Family Dollar To Host Analyst Day This Week

Family Dollar FDO will host an analyst day this week on October 6th. In advance of the analyst day Deutsche Bank is publishing a Baker's Dozen list of questions to focus on. FDO remains one of our favorite investments driven by secular benefits as well as company specific initiatives. This is driving above-average sales and EPS growth as well as strong cash generation, and these underpin its Buy rating. Discuss your decision to open more new stores. Where are you finding incremental opportunities? How many stores can you open nationwide? Can you discuss more fully the changes you are making in your store remodel efforts? Will these eventually be rolled out chain wide? What is the expected ROIC? How does food price inflation impact your comps and margins, and can you please discuss zone pricing and your ability to pass through pricing? How much room do you have in price optimization? What are you seeing out of Wal-Mart in terms of pricing? Learn how to find the best stocks to trade each day in our 70 page E-Book and 90 minute online video for free. You are planning margins flat next year. What assumptions are you making in terms of price and freight costs? How quickly will you pull back on expenses if some of your sales initiatives are slow to drive top line growth? Would you take a lower operating margin for a year if it were to drive sales growth? What is the minimum level of cash and short term investments that you should have on your balance sheet as we think about your goal of $750mm in buybacks this year? FDO closed Friday at $44.30