Dollar General Down In Pre-market On Q1 Results, Outlook

(RTTNews) - Shares of Dollar General Corporation (DG) are falling more than 5% in pre-market on Thursday after reporting first-quarter results below analysts' view. The company also cut its full-year outlook to reflect challenging macroeconomic headwinds.

Profit in the first quarter declined to $514.4 million or $2.34 per share from $552.7 million or $2.41 per share a year ago.

Analysts on average polled by Thomson-Reuters were expecting earnings of $2.38 per share.

Quarterly sales, however, increased 6.8% year-on-year to $9.3 billion, but missed the consensus estimate of $9.46 billion.

Looking forward, the company now sees full-year sales growth in the range of 3.5% - 5.0%, down from the prior expectation of 5.5% - 6%.

EPS for the year is expected to be in the range of 8% decline to flat, compared to its previous expectation for a growth of approximately 4% - 6%.

"The macroeconomic environment is more challenging than the Company had previously anticipated, which the Company believes is having a significant impact on customers' spending levels and behaviors," Dollar General said.

On Wednesday, DG shares closed at $201.09, down $2.75 or 1.35%. It has traded in the range of $200.18 - $261.59 in the last 1 year.