Dollarama hikes dividend by 15%, races to open new stores even as tariffs spook consumers #CanadaFinance

Dollarama (DOL.TO) says it will speed up its pace of new store openings this year as the Canadian discount retailer bets on more shoppers hunting for deals while tariffs rattle the economy.

The Montreal-based company has over 1,600 locations across Canada. Last year, it announced a plan to open 2,200 stores by 2034, supported by a new $450 million logistics hub in Calgary. On Thursday, CEO Neil Rossy said Dollarama now aims to open 70 to 80 net new stores in its current fiscal year, up from 65 in the 12 months ended Feb. 2.

“While customer behaviour remains difficult to forecast, our assumption is that consumers will remain cautious on discretionary spending, and continue to seek out value,” he told analysts on a post-earnings conference call.

“Consumer confidence will be a major challenge with these tariff discussions while they continue, and while our concept may be more resilient than most, when consumers spend less, they tend to spend less everywhere,” Rossy added.

“Tariff wars are not good for anyone.”

Toronto-listed Dollarama’s stock closed 0.38 per cent higher at $159.95 per share on Thursday, after rising as much as nine per cent. The company reported stronger-than-expected financial results before the opening bell, while hiking its quarterly dividend by 15 per cent.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 10 per cent baseline levy on all U.S. imports. This is in addition to the Canada-specific 25 per cent tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos. Prime Minister Mark Carney responded on Thursday with a limited set of new counter measures. Last month, Canada imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $30 billion in goods imported from the United States.

For Dollarama, Rossy notes a “manageable” but “not an inconsequential impact” to products it imports from the U.S. He says these are mostly consumable items, a category spanning food and single-use household goods.

However, the company on Thursday lowered its same-store sales guidance for fiscal 2026 to between three and four per cent, from between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent. It says this was due in part to “heightened uncertainty stemming from the current economic and trade environment.”

Dollarama reported its latest financial results before the start of trading on Thursday. Profit for the three months ended Feb. 2 climbed 21.7 per cent year-over-year as sales rose 9.3 per cent. The retailer boosted its quarterly cash dividend by 15 per cent on Thursday, from 9.2 cents per common share to 10.58 cents per common share.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Irene Nattel calls Dollarama’s latest quarter “better than expected” in a note to clients on Thursday, adding that the company’s 2026 guidance was in line with her forecast. Nattel maintains a $159 per share price target on the company’s Toronto-listed stock, with an “outperform” rating.