Dollar General Stock Jumps on Strong Results, Raised Outlook

Dollar General shares rose after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings and raised its full-year outlook.

The latest guidance was well ahead of consensus Wall Street forecasts.

Dollar General shares closed Wednesday down for the year. They're clawing their way back toward par today.

Shares of Dollar General (DG) were up some 5% in early Thursday trading after the discount retailer posted better-than-expected second-quarter results and lifted its full-year outlook.

Dollar General reported Q2 earnings of $2.48 per share on net sales that increased 5% year-over-year to $11.29 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had estimated $2.00 per share and $11.18 billion. Same-store sales growth of 3.5% topped expectations of about 2.6%, aided by a 2% rise in customer traffic and a 1.5% increase in average transaction amount.

The Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based company raised its fiscal 2026 projections for net sales growth, same-store sales growth, and EPS. The new guidance blew past Visible Alpha consensus forecasts.

Placer.ai data indicated ahead of the report that foot traffic had increased sequentially from May to July, as "its hyper-local footprint made it especially well positioned to capture quick, low-distance trips at a time when shoppers were paying closer attention to fuel costs."

"Our results reflect continued momentum across the business," said CEO Todd Vasos, who cited a fifth straight quarter of customer traffic growth and a sixth straight quarter of "comparable sales growth across all four merchandising categories."

Dollar General said it intends to repurchase shares in the second half of the fiscal year, which ends Jan. 29, 2027.