Actions of Kroger On Friday, it increased around 9% when the supermarket operator increased its sales perspective throughout the year and said it is drawing buyers looking for brands of lower price stores and cheaper alternatives for dinner.
The Cincinnati -based shopkeeper said that now he expects identical sales, excluding fuel, increase in 2.25% and 3.25% year after year, more than their previous expectations for an increase of between 2% and 3%. Identical sales are a specific metric of the industry that eliminates unique factors, such as store openings, closures and renovations. Kroger includes stores and delivery sales in regions that have been in operation for five full quarters in identical sales.
So far this year, Kroger actions increase almost 16%, exceeding approximately 1% of the S&P 500 During the same period.
This is how the company did for the first fiscal quarter compared to Wall Street estimates, according to an LSEG analysts survey:
- Profit per action: $ 1.49 per share, adjusted compared to $ 1.46
- Revenue: $ 45.12 billion compared to $ 45.19 billion
In the three -month period that ended on May 24, Kroger's net sales were $ 866 million, or $ 1.29 per share.
Identical sales, excluding fuel, increased 3.2% compared to the period of the previous year, with growth from pharmacy, electronic commerce and fresh edibles. The company's electronic commerce sales grew 15% year after year.
Kroger, owner of supermarket banners throughout the country, has made significant changes during the past year. A judge blocked its acquisition of $ 25 million from the Albertsons competitor in December. The CEO for a long time ago, Rodney McMullen, resigned in March after an investigation of the company on her personal behavior. And the company's legal battle with Albertsons for the disappearance of the merger agreement is ongoing.
The company also recently hired a new CFO, David Kennerley, formerly Financial Director of Pepsico Europe, after its former financial director Gary Millerchip went to Costco.
In addition to the specific challenges of the company, Kroger faces a tougher competition of Walmart and Costco – particularly because buyers pass cautiously and observe prices closely due to tariff uncertainty.
In a gain call with analysts on Friday, the interim CEO Ron Sargent said that Kroger is trying to serve values of values by simplifying their promotions, reducing prices in more than 2,000 products so far this year and emphasizing their private brands that tend to cost less.
“Many customers want more value and, as a result, they are buying more promotional products and more products in our brand,” he said. “They are also eating more meals at home.”
He said that the company has seen a jump in buyers buying larger package sizes, using more coupons and buying less discretionary items, such as snacks and adult drinks.
Kroger's private labels, which tend to be cheaper than brand national brands, have also been a growth driver. For the seventh consecutive quarter, Sargent said that Kroger's own brands grew faster than national brands. Its two main brands were the most focused on the Kroger prize: simple Truth, its line of organic articles and private selection, which includes gourmet articles and artisans such as Brioche and Lobster Mac and Cheese dinner rolls.
Sargent said that Kroger will try to take advantage of that impulse, and the health trends that he is seeing, by launching 80 new protein products to his simple truth line, including protein and beaten bars.
Like a grocery store that sells many foods from the USA. UU., Sargent said that Kroger is not so affected by the highest rates in imports around the world like other companies. However, in places where goods imports, such as fruits and vegetables or flowers, he said that “it seeks ways to avoid increasing prices for our customers, and we consider price changes as a last resort.”
“The tariffs have not had a material impact on our business so far. And given what we know today, we do not expect them to advance,” he said.
Kroger is also analyzing his costs so he can modernize his business and bring his electronic commerce business closer to profitability, Kennerley said in the earning call. The electronic commerce business, a combination of collection and deliveries on the sidewalk and deliveries at customer doors, is not yet profitable.
The company said Friday that it will close around 60 stores in the next 18 months, which led to a charge for deterioration of $ 100 million in the first quarter.
Sergent said the company had stopped its annual store of the store during the merger process and not all its stores are “delivering the sustainable results we need”, so it is now up to date with the closure of non -profitable stores. Even so, he said, even when he is closing stores, Kroger plans to open new locations in greater growth in the country and accelerate those openings in 2026.
Kroger continues to look for his next CEO. Sargent said that the company's board is working with a search company, but that it still does not have an update.
