Dollar Tree Warns on Q2, Shares Fall

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) announced that first-quarter earnings rose 13% to $116 million, compared to $101 million during the same quarter last year.

EPS for the discount retailer during the quarter was $1, up from 82 cents last year.

Now It’s Dollar Stores Vs. Drugstores

That exceeded the 98 cents a share anticipated by Wall Street analysts, Reuters noted.

However, Dollar dampened expectations for the current fiscal quarter, saying that it expected earnings of between 87 cents and 93 cents a share. The company forecast second quarter sales at between $1.66 billion and $1.7 billion.

That forecast sent Dollar Tree shares down more than 4% in Thursday afternoon trading.

Analysts had expected second-quarter EPS of 95 cents on $1.7 billion in sales.

The company recorded sales of $1.72 billion during the first-quarter, up 11.5% from $1.55 billion last year. Same-store sales rose 5.6%.

Dollar forecast earnings for the year at between $4.74 and $4.94 a share. Sales for 2012 were projected at a range of $7.33 billion to $7.46 billion, within analysts’ estimates for the year.