Family Dollar Q4 Profit Tops Street; Issues FY14 EPS View - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Discount retailer Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) reported a rise in fourth-quarter net income to $102.2 milliom or $0.88 per share, from $80.93 million, or $0.69 per share, a year before. The company said the quarterly results include a one-time $5.0 million favorable adjustment related to a change in accounting for certain vendor allowances.

Excluding this adjustment and the litigation charge of $11.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, earnings per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 would have increased 14.7% to $0.86, from the prior year's $0.75. On average, 29 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.84 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Net sales for the latest quarter went up 5.8% year-over-year to $2.5 billion, from $2.36 billion, while comparable-store sales remained flat. Customer traffic and the average customer transaction value were flat during the quarter. Sales were strongest in the Consumables category, that rose 8.3% in the quarter, chiefly driven by strong growth in refrigerated and frozen food, health aids, and tobacco, the company added. Analysts estimated revenues of $2.56 billion for the quarter.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2014, the company expects comparable-store sales to drop in the low-single-digit range and earnings per share to lie between $0.65 and $0.75 per share. Twenty analysts anticipate earnings per share of $0.76 for the first quarter.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2014, the firm sees earnings per share to be between $3.80 and $4.15. Thirty analysts project annual earnings of $4.13 per share. As a reminder, fiscal 2013 included an extra week, which the company estimates contributed $0.07 of earnings per share.