Kroger reported second-quarter earnings Thursday that beat Wall Street expectations and raised its profit and sales outlook for the year. The Cincinnati-based supermarket chain said profit rose 9.5% from a year ago to $347 million, or 70 cents a share.
Sales rose 11.6% to $25.3 billion. That beat Wall Street estimates of 69 cents a share and sales of $24.9 billion, according to Bloomberg. Identical store sales excluding fuel – a key measure of the retailer’s health – rose 4.8%. Kroger has grown the closely-watched metric for a jaw-dropping 43 quarters – almost 11 years of improving market share.
Kroger raised its annual earnings guidance to a range of $3.22 to $3.28 per diluted share from a previous range of $3.19 to $3.27. With 491 million shares outstanding, the company is effectively saying the annual profit will be $5 million to $15 million higher. The latest guidance suggests an annual profit of about $1.6 billion.
The company also raised its guidance for identical store sales without fuel growth to a range of 3.5 to 4.25% from a previous range of 3 to 4%. The figure is a measure of average growth at stores, excluding new stores purchased, built, closed or sold. The company last week announced it would hire another 20,000 workers – including 1,200 in Greater Cincinnati – for stores nationwide. Kroger employs more than 15,000 workers in the region.