FDO Earnings - Met Expectations - Raise FY Outlook

Raises FY EPS from $1.88 to $1.90-$2.00

* Q2 EPS $0.60 vs year-ago EPS $0.45
* Sales up 8.7 percent
* Sees fiscal 2009 sales up 5-7 pct, EPS $1.90-$2.00

NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - Family Dollar Stores Inc (FDO.N) posted a higher second-quarter profit on Wednesday as consumers looking for ways to stretch their budgets shopped in its discount stores.

Family Dollar, which prices most of its merchandise below $10, reported a profit of $84.1 million, or 60 cents per share, for its fiscal second quarter, ended Feb. 28. That compared with $63.3 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 8.7 percent to $1.99 billion, the company said.

In March, Family Dollar said second-quarter same-store sales rose 6.4 percent, beating estimates for a 3.6 percent gain, as shoppers snapped up consumable items, like food.
For fiscal 2009, which ends on Aug. 29, Family Dollar forecast a sales increase of 5 percent to 7 percent, and a same-store increase of 3 percent to 5 percent. It also expects to earn $1.90 per share to $2.00 per share for the year.

As for my FDO Holdings: I will early morning, maybe not right at the open but the conference call is at 10a and probably after that. Fund managers will be on that call and if management sounds optomistic (which they do) it could trigger buying.