Kroger

By Evie Liu Kroger’s earnings report set for Thursday comes at a time when the largest grocery operator in the U.S. is trying to further consolidate its market share to compete with Walmart and Costco Wholesale. For the fourth quarter ended Feb. 3, Wall Street expects sales to grow by 6.4% from a year ago to $37 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Earnings are estimated at $1.13 per share, up 14% from the year-ago period. Prior to the fourth quarter of 2023, sales were lower than a year ago for two consecutive quarters, even though prices of most goods in grocery stores have gone up. Grocers are facing a tough environment. Consumers are dialing back spending amid inflation, while big-box chains like Walmart and Costco have been gaining market share in food retail as they leverage their size for cheaper prices. Meanwhile, e-commerce competitors like Amazon.com have disrupted […]

Kroger Q2 Adj. EPS 96 Cents Vs. 90 Cents a Year Ago, Beats the FactSet Consensus 91 Cents.

Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) reported fiscal Q2 adjusted net earnings  of $0.96 per diluted share, up from $0.90 a year earlier. Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected $0.91. Sales for the quarter ended Aug. 12 were $33.85 billion, down from $34.64 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $34.12 billion. Identical sales, excluding fuel, were up 1% year over year, compared with a 5.8% rise reported a year earlier. Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected a 1.4% increase in same-store sales growth. The retailer said it continues to expect fiscal 2023 adjusted net earnings in the range of $4.45 to $4.60 per diluted share and a 1%-to-2% growth in identical sales without fuel. Analysts polled by Capital IQ expect normalized earnings of $4.51 per share and same-store sales growth of 1.9%.