Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) is scheduled to release its most recent quarterly results before the markets open on Thursday. The consensus estimates call for $0.37 in earnings per share (EPS) and $27.97 billion in revenue. The second quarter of last year reportedly had $0.39 in EPS and $27.6 billion in revenue.
Earlier in August, the company announced that it will phase out single-use plastic bags and transition to reusable bags across all of its stores by 2025.
One of the driving reasons for this change is that estimates suggest that 100 billion single-use plastic bags are thrown away in the United States every year. Currently, less than 5% of plastic bags are recycled annually in America, and single-use plastic bags are the fifth-most common single-use plastic found in the environment by magnitude.
Kroger’s first retail division to phase out single-use plastic bags will be Seattle-based QFC, and it is expected to be completed in 2019.
So far Kroger has outperformed the broad markets, with its stock up about 47% in the past 52 weeks. In just 2018 alone, the stock is up 14%.
A few analysts weighed in on Kroger ahead of the report:
- Wells Fargo has an Outperform rating and a $36 price target.
- Credit Suisse has a Hold rating with a $33 price target.
- Stephens has a Hold rating as well, with a $29 target price.
- Northcoast Research has a Buy rating with a $36 target.
- Deutsche Bank has a Hold rating with a $30 price target.
- Citigroup has a Buy rating.
Shares of Kroger were last seen trading at $31.26 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of 30.68 and a 52-week range of $19.69 to $32.74.
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