Dollar General same-store sales top estimates

[August 30, 2018]  (Reuters) - Dollar General Corp's <DG.N> quarterly same-store sales topped analysts' estimates on Thursday as customers spent more on apparel and daily-use items at its stores.

The sign outside the Dollar General store in Westminster, Colorado is pictured December 4, 2014. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

Same-store sales rose 3.7 percent in the second quarter ended Aug. 3, above the 2.83 percent increase estimated by analysts on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the discount store operator, up 38 percent in the past year, were slightly lower in premarket trading.

The company's gross margin slipped 7 basis points due to increased sales of low-margin consumable items, including day-to-day products such as toothpaste and stationery products.

Dollar General also maintained its profit forecast for the full year.

The company's net income rose to $407.2 million, or $1.52 per share, from $294.8 million, or $1.08 per share, a year earlier, when the company took a charge related to the acquisition of the Dollar Express stores.

Net sales rose to $6.44 billion from $5.83 billion.

Analysts on average were expecting profit of $1.49 per share on revenue of $6.37 billion.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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