Dollar General Inc. reported first-quarter net income of $677.7 million, or $2.82 per share, up from $650.4 million, or $2.56 per share, last year. Sales of $8.40 billion were down from $8.45 billion last year. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $2.19 and sales of $8.27 billion. The company says results were impacted by government stimulus payouts. Same-store sales were down 4.6%, ahead of the FactSet consensus for a 6.8% decline. Same-store sales jumped 17.1% on a two-year-stack basis. Dollar General executed 800 real estate projects, including new store openings of the larger store formats, according to Chief Executive Todd Vasos. For the full year, Dollar General is guiding for net sales in the range of a 1% decline to an increase of 1%, up from previous guidance for a 2% decline, a same-store sales of decline of 3% to 5%, and EPS of $9.50 to $10.20. The FactSet consensus is for sales of $33.95 billion, suggesting a 0.6% increase, EPS of $9.63, and a same-store sales decline of 3.4%. Dollar General stock edged up 0.6% in Thursday premarket trading, and has fallen nearly 5% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 11.7% for 2021 so far.
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