Dollarama Inc. shares experienced their biggest one-day drop of 2018 in heavy trading on Thursday, after the national discount retailer’s second quarter revenue, earnings and sales growth were weaker than analysts expected and the company indicated that it has been reluctant to raise prices due to competitive pressures. ( Vince Talotta / Toronto Star )That erased all of Dollarama’s stock’s gains since they jumped up $4.32 to close at $44.91 on Sept. 7, 2017, after the company announced last year’s second quarter results. Dollarama Inc. announced early Thursday that it earned $141.8 million for its fiscal second quarter ended July 29, up from $131.8 million a year ago. Analyst Irene Nattel of RBC Dominion Securities acknowledged the second quarter margin and cost improvements offset “tepid” same-store sales growth, but lowered her price target for Dollarama’s stock to $52, from $55, to reflect a deceleration in Dollarama’s sales growth. The same-store sales growth compared unfavourably with the year-earlier growth of 6.1 per cent, but Rossy said that was especially strong because of souvenir sales geared to Canada’s 150th anniversary.

Source: thestar September 13, 2018 22:07 UTC