Shares of Dollar General Corp. were headed 8% higher in early trading Thursday after the discount retailer beat fiscal fourth-quarter sales that rose more than forecast, as fewer people visited the stores but spent more.

The sales growth was fueled by strength in the consumables category, which includes food, health and beauty, cleaning and pet-supply products. That offset weakness in seasonal, home-goods and clothes products.

The quarterly results helped offset a somewhat mixed full-year outlook, in which profit was a bit below Wall Street expectations but sales were in line.

The company also said it plans to close 96 Dollar General stores and 45 pOpshelf stores in the current quarter, following a review of underperforming stores.

The stock $(DG)$ surged 8% in premarket trading, following a two-day selloff of 9.6%.

For the quarter to Jan. 31, net sales rose 4.5% from the same period a year ago to $10.30 billion, which was above the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of $10.26 billion.

Same-store sales, or sales of stores open at least 13 months, grew 1.2% to beat the FactSet consensus of a 0.9% rise.

The sales growth included a 2.3% increase in the average transaction amount, which offset a 1.1% decrease in customer traffic.

Net income for the quarter dropped to $191.2 million, or 87 cents a share, from $401.8 million, or $1.83 a share, a year ago.

The bottom-line results included charges of $232 million, or 81 cents a share, due to store closures. Excluding the charges, earnings per share for the quarter would have been $1.68.

The FactSet EPS consensus was $1.51.

Looking ahead, the company expects full-year adjusted EPS of $5.10 to $5.80, which is below the current FactSet consensus of $5.83.

Meanwhile, same-store sales guidance for growth of 1.2% to 2.2% surrounds expectations of 1.8%. Net sales are projected to grow in the 3.4% to 4.4% range, while the current FactSet sales consensus of $42.18 billion implies a 3.9% rise.

The company declared a regular quarterly dividend of 59 cents a share, with shareholders as of April 8 to be paid the dividend on April 22. At Wednesday's stock closing price, the annual dividend rate implied a dividend yield of 3.15%, which compares with the implied yield for the S&P 500 index SPX of 1.37%.

Rival discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc. $(DLTR)$ doesn't pay a dividend.

Dollar General's stock has slipped 1.3% so far this year through Wednesday, while Dollar Tree shares have tumbled 17.4% and the S&P 500 has dropped 4.8%.