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The
company's shares jumped 4.4 percent to $76.00 before the bell.
The retailer also said it would make significant investments in
compensation and training for its store managers, which is
expected to pressure earnings in 2017.
Dollar General said it had earmarked about $70 million for
managers' pay for the year.
The move follows similar investments from larger retailers such
as Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N> and Target Corp <TGT.N>, which
last year hiked wages to improve employee retention as well as
service quality in stores.
Dollar General and larger rival Dollar Tree Inc <DLTR.O> are
facing stiff competition from Wal-Mart and Target, which have
been discounting aggressively to attract more shoppers.
Dollar General said store traffic had declined slightly in the
fourth quarter ended Feb. 3.
Net income rose to $414.2 million or $1.49 per share in the
quarter, from $376.2 million or $1.30 per share a year earlier.
Net sales rose to $6.01 billion from $5.29 billion.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.41 per share and
revenue of $5.97 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai
Sachin Ravikumar)
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