Family Dollar Trading Near its 52-Week High (FDO)

Family Dollar

hit a fresh 52-week high yesterday; touching $42.81 before pulling back slightly. The discount retailer has been on an amazing tear higher since the beginning of the year, rising from $27.82 to its current highs. The stock seems primed to visit highs that it has not seen since November of 2003, when FDO hit an all-time high of $44.13. Given the stock’s 8.10% short interest, there seems to be enough fuel to send the stock to at least those highs. The company has the earnings to back this lofty price as well. FDO is on track to earn $2.58 per share on revenue of $7.86 billion this year and $2.95 per share on revenue of $8.35 billion next year. The company’s five-year annual growth rate is 13.58%. FDO has surprised to the upside on earnings for the past four quarters with an average estimate beat of 3.575%. Famed investor Nelson Peltz, of Trian Fund Management, recently took a 6% stake in the company; the fund purchased 4,946,759 shares at an aggregate value of more than $168 million. Trian is going to work with Family Dollar on increasing sales per square foot to peer levels, improving the FDO's operating leverage, and optimizing the number of new store openings. For more information, please visit… http://www.benzinga.com/markets/company-news/10/07/398768/family-dollar-in-play-as-nelson-peltz-and-trian-become-the-third-l Family Dollar Stores, Inc. operates a chain of more than 6,600 general merchandise retail discount stores in 44 states, providing consumers with a selection of merchandise in neighborhood stores.