Family Dollar Beats Estimates, Takes Discount Retailers for a Ride

Recession favorite Family Dollar (FDO) managed to beat estimates in fiscal Q3.

Dollar stores are among the few companies that benefit from a recession. Though the markets have rebounded significantly from their lows, and economic optimism has grown since 2008, shoppers are still looking to buy staples at a discount. Family Dollar earnings were up 36% to $87.7 million, or 62 cents a share in their fiscal third quarter ended May 30. Analysts expected 59 cents of EPS on average. Chief executive Howard Levine said, “Customers are shopping us more frequently and relying on us to meet more of their basic needs.” Shares are up by 9%, leading the discount retail sector to some big gains.

As a whole, the Discount Retailer Stocks Index is up by 2.9%. It is now ahead of the S&P 500 by 2.7% over the last month.

Dollar Tree (DLTR) and 99 Cents Only Stores (NDN) are riding Family Dollar’s report to respective gains of 5% and 2% today. 99 Cents Only Stores is beating its peers substantially over the 30 days, up 30.1%.

Costco (COST) is up by 2% in the rally while fellow wholesaler BJ’s (BJ) is moving lower fractionally.

Wal-Mart (WMT) and Target (TGT), the Index’s largest companies, are trading near breakeven. Target has struggled over the last week, down -5%.

PriceSmart (PSMT) and Big Lots (BIG) are both ahead by 1%.

Fred’s (FRED) and Tuesday Morning (TUES) are laggards over the last week, down by more than -7%.

The Discount Retailer Stocks Index is the top performing tickerspy retail Index today. It is also an outperformer over the last week, though it remains in negative territory over that period.

Investors can follow the Discount Retailer Stocks Index and view related performance charts and metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: BIG, BJ, COST, DLTR, FDO, FRED, NDN, TGT, TUES, WMT