Prior to beginning work on this discussion, please read the article by Hayley Peterson, 15 Companies That Are Defying the Retail Meltdown by Opening Hundreds of New Stores (Links to an external site.).
While many retailers are closing stores, some are rapidly building new locations, with at least one—Dollar General (NYSE: DG)—adding as many as 900 stores this year (Peterson, 2018).
Obtain Dollar General’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2017. Form 10-K can be obtained either from the SEC (Links to an external site.)’s EDGAR Filing system or the “Investor Relations” link on the company’s website at www.dollargeneral.com (Links to an external site.). Read the “Growth Strategies” and the “Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows” sections of Dollar General’s 10-K Form to answer the following questions in an initial post of at least 200 words:
How many stores is Dollar General planning to open during its 2018 and 2019 fiscal years? By what percentage would these new stores increase the size of the company?
How much cash did General Dollar spend on investing activities during its 2016, 2017, and 2018 fiscal years? Do you think the amount spent on investing activities represents the full costs that General Dollar incurred to open new stores? Explain you answer.
Where did General Dollar get the cash used to make these investments?