Dollar Tree Shares Fall Following Q2 Results

Shares of

dipped over 6 percent in pre-market trading after the company reported results for its fiscal second quarter and issued a weak sales forecast. The Chesapeake, Virginia-based company posted a quarterly net loss of $98 million, or $0.46 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $121.5 million, or $0.59 per share. Excluding non-recurring items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $0.25 per share. Excluding all acquisition-related costs and share changes, adjusted earnings for the Dollar Tree segment came in at $0.67 per share. Its sales climbed 48.3 percent year-over-year to $3.01 billion from $2.03 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.62 per share on revenue of $3.04 billion. The average estimate among 30 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.68 per share and revenue of $2.42 billion. Same-store sales for its Dollar Tree business climbed 2.7 percent on a constant currency basis. Its gross profit rose 23.2 percent to $855.2 million from $694.1 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses expanded to 24.3 percent of sales, from 24.1 percent of sales. Bob Sasser, Chief Executive Officer of Dollar Tree, said, "I am extremely proud of Dollar Tree's accomplishments in the second quarter. We delivered our 30th consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales, broke ground on our southeast distribution center in South Carolina, successfully completed our acquisition of Family Dollar, and quickly initiated our integration plan." Dollar Tree projects Q3 sales of $4.78 billion to $4.87 billion and same-store sales to rise in the low single-digit range. Analysts expected Q3 sales of $4.91 billion. For the full year, Dollar Tree expects net sales of $15.30 billion to $15.52 billion, and same-store sales growth in the low single-digit percentage range. Analysts projected full-year sales of $15.57 billion. Dollar Tree shares fell 6.24 percent to $71.50 in pre-market trading.