By Saumya Vaishampayan
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Dollar Tree Inc. DLTR +0.64% said Wednesday that fourth-quarter profit rose to $228.6 million, or $1.01 a share, from $187.9 million, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier. The operator of discount stores reported quarterly revenue of $2.25 billion compared with $1.95 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 99 cents a share and revenue of $2.22 billion. The fourth quarter ended Feb. 2 was 14 weeks compared to a year-ago quarter of 13 weeks. The Chesapeake, Va.-based company expects first-quarter 2013 sales to range from $1.84 billion to $1.89 billion with earnings per share of 53 cents to 58 cents. FactSet's survey is looking for first-quarter profit of 58 cents a share on sales of $1.86 billion.
