MW: Dollar General lifts outlook as profit rises 69%
By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Retailer Dollar General Corp. (DG 32.49, -0.94, -2.81%) on Monday lifted its earnings outlook for the year as it reported a 69% rise in fiscal third-quarter profit. The group reported earnings of $128.1 million, or 37 cents a share, in the latest quarter, compared with $75.6 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales for the quarter ended Oct. 29 rose 10% to $3.22 billion and same-store sales increased 4.2%. Excluding the cost of an early repayment of certain long-term obligations, the company said earnings in the latest quarter were 39 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had been expecting earnings of 35 cents a share on sales of $3.23 billion. The company said it now expects adjusted earnings for the year to be between $1.78 and $1.81 a share, having previously forecast they would be between $1.68 and $1.74 a share. Analysts had been forecasting earnings for the year of $1.78 a share.
