Dollar Tree jumps after revising quarterly profit forecasts higher

Shares in Dollar Tree perked up after reporting a larger-than-expected rise in like-for-like sales for the third quarter and revising its profit forecasts higher.

The discount retailer´s total sales edged higher by just 1.1% to $5.0bn, coming in shy of Wall Street forecasts for a $5.6bn, following the divestment of 325 stores one year ago.

Nevertheless, in like-for-like terms sales were up by 1.8% after adjusting for changes in the Canadian dollar´s value and ahead of analysts´ estimates for a rise of 1.4%.

Net income on the other hand jumped from the year-ago figure of $81.9m to $171.6m, boosting earnings per share for the latest three-month stretch printed to 72 cents - including a nine charge from a debt refinancing - versus the 78 cents which had been anticipated.

Helping the bottom line, the effective tax rate dropped from 34.3% to 25.5%. Cost of sales were also lower, falling to $3.48bn versus the prior year figure of $3.55bn.

For the next quarter, management guided towards EPS of between $1.24 and $1.33 (consensus: $1.29) on sales ranging from $5.59bn to $5.69bn (consensus: $5.597bn)

Chesapeake, Virgina-based Dollar Tree had previously guided towards fourth quarter EPS of between $1.21 to $1.30.

As of 1419 GMT shares in the company were higher by 8.60% to $89.04, helping them to edge past the S&P 500´s year-to-date gains.