Kroger reports £468.94 million of net income in the fiscal third quarter

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) said on Thursday that its profit in the fiscal third quarter came in better than expected, but sales missed estimates.

At £24 per share, Kroger shares are currently a little under 15% up year to date in the stock market. Its shares tumbled to £19.96 in the last week of January. Kroger printed a year to date high of £27.20 per share in September but lost momentum in the past three months.

Kroger’s Q3 financial results versus analysts’ estimates

Kroger said that its net income in the quarter that concluded on 7^th November printed at £468.94 million that translates to 59.45 pence per share. In comparison, it had posted a much lower £195.46 million of net income in the same quarter last year or 23.78 pence per share.

Adjusted for one-time items, the retail company earned 52.77 pence per share in Q3 versus the year-ago figure of 34.93 pence per share. In terms of sales, Kroger reported a 6.3% annualised growth in the recent quarter to £22.09 billion.

According to FactSet, experts had forecast the company to record a higher £22.27 billion of sales in the third quarter. Their estimate for per-share earnings in Q3 was capped at a lower 49.79 pence per share. In the prior quarter (Q2), Kroger had noted an 8.24% growth in its revenue despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis that has so far infected more than 14 million people in the U.S. and caused over a quarter million deaths.

Kroger also highlighted on Thursday that its same-store sales registered a 10.9% year over year growth versus a narrower 9.3% growth expected.

Kroger’s guidance for the full financial year

Kroger valued its share repurchase at £225.93 million in the fiscal third quarter. For the full financial year, the Cincinnati-based company now forecasts its adjusted per-share earnings to fall in the range of £2.45 to £2.49. It expects its annual comparable-store sales to see a 14% growth.

In comparison, FactSet Consensus for Kroger’s adjusted per-share earnings stands at £2.45, and for annual same-store sales growth at 12.5%. Kroger expanded its partnership with the British online supermarket, Ocado, last week to include in-store fulfilment capabilities.

Kroger ended nearly flat on average in the stock market last year. At the time of writing, it is valued at £18.58 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 9.87.