RTTNews | May 27, 2021 08:01AM EDT

08:00 Thursday, May 27, 2021 (RTTNews.com) - While reporting financial results for the first quarter on Thursday, Dollar General Corp. (DG) raised its earnings and sales growth guidance for the full-year 2021 to reflect the strong results in the first quarter, which exceeded its expectations.

For fiscal 2021, the company now projects earnings in a range of $9.50 to $10.20 per share on net sales change between a decline of 1 percent and 1 percent growth, with same-store sales decline in the 3 to 5 percent range.

Previously, the company expected earnings in a range of $8.80 to $9.50 per share on net sales change between a decline of 2 percent and flat, with same-store sales decline in the 4 to 6 percent range.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $9.58 per share on net sales growth of 0.5 percent to $33.91 billion for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

On Tuesday, the company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.42 per share on the Company's common stock, payable on or before July 20, 2021 to shareholders of record on July 6, 2021. The Company is also reiterating its plans to execute 2,900 real estate projects in fiscal year 2021, including 1,050 new store openings, 1,750 store remodels, and 100 store relocations.

The company said it believes its first quarter results were positively impacted by consumer behavior related to government stimulus payments that had a significant positive effect on sales in its non-consumable product categories.

For the first quarter, the company reported net income of $677.7 million or $2.82 per share, up from $650.4 million or $2.56 per share in the prior-quarter.

Net sales for the quarter edged down 0.6 percent to $8.40 billion from $8.45 billion in the same quarter last year. Same-store sales decreased 4.6 percent.

The Street was looking for earnings of $2.19 per share on net sales of $7.95 billion for the quarter.

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