Dollar Tree, Inc. (DLTR) — Fundamental Analysis & Key Financial Ratios

Kaplio's reading: Dollar Tree, Inc.

Updated on October 20, 2026 · accounts published on August 27, 2026

A profitable business with widening margins and a debt-heavy balance sheet

Dollar Tree trades at a P/E of 16.3 over the last 12 months, 25 % below the 21.9 median of its consumer defensive sector.

• Is Dollar Tree expensive or cheap? Its P/E of 16.3 sits 25 % below the sector median of 21.9 and under its own seven-year average of 19.9.
• How is the business doing? Operating margin reached 10.7 % over the last 12 months, well above the 7.7 % average of fiscal 2014-2025.
• How strong is the balance sheet? Net debt was $31.21 per share in fiscal 2025, equal to 23 % of the share price and 2.7× EBITDA.
• What to expect from the next earnings? Analysts expect EPS of $0.95 when Dollar Tree reports on December 2, 2026; the 2027 EPS consensus holds at $7.90.
• Is it as stable as the sector promises? Dollar Tree passes six of seven consumer defensive tests; net debt at 2.7× EBITDA is just over the 2.5× healthy ceiling.

Is Dollar Tree expensive or cheap?

Over the last 12 months Dollar Tree trades at a P/E of 16.3, against a median of 21.9 across 138 consumer defensive companies and a seven-year average of 19.9. Cash backs those earnings: the free cash flow yield is 7.8 % and the earnings yield 7.1 %, while an EV/EBITDA of 10.4× tells a similar story once debt is included. The discount has survived a strong run, with the shares up 35 % in 12 months and still 5 % below their 52-week high of $141.21. The P/B of 7.4× looks steep and mainly reflects a thin equity base.

How is the business doing?

Revenue grew 10.4 % over the last 12 months while EPS jumped 142.3 %, a gap that points to much wider margins. The operating margin of 10.7 % compares with 8.2 % in fiscal 2025 and a 7.7 % average across the twelve fiscal years from 2014 to 2025, so Dollar Tree now keeps clearly more of each sales dollar than its long-run norm. ROIC of 13.8 % beats the sector median of 8.8 % by 5.0 points. The record is uneven, though: ROIC cleared 10 % in only 2 of the last 10 fiscal years and fell to −8.2 % in 2018.

How strong is the balance sheet?

Leverage is the weak spot. Net debt stood at $31.21 per share in fiscal 2025 ($34.70 of debt against $3.49 of cash), equal to 23 % of the current price, and debt to equity is 2.24 over the last 12 months. That thin equity cushion is what lifts ROE to 45.6 % and P/B to 7.4×. The risk looks contained for now: the Altman Z-score of 3.7 sits in the safe zone, the Piotroski score is 8 of 9 and the current ratio is 1.13. Dollar Tree paid no dividend in fiscal 2025, with a payout of 0 %.

What to expect from the next earnings?

The next report arrives on December 2, 2026, with analysts expecting EPS of $0.95 for the quarter. The bar has proved easy to clear: Dollar Tree beat EPS estimates in 7 of the last 8 quarters, and on August 27, 2026 it reported $2.70 against $1.15 expected, a 135 % surprise and the largest of those eight quarters. Analysts barely reacted: the 2027 EPS consensus moved from $7.88 to $7.90 over the last 30 days among 17 analysts, and revenue estimates were flat. Of 49 analysts, 25 rate the shares a buy, 19 a hold and 4 a sell.

Is it as stable as the sector promises?

Consumer defensive investors look for steady margins, real cash and growing dividends, because these businesses rarely deliver explosive growth. On those measures Dollar Tree largely qualifies. Gross margin was 36.4 % in fiscal 2025, just above the 35 % line for stability; free cash flow equaled 109 % of net income, past the 90 % healthy mark; and EPS grew 17.2 % a year over fiscal 2015-2025, almost three times the 6 % threshold. Two things set it apart from the classic defensive profile: there is no dividend, and net debt of 2.7× EBITDA sits just above the 2.5× ceiling the sector considers healthy.

How this was prepared: the data comes from companies' official filings, collected by a professional provider, and from Kaplio's analysis engine (trailing-12-month ratios, 10 years of history and sector medians computed across US-listed companies). The text is written from that data alone, every figure is checked against it before publication, and it is reviewed when the company reports results. This is not investment advice.