(Reuters) -Dollar Tree on Wednesday forecast fiscal 2026 profit above Wall Street estimates and upheld its annual targets, signaling steady demand for affordable groceries and essentials.
Shares of the company soared 7% in premarket trading after it also maintained its current quarter forecast. They have risen about 28% so far this year.
With inflation and uncertainty squeezing budgets, more middle- and higher-income consumers have also been turning to discount stores to meet their needs.
Ahead of its
investor meeting in New York City later in the day, the discount store operator said it now expects earnings for fiscal 2026, or year-ending February 2027, to grow by a high-teen percentage. Analysts on average were expecting a 14.04% rise, according to data compiled by LSEG.
"(The) EPS outlook provides relief," Evercore analyst Michael Montani said, adding that tariffs still remain a key risk for all major importers.
The outlook comes roughly a month after Dollar Tree gave a cautious forecast for the third quarter due to rising tariff costs.
At the time, CEO Mike Creedon said the impact from tariffs on the company's costs had shifted to later in the year. However, he reiterated that Dollar Tree would mitigate most of the impact by moving sourcing and raising prices.
Dollar General, a main rival, said in August that U.S. President Donald Trump's import tariffs had already led to some price increases. Last week, the U.S. threatened to impose additional 100% tariffs on Chinese imports - a move that could further impact retailers, including dollar stores.
At the investor meeting, the company executives also plan to discuss Dollar Tree's supply chain, stores as well as lay out plans for the stand-alone namesake banner following its separation from Family Dollar.
Dollar Tree in July completed its divestiture of Family Dollar, and has been focusing on converting stores to include multi-tiered price points.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal and Sanskriti Shekhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
