Dollar Tree Stores Inc.
Friday April 30, 2010
Dollar Tree Store Inc.
Founded: Dates to 1953 opening of a Ben Franklin variety store in downtown Norfolk, Va.; first Dollar Tree store appeared in 1986 in Dalton, Ga.
Activities: Operates 3,219 discount variety stores under the names Dollar Tree, Deal$, Dollar Bills and Dollar Express; most sell all items for $1 or less. The company has 11 Capital Region stores.
Employees: More than 40,000 employees nationwide, averaging 15 to 18 workers per store
Special notes: Directors J. Douglas Perry and H. Ray Compton, co-founders and former executives of Dollar Tree, receive annual consulting fees of $30,000 each under an agreement signed in 2005, as well as being eligible for coverage under the company's group health plans. They also earn $80,000 annually as directors.
Last week, the annual retainer for all nonemployee directors was raised from $80,000 to $100,000, payable quarterly. It will become effective at the annual meeting this year.
On Jan. 16, Arnold Barron, a senior executive vice president at The TJX Cos., was named to a seat on the board, effective in March. He will stand for re-election at the annual meeting.
Dollar Tree reached an agreement in October with Visa accepting its credit cards at all stores. Debit cards and Discover Network cards already are accepted at all stores, and Master Card is accepted at about 980 stores.
The company has shifted to a larger store format -- 10,000 to 12,500 square feet -- to accommodate expanded merchandise offerings, including the addition of freezers and coolers to about 700 stores. As of February 2007, only about 17 percent of the stores were less than 6,000 square feet and likely will be relocated as their leases expire.
Market outlook
For the fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 3, the company reported net income of $35.9 million, or 38 cents a share, on sales of $997.8 million. That compares with net income of $32.5 million, or 32 cents, on sales of $910.4 million in the year-ago quarter. For the full year, Dollar Tree forecasts sales of $4.25 billion to $4.29 billion and earnings of $2.06 to $2.13 a share.
Analyst coverage/
recommendations:
Banc of America (Scott Mushkin): Neutral
Deutsche Bank (Michael Baker): Hold
Goldman Sachs (Adrianne Shapira): Neutral/neutral
FTN MidWest Research (William Keller): Neutral
Matrix USA (Daniel Scalzi): Buy
Johnson Rice & Co. (David Mann): Equal weight
Wedbush Morgan Securities (Joan Storms): Buy
Total shares of common stock outstanding as of April 20 record date: 97,506,898
Price per share:
Jan. 25: $25.80
Market value:
Jan. 25: $2.4 billion
52-week high: $45.98
52-week low: $20.72
Price/earnings ratio:
Jan. 25: 12.65
2007 dividend per common share: $0
Stock holdings
Control of common stock by 14 officers and directors: 4,803,578 (4.9%)
By executive officers and 4 inside directors:
Bob Sasser, 55, director; president and chief executive officer: 83,656
Macon Brock Jr., 65,
chairman and co-founder; former CEO and president: 1,951,048
H. Ray Compton, 64,
director; co-founder and retired executive: 154,259
J. Douglas Perry, 59,
co-founder and chairman emeritus: 1,156,460
Kent Kleeberger, 55, chief
financial officer: 62,894
Gary Philbin, 50, chief
operating officer: 50,884
Robert Rudman, 56, chief
merchandising officer: 7,871
By outside directors:
Mary Anne Citrino, 48,
senior managing director, corporate advisory services, The Blackstone Group: 0
Richard Lesser, 72, private
investor; retired corporate adviser and executive, TJX Cos. Inc.: 74,719
Thomas A. Saunders III, 70,
president, Ivor & Co. LLC: 1,109,174
Eileen Scott, 54, private
investor; former CEO, Pathmark Stores Inc.: 18,000
Thomas Whiddon, 54, private
investor; advisory director, Berkshire Partners LLC: 16,000
Alan Wurtzel, 73, private
investor; chairman emeritus, Circuit City Stores Inc.: 60,613
By others:
John Megrue, former board
member (did not stand for re-election at June annual meeting): 58,000
FMR Corp., Boston:
10,192,222 (4.9%)
Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn
LLC, New York City: 6,310,623 (6.5%)
Barclays Group, San
Francisco: 5,923,541 (6.1%)
Capital Guardian Trust Co.,
Los Angeles: 5,873,600 (6.0%)
Executive cash compensation
(2006)
(salary + bonus + other
pay)
Bob Sasser: $1,243,452
Kent Kleeberger: $664,731
Macon Brock: $740,431
Gary Philbin: $641,324
Bob Rudman: $530,942
Total of top 5 compensated
officers: $ 3,820,880
A financial report on a
publicly traded company with Capital Region operations, drawn from SEC filings.
It is compiled by Betsy Feldstein.