Citigroup Reiterates Buy, $49 on Dollar General

Citigroup maintains its Buy rating and $49 target price on Dollar General Corp. DG as the company beats EPS expectations for 3Q11 and announces share repurchase program. Citi says, “DG reported 3Q11 EPS of $0.50/share (ex-items), above our estimate of $0.48, above consensus of $0.47, and vs. $0.39 LY (ex-items). The positive variance vs. our estimate was driven by better-than-expected topline growth, as well as lower than-expected interest expense and a lower tax rate. These tailwinds were partially offset by worse-than-expected gross margin. DG also announced that its board has authorized $500M in share repurchases, and it expects to repurchase $185M worth of shares in 4Q11 from its controlling shareholder, Buck Holdings, L.P.” DG closed at $40.58 per share on Monday.