Dollar General's Profit And Sales Miss Triggers Stock Selloff

Dollar General Corp.'s stock dropped 6.3% in premarket trade Thursday, after the discount retailer missed profit and sales expectations for its fiscal second quarter. For the quarter ended July 29, earnings rose to $306.5 million, or $1.08 a share, from $282.3 million, or 95 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.09. Revenue grew to $5.39 billion from $5.10 billion, but was below the FactSet consensus of $5.50 billion, with same-store sales growth of 0.7% missing expectations of a 2.7% rise. The company said retail food deflation and unseasonably mild spring weather were stronger-than-expected headwinds to its business. "The competitive environment also intensified in select regions of the country," said Chief Executive Todd Vasos. The stock had soared 28% year to date through Wednesday, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF had gained 5.5% and the S&P 500 had climbed 6.4%.