MW Dollar General sees fastest growth in a key sales metric in 3 years. Why the stock is falling.

By Tomi Kilgore

The off-price retailer's full-year outlook called for a deceleration in same-store sales growth, which would snap a 3-year streak of acceleration

Dollar General's stock falls after a quarterly earnings beat, as the full-year outlook called for sales growth to slow.

Dollar General reported Thursday fiscal fourth-quarter results that were well above expectations, but the off-price retailer's stock fell as investors seemed disappointed that full-year guidance called for sales growth to slow.

For the quarter to Jan. 30, same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least 13 months, increased 4.3% from a year ago, the fastest year-over-year growth in three years. That beat the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet for growth of 3.5%.

Encouraging were the 2.6% increase in customer traffic and 1.7% increase in the average transaction. The company saw growth in consumables, which includes groceries, and in discretionary categories such as seasonal, home products and apparel.

But the stock $(DG)$ fell 4.3% in premarket trading. If the losses hold throughout the day, that would snap a five-quarter streak of postearnings gains.

After a strong finish to the year, fiscal 2025 same-store sales rose 3%, the third straight year of accelerating growth. But for fiscal 2026, the company expects same-store sales growth to decelerate to between 2.2% and 2.7%, with the midpoint of that range slightly below the current FactSet consensus of 2.5%.

The company also reported quarterly net sales that rose 5.9%, to $10.91 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $10.81 billion. For fiscal 2025, sales increased 5.2%, to $42.72 billion. For fiscal 2026, the company expects sales to increase 3.7% to 4.2%.

Earnings per share for the fourth quarter more than doubled, to $1.93 from 87 cents, and were well above the FactSet EPS consensus of $1.66. For 2026, the company expects EPS of $7.10 to $7.35, the midpoint of which is slightly below current analyst expectations of $7.25.

The stock has gained 9.1% in 2026 through Wednesday, and has soared 93.5% over the past 12 months. In comparison, the S&P 500 index SPX has slipped 1% this year and advanced 21% over the past year.

-Tomi Kilgore

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March 12, 2026 07:45 ET (11:45 GMT)

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