Dollar General Prelim. Q4 EPS Misses Consensus By Investing.com

Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:) today announced certain preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended February 3, 2023 (“fiscal 2022”). The company intends to provide its full financial results for the fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year on March 16, 2023.

The company expects to report financial results for the fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year below the expectations provided on its conference call on December 1, 2022. Despite continued market share gains in sales of both consumable and non-consumable products, same-store sales for the fourth quarter increased 5.7%, compared to the company’s previous expectation of approximately 6% – 7%. The company now expects diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter in the range of $2.91 – $2.96, compared to its previous expectation in the range of $3.15 – $3.30.

(Consensus sees Q4 EPS of $3.24)

For the fiscal year, same-store sales increased 4.3%, compared to the company’s previous expectation of being toward the upper end of a range of 4.0% – 4.5%, and the company expects diluted earnings per share growth in the range of approximately 4.5% – 5.0%, compared to its previous expectation of approximately 7% – 8%.

The company believes the lower-than-expected results are primarily attributable to lower-than-anticipated sales and higher-than-anticipated inventory damages, both of which were negatively impacted, to varying degrees, by Winter Storm Elliott during the fourth quarter. While both November and January same-store sales results were within the company’s expected guidance range for the fourth quarter at 6.7% and 6.5%, respectively, December’s same-store sales results were lower than anticipated at 4.5%, believed to be primarily as a result of the storm.

The results reported in this press release are preliminary and unaudited. The company has not yet completed its annual financial close process for the fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year, and its independent auditors have not completed their audit of the company’s financial statements for the fiscal 2022 full year. This update does not present all necessary information for an understanding of the company’s results of operations for the fiscal 2022 fourth quarter or full year. As the company completes its annual financial close process and finalizes its financial statements for the fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year, and as its independent auditors complete their audit of the company’s financial statements for the fiscal 2022 full year, it is possible the company may identify items that require adjustments to the preliminary financial information set forth in this press release, and those changes could be material.

While the company will discuss its plans and expectations for the fiscal year ending February 2, 2024 (“fiscal 2023”) in more detail on its upcoming call, it currently expects the following for fiscal 2023:

– Same-store sales growth in the range of 3.0% – 3.5%, and

– Diluted earnings per share growth in the range of approximately 4% – 6%, including anticipated negative impacts of the following:

• approximately three percentage points due to higher interest expense in fiscal 2023, and
• approximately four percentage points due to lapping the fiscal 2022 53rd week.

Jeff Owen, chief executive officer, and John Garratt, president and chief financial officer, will host a conference call on March 16, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. CT/10:00 a.m. ET to discuss financial results for the fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year and the company’s financial outlook for fiscal year 2023, and may discuss material business, financial or other information that is not contained in the earnings release.

To participate via telephone, please call (877) 407-0890 at least 10 minutes before the conference call is scheduled to begin. The conference ID is 13735652. There will also be a live webcast of the call available at https://investor.dollargeneral.com under “News & Events, Events & Presentations.” A replay of the conference call will be available through April 16, 2023, and will be accessible via webcast replay or by calling (877) 660-6853. The conference ID for the telephonic replay is 13735652.