Gordon Haskett downgrades Dollar General with ‘more questions than answers’

As previously reported, Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom downgraded Dollar General (DG) to Hold from Accumulate with a price target of $220, down from $230. The firm left the Dollar General Q4 report and call yesterday with "more questions than answers," which it said is "a phenomenon that rarely happens with a high-quality retailer such as Dollar General." Following the report, the firm lists five incremental concerns, including worries about the sufficiency of planned labor investments, Walmart’s (WMT) heightened focus on pricing, the cost to maintain unit growth and backfill remodels, concerns that comp basket and mix issues could linger and what it calls out as the company’s third consecutive "below-algo year."