Dollar General (DG) Q1 profit jumps 69%, beats estimates

Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) reported its financial results for the quarter ended May 1, 2020, on Thursday before the market opens. The results exceeded analysts’ expectations.

The company posted a 69% jump in earnings for the first quarter of 2020 driven by higher sales. The top-line growth of 28% included positive sales contributions from new stores and growth in same-store sales, modestly offset by the impact of store closures. The company believes consumer behavior driven by COVID-19 had a significant positive effect on net sales and same-store sales.

Same-store sales increased by 21.7% driven by increases in both average transaction amount and customer traffic. Same-store sales increased in each of the consumables, seasonal, home products, and apparel categories, with the largest percentage increase in the home products category.

While the company expects it will exceed the fiscal 2020 net sales, same-store sales, and diluted EPS guidance, Dollar General is withdrawing the previous guidance due to lack of visibility for the balance of the year. However, the company still expects capital expenditures to be $925-975 million, including those related to investments in its strategic initiatives.

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