Kroger Co. KR posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings early Thursday, but offered cautious guidance for the full year amid continued near-term economic pressures and food-at-home disinflation. The company had net income of $646 million, or 88 cents a share, for the quarter, up from $398 million, or 55 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 95 cents, ahead of the 91 cent FactSet consensus. Sales fell to $33.957 billion from $34.198 billion a year ago, while FactSet was expected $33.903 billion. Same-store sales excluding fuel fell 0.6% to match the FactSet consensus. Cincinnati-based Kroger tweaked its full-year guidance and now expects same-store sales excluding fuel to be up 0.6% to 1.0%, while FactSet is expecting them to be up 1.0%. It expects adjusted EPS to range from $4.50 to $4.60, which compares with prior guidance of $4.45 to $4.60 and a FactSet consensus of $4.51. The stock was slightly higher premarket but is down 2.1% in the year through Wednesday’s close, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 18.5%.
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