When mutual fund manager Ron Baron discusses a company he likes, I usually pay close attention. His quarterly reports are some of the best reads in the mutual fund business because he details his arguments, which are usually very sound. Dollar Tree Stores
I've also kept my eye on the company, but for some reason it never generated that compelling "buy" signal for me. With the company's latest warning, I think I've figured out why. It's because I hate retail, and I hate dollar-store retail even more because you can only make so much money when everything you sell costs a buck!
Look, if you go by what's on paper, you might say I've got very little to argue against. The company has delivered pretty solid earnings growth over the past several years. Earnings have grown 50% from fiscal 2000 to the present. The stock hasn't done too badly, either, returning about the same over that period.
But you know what? I'm not impressed by a company that increased earnings by 50%, when its store count increased 60% over the same period, while net margins fell from 7.2% to 5.8%. Comp store sales increases? Year over year, they've never been better than 2.9% since 2000, and they were only 0.5% this past year. Yuck.
Oh, heck, maybe I'm just being a spoilsport. It's normal for expanding companies to see a drop in these digits. Plus, plenty of folks have obviously made good money in this sector, in stocks like Dollar General
Given my other concerns, however, I'd rather spend 25 hard-earned bucks on 25 items in the company's store than on one share of its stock.
Here's more free Foolish writing on the one-buck retail sector:
- Nathan Slaughter's article on how hard it is to squeeze pennies from dollars.
- .and why he thinks sales go up but earnings go down at these stores.
- Why W.D. Crotty thinks 99 Cents Only Stores are an expensive proposition.
Fool contributor Lawrence Meyers owns none of the stocks mentioned and is never a day late nor a dollar short.except when paying his bills.
