(Reuters) - Dollar General Corp's (N:DG) quarterly same-store sales topped analysts' estimates on Thursday as customers spent more on apparel and daily-use items at its stores.
Same-store sales rose 3.7 percent in the second quarter ended Aug. 3, above the 2.83 percent increase estimated by analysts on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of the discount store operator, up 38 percent in the past year, were slightly lower in premarket trading.
The company's gross margin slipped 7 basis points due to increased sales of low-margin consumable items, including day-to-day products such as toothpaste and stationery products.
Dollar General also maintained its profit forecast for the full year.
The company's net income rose to $407.2 million, or $1.52 per share, from $294.8 million, or $1.08 per share, a year earlier, when the company took a charge related to the acquisition of the Dollar Express stores.
Net sales rose to $6.44 billion from $5.83 billion.
Analysts on average were expecting profit of $1.49 per share on revenue of $6.37 billion.