Dollar General Misses Estimates on Softer Sales, Higher Expenses, and Theft

Dollar General (DG) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Thursday morning as shares plunged as much as 14.5% after the discount retailer posted worse-than-expected results and cut its outlook on softer sales, higher capital expenses, and losses from theft.

Dollar General reported fiscal 2023 second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $2.13, with revenue up 3.9% to $9.8 billion. Both were short of forecasts. Same-store sales fell 0.1%.

The retailer indicated that sales were hurt by reduced customer traffic and a shift in consumer spending to consumables rather than higher-priced items such as home products and apparel. An increase in shrink, the industry term for inventory theft, pulled down gross profit.

The company noted that it executed almost 850 real estate projects during the period, spending $768 million on additions to property and equipment.

Dollar General added that it is accelerating the pace of its inventory reduction efforts and “making additional investments in target areas, such as retail labor.” Because of that, as well as softer sales trends and expectations of further shrink, it reduced its full-year sales growth projection to 1.3% to 3.3% from the previous 3.5% to 5.0%. It expects EPS to sink 22% to 34% rather than the earlier estimate of flat to down 8%.

Shares of Dollar General tumbled to their lowest level in more than four years following the news.