Dollar General Affirms EPS Outlook; Q2 Sales, Profit Miss Estimates

(RTTNews) - Dollar General Corp. (DG) announced the company continues to forecast EPS for fiscal 2016 within the previously announced range of 10 percent to 15 percent. Capital expenditures for fiscal 2016 are now expected to be in the range of $580 million to $630 million to reflect the purchase of 42 Walmart Express stores, compared to the prior forecast of $550 million to $600 million.

The company's net income was $307 million, or $1.08 per share, in the 2016 second quarter, compared to net income of $282 million, or $0.95 per share, in the 2015 second quarter. On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit of $1.09 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales increased 5.8 percent to $5.39 billion in the 2016 second quarter compared to $5.10 billion in the 2015 second quarter. Same-store sales increased 0.7 percent. Analysts expected revenue of $5.50 billion for the quarter.

The company said its Board authorized an additional $1.0 billion for share repurchases, increasing the total authorization for future repurchases to approximately $1.4 billion. The authorization has no expiration date. The Board also declared its regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share on the company's common stock. The third quarter dividend will be payable on September 28, 2016 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 14, 2016.