Dollar Tree Posts Q4 Miss, Guidance Disappoints

Shares of Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR were trading lower by more than 4 percent after the company posted its fourth-quarter results.

Dollar Tree said that it earned $1.01 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $5.37 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.07 per share on revenue of $5.41 billion.

Net sales for the quarter rose 116.7 percent year over year, as the acquired Family Dollar segment contributed $2.68 billion in sales.

Same-store sales for the Dollar Tree segment rose 1.7 percent on a constant currency basis versus a 5.6 percent increase in the same quarter a year ago due to currency fluctuations in the Canadian market.

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Net income for the quarter rose by $22.4 million to $229.0 million year-over-year.

During the quarter, Dollar Tree opened 128 stores, expanded or relocated 53 stores, closed 28 stores and divested 325 Family Dollar stores.

Bob Sasser, Chief Executive Officer of Dollar Tree, stated, "I am proud of the Company's performance in the fourth quarter and full year 2015. Through a challenging economic environment, we delivered sales of $5.37 billion, which was the mid-point of our fourth quarter guidance range, and our 32nd consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales. This was against a strong 5.6 percent comp from the prior year's fourth quarter. Additionally, while not included in our comp calculation, for the second consecutive quarter, our Family Dollar banner delivered positive same-store sales increases each month during the quarter."

Looking Ahead

Looking forward, Dollar Tree expects to earn $0.75 to $0.83 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $5.05 billion to $5.12 billion and earn $3.35 to $3.65 per share for the full fiscal year on revenue of $20.76 billion to $21.11 billion.

Wall Street analysts were estimating the company will earn $0.80 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $5.1 billion and earn $3.76 per share for the full fiscal year on revenue of $20.92 billion.

At the time of this publication, Dollar Tree was trading down by more than 4 percent in pre-market trading early Tuesday morning.