RICHMOND, Va. -- Dollar Tree Inc. said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter net income fell nearly 7 percent as severe weather and a shorter holiday selling period hurt the discount retailer's sales.
Its results for the quarter and its forecast for full year 2014 fell short of Wall Street expectations and shares fell more than 2 percent in premarket trading.
The Chesapeake, Va., company earned $213 million, or $1.02 cents per share, for the period ended Feb. 1. That's down from $228.6 million, or 1.01 cents per share, in the year-ago period that included an extra week.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.05 per share.
Revenue fell less than one percent to $2.23 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $2.28 billion.
Sales at established stores rose more than a percent. That comparison is a key gauge of a retailer's health. It excludes the volatility associated with stores that recently opened or closed.
Dollar Tree operates more than 4,990 stores in the U.S. and Canada.
Dollar stores offer a wide variety of products, from beach toys to vitamins. They have done well throughout the recession and its aftermath, attracting budget-conscious customers. They've also promoted themselves as easy to navigate and get to, because they're much smaller than big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Target, and often have more locations in cities.
For the full year, the company said its profit fell more than 3 percent to $596.7 million, or $2.72 per share, from $619.3 million, or $2.68 per share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $7.84 billion from $7.39 billion a year earlier. Same store sales rose 2.4 percent.
Dollar Tree expects a full-year 2014 profit of $2.91 to $3.13 per share on revenue between $8.35 billion and $8.58 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $3.25 on revenue of $8.59 billion.
Its shares fell $1.19, or 2.3 percent, to $51.39 in premarket trading shortly before the market open.
Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://bit.ly/1dbspXO .
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