What to Expect When Dollar General Reports Earnings

Dollar store titan Dollar General (NYSE: DG) is set to release its fiscal third-quarter earnings scorecard next week on Dec. 5 before the markets open for trading. The consumer staples merchant has enjoyed the confidence of investors throughout 2019, with shares appreciating 34% year to date on the strength of vibrant earnings. Let's walk through key numbers and themes that may affect the stock when the company issues its third-quarter report next Thursday.

Dollar General doesn't issue quarterly earnings projections, so each quarter's results should be placed in the context of the company's full-year earnings outlook. Last quarter, the organization raised its fiscal 2019 revenue growth goal from 7% to 8%, and increased its target for comparable-store sales growth from 2.5% to expansion "in the low to mid 3% range."

In the first two quarters of 2019, revenue has advanced by 8.3% to $13.6 billion, and comps have grown by 3.9% over the prior-year period. So shareholders should expect third-quarter revenue and comps to adhere to this pattern, as the full-year outlook is basically an extrapolation of first-half performance. Any wide divergence from the 7% to 8% sales growth and 3% to 3.5% comps improvement -- positive or negative -- may affect Dollar General's stock price on Thursday.

Source Fool.com