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What to Expect When Dollar General and Dollar Tree Report Earnings

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Dollar General (DG - Free Report) and Dollar Tree (DLTR - Free Report) are two of the largest discount stores in the country, and for many investors, hard to distinguish in terms of business structure and expectations. With both companies releasing their earning reports tomorrow, here is what investors need to know in order to stay ahead of the curve.

Comparative Metrics

Dollar General and Dollar Tree are sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), respectively. Dollar General stock is currently priced at $95.54 per share, while Dollar Tree is priced at $94.76 per share. Both stocks have seen slight losses of no more than 1% on the month.

While broader share price movement has been nearly symbiotic, trading on the day seems to speak otherwise. Dollar Tree’s price is currently level with its close yesterday, while Dollar General is down nearly 1% in early trading today, perhaps speaking to investor sentiment.

Forecast

While the two companies seem homogenous, looking at our Zacks Consensus Estimates, it is easy to see some key differential statistics.

Current quarter consensus revenue and earnings estimates for Dollar General stand at $6.2 billion (+10.3% year-over-year growth) and $1.40 per share (+35.9%). Dollar Tree’s estimates are substantially less in terms of growth, with revenue estimates at $5.6 billion (+5.4%) and earnings estimates of $1.23 per share (+25.5%).

Earnings estimates have trended slightly upwards for Dollar General, moving from $1.39 to $1.40 per share over the course of the past two months. In the same time frame, Dollar Tree’s EPS estimates have dropped from $1.24 to $1.23 per share.

Bottom Line

While Dollar Tree has not seen negative share price movement on the day thus far, its lower Zacks Rank and diminished revenue and earnings estimates combine to provide potentially better prospects for Dollar General heading into the release of their earnings reports.

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