Dollar Tree Swings To Net Loss, While Sales Get a Boost From Family Dollar Merger

Dollar Tree Inc. reported on Tuesday a fiscal second-quarter net loss of $98 million, or 46 cents a share, compared with a profit of $121.5 million, or 59 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as costs associated with the recently-completed acquisition of Family Dollar, adjusted earnings per share came in at 25 cents. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 68 cents. Sales jumped 48% to $3.01 billion, including $811.6 million in sales from its Family Dollar business. Same-store sales for the Dollar Tree business rose 4.5% from a year ago, boosted by increases in customer count and the average ticket, compared with the FactSet consensus of 3.1% growth. The discount retailer expects fiscal third-quarter sales of $4.78 billion to $4.87 billion and same-store sales growth in the low single-digit percentage range. The stock slumped 4.3% in premarket trade. It has climbed 8.4% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has lost 4.2%.