Dollar General Stock In Focus Amid Reports Of Layoffs, Price Target Cut: Retail’s Cautious

Shares of Dollar General (DG) rose 5.07% on Tuesday amid reports the discount retail chain embarked on corporate layoffs recently, but retail sentiment stayed cautious.

According to several media reports, Dollar General laid off about 60 employees at its headquarters in Tennessee after a year of financial difficulties.

“These decisions are never easy, but we believe this restructuring will help streamline and support our ability to best serve our customers, employees, communities and shareholders,” a Dollar General spokesperson told The Tennessean.

According to the report, the layoffs only impact a small percentage of corporate personnel, including roles such as vice president, senior managers, and mid-level engineers and analysts.

Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, lowered Dollar General's price target to $80 from $100 with an ‘Equal Weight’ rating, Fly.com reported.

According to the Fly.com report, Morgan Stanley’s preferred stocks this year are companies that are leveraging their scale to invest in next-generation retail tech with some revenue upside and executing into a cyclical inflection in their category.

Sentiment on Stocktwits turned ‘neutral’ from ‘extremely bearish’ a week ago. Message volumes have come back to ‘normal’ from ‘extremely high’ a week ago.

Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tenn. operates about 20,523 Dollar General, DG Market, DGX and pOpshelf stores across the U.S. and Mexico.

In its most recent quarterly report, the company reported earnings per share of $0.89, missing estimates of $0.94, according to Stocktwits data. 

Dollar General stock is down 46% year-to-date.

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