Dollar General Gains on Upgrade

Shares of Dollar General(DG Quote) gained after an upgrade by a William Blair analyst, who says now is the time to buy the stock, despite lower-than-expected November same-store sales.

Analyst Mark Miller sees sales improving in the near term and lifted the company's investment rating to outperform from market perform. Dollar General closed up 64 cents, or 3.4%, at $19.64.

"Dollar General's sales mix is heavily weighted toward consumable basics that should have a high recurring nature," said Miller. He thinks sales hit a low in November and expects improvement in future comp sales to boost the stock. ...