2.6% and EPS of $10.04. Dollar General stock has tumbled nearly 11% over the past three months, but has gained 26.1% over the last year. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.29% is up 65.7% over the past 12 months.
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