CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Aggressive courting of bargain-focused shoppers drove strong quarterly sales for discounter Dollar Tree here. The discounter on Wednesday reported net income of $37.6 million, or 42 cents per share, on sales of $1.1 billion for the quarter, which ended Aug. 2. Earnings improved by 27.3% over the same period a year ago, while sales were up by 12.5% and comps increased by 6.5%. Bob Sasser, president and chief executive officer, said Dollar Tree “saw an opportunity” to gain sales and new customer trials and authorized a successful “stretch your dollar” promotion around food and consumables. The financial results came in slightly above analyst expectations for the quarter, but officials took a cautious stance for the remainder of the year, with a forecast for annual earnings lower than analyst expectations.

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