Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Adrianne Shapira - Goldman Sachs.
Adrianne Shapira - Goldman Sachs
Just, Kevin, maybe help us think about third quarter guidance. It seems as if the low to mid-single digit comps would suggest a two-year deceleration and that's obviously not what we've been seeing. So is there anything that you see that prompts this change or is this just a healthy dose of conservatism?
Kevin Wampler
Well as I look at it we're projecting our earnings per share increase of 23% to 36% which feels pretty good in the grand scheme of things given where the economy is at and what's going on out there. Obviously we're going against 6.2% comp in the third quarter. So, again, it's a good, tough comparison. We had a great third quarter a year ago. We believe we've got some exciting products out there that will hopefully continue the momentum. But as we look at it we don't know exactly what's going to happen in the economy. We've seen oil prices start to rise a little bit. There's just enough uncertainty that, while we think our guidance is pretty good for the times, we have to take those things into consideration.
Adrianne Shapira - Goldman Sachs
And just maybe a follow-up on that, Bob, as you mentioned, I think the concern out there is if discretionary spend comes back that maybe the dollar stores perhaps lose some relevance. Obviously the results are not suggesting that. So maybe if you can kind of walk us through what is happening there on the qualitatively on the discretionary side in terms of make shift, the traffic trends, ticket trends to help us understand what's going on in the basket and why, if discretionary spend does come back, Dollar Tree should participate.
Bob Sasser
Well, Adrianne, I believe that as compared to any of our competitors we're the best positioned when it comes to discretionary spend. We've built the business for the first 10 years on mainly, mostly discretionary products. Our party business is still dynamic right now, even in tough economic times. It's right up there, one of our top performing departments and it's because it's such great value and it's only a dollar.
Our roots are in the toy business. We understand the toy business. We understand creating value for the dollar. And it's only a dollar. So when times are tough we're selling toys because it's only a dollar. And when times are better, people have a little more jingle in their pocket and they buy more of the things that they may not necessarily need. But it's just such a compelling value and it's only a dollar. So I believe we're positioned very well.
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