Dollar General Corp. shares fell 8% in premarket trades Thursday after the retailer missed third-quarter earnings estimates and said it would fall short of fourth-quarter targets on higher costs. The retail’s third-quarter net income rose to $526.17 million, or $2.33 a share, from $487.03 million, or $2.08 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Dollar General fell short of the Wall Street net income estimate of $2.54 a share, according to FactSet data. The retailer’s third-quarter revenue rose to 11.1% to $9.46 billion from $8.52 billion. Analysts were looking for revenue of $9.42 billion. Looking ahead, Dollar General expects fourth-quarter earnings of $3.15 a share to $3.30 a share, below the analyst estimate of $3.66 a share. Dollar General cited unanticipated delays in acquiring additional temporary warehouse space sufficient for its inventory needs and other factors such as sales mix, inventory shrink and damages. Dollar General cut its fourth-quarter growth outlook for earnings per share to 7% to 8%, compared to its previous expectation in August for 12% to 14% growth.
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