Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR): Today's Featured Retail Laggard

Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR) pushed the Retail industry lower today making it today's featured Retail laggard. The industry as a whole closed the day up 0.3%. By the end of trading, Dollar Tree Stores fell $1.29 (-2.4%) to $51.66 on average volume. Throughout the day, 1.8 million shares of Dollar Tree Stores exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 2.2 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $51.56-$52.96 after having opened the day at $52.86 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $52.95. Other companies within the Retail industry that declined today were: Vitacost.com (VITC), down 6.1%, Christopher & Banks Corporation (CBK), down 5.3%, Advance Auto Parts (AAP), down 3.8%, and Citi Trends (CTRN), down 3.7%.

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Dollar Tree, Inc. operates discount variety stores in the United States and Canada. Its stores offer merchandise at the fixed price of $1.00. Dollar Tree Stores has a market cap of $12.05 billion and is part of the services sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 24.7, above the average retail industry P/E ratio of 24.6 and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 25.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 12 analysts that rate Dollar Tree Stores a buy, one analyst rates it a sell, and six rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Dollar Tree Stores as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, impressive record of earnings per share growth, increase in net income, notable return on equity and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company is trading at a premium valuation based on our review of its current price compared to such things as earnings and book value.

• You can view the full Dollar Tree Stores Ratings Report.

On the positive front, QKL Stores (QKLS), up 24.9%, dELiA*s (DLIA), up 9.2%, BioScrip (BIOS), up 8.7%, and Pacific Sunwear (PSUN), up 7.6%, were all gainers within the retail industry with Whole Foods Market (WFM) being today's featured retail industry leader.

• Use our retail section to find industry-relevant news.
• Or find some new ideas from our top rated stocks lists.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the retail industry could consider SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) while those bearish on the retail industry could consider ProShares Ultra Sht Consumer Goods (SZK).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on Dollar Tree Stores Inc. click any of the following:

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Stock Price

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Earnings

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Growth Rates

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Balance Sheet

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Cash Flow

• Dollar Tree Stores Inc. Income Statement