For the fourth quarter ended January 28, Dollar Tree saw earnings, post-merger with Family Dollar, jump to $321.8 million, or $1.36 per diluted share, from $229 million or 97 cents per diluted share, in the year-prior period.
Dollar Tree earnings per diluted share exceeded a MarketBeat analyst average estimate by four cents.
Adjusted to eliminate the effect of Canadian currency fluctuations, fourth quarter comparable store sales increased 1.3% from the year-before quarter. Comp gains resulted from increases in comparable customer count and average ticket. Dollar Tree comps increased 2.4% while Family Dollar comps increased 0.2% from the period a year prior.
Net sales increased to $5.64 billion from $5.37 billion in the fiscal 2015 period. Operating income advanced to $586.5 million from $469.7 million in the quarter a year earlier.
For the full fiscal year, Dollar Tree net earnings were $896.2 million, or $3.78 per diluted share, versus $282.4 million, or $1.26 per diluted share, in the year previous. Overall company comps increased 1.8% year over year. Net sales were $20.72 billion versus $15.5 billion in fiscal 2015. Operating income was $1.7 billion versus $1.05 billion in the year earlier.
Bob Sasser, Dollar Tree CEO said, “For the fourth quarter, both the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar banners delivered positive growth in same-store sales. Gross margin and operating margin rates improved and EPS grew 40.2% from the prior year’s quarter, exceeding the upper end of our guidance range. For the year, we opened 584 new stores, exceeded $20 billion in sales, delivered record earnings, and continued to make significant progress on our integration of Family Dollar.”
