Whole Foods' Earnings Good Enough for Investors

Retail

Published: November 5, 2014 5:24 pm

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 10:08 am

Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 results after markets closed Wednesday. For the quarter, the high-end grocery store chain posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.35 on revenues of $3.30 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.32 on revenues of $2.98 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.32 and $3.26 billion in revenues.

For the full year, Whole Foods posted EPS of $1.56 on revenues of $14.20 billion, compared with fiscal 2013 EPS of $1.47 on revenues of $12.92 billion. The consensus estimates called for EPS of $1.54 on revenues of $14.19 billion.

Same-store sales rose 3.1% in the quarter, compared with the same period a year ago. The two-year comparable store growth came in at 9%.

Fourth-quarter sales grew by 9.0%, below the range of 9.6% to 9.9% Whole Foods forecast at the end of the third quarter. Operating income also grew slightly less than forecast last quarter.

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Whole Foods guided fiscal year 2015 sales growth to rise by “over” 9%. Same-store sales growth is forecast to rise in the low to middle single digits. The company also plans to open 38 to 42 new stores in the new fiscal year.

During the quarter, Whole Foods repurchased 2.6 million shares of common stock for about $100 million, after increasing its buyback program by around $678 million at the end of the third quarter.

The company’s co-CEO said:

Natural and organic products are increasingly available, yet no one offers the shopping experience we offer. We hold the idea of ‘food’ to a higher standard, banning more than 75 ingredients commonly found in other stores, and we believe our unparalleled quality standards are a large part of why we maintain a broad base of loyal customers and attract new customers aspiring to a natural and organic lifestyle. As we accelerate our growth, we are evolving and differentiating our shopping experience faster than ever before.

The company relinquished its spot atop the biggest losers on the S&P 500 index at the end of June, but shares are still down more than 30% since the beginning of the year.

It is a different story today though. Whole Foods’ shares traded up about 6.8% after-hours on Wednesday, at $42.75 in a 52-week range of $36.08 to $64.72. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $43.00 before the report.

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