Shares of Albertsons Companies Inc (NYSE: ACI) were up 5.0% on Monday morning after the U.S. grocer reported market-beating results for its fiscal second quarter and raised guidance for the full year.
Highlights from CEO Sankaran’s interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street’
On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”, CEO Vivek Sankaran agreed that the company has been facing supply chain issues since summers but said the “variety” we offer to our consumers makes up for it. He added:
We don’t have fundamental challenges like we did in the early days of the pandemic. So, people are not going to be short of supply. So, there’s no reason to panic on that front. You just have to be a little patient in finding what you want, when you want it.
According to the chief executive, Albertsons is committed to keeping the margins strong, leveraging technology to maximize productivity and cut costs.
Q2 financial performance
Albertsons said its net income printed at $295.2 million that translates to 52 cents per share. In the comparable period of last year, its net income was capped at $284.5 million or 49 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, the NYSE-listed company earned 54 cents a share, as per the earnings press release.
The Idaho-based firm generated $16.506 billion in revenue versus the year-ago figure of $15.758 billion. According to FactSet, experts had forecast 45 cents of adjusted EPS on $15.864 billion in sales.
Dividend and full-year guidance
Albertsons declared a quarterly dividend of 12 cents a share – a 20% increase from last year. For the full year, it now forecasts up to $2.60 of EPS on a 3.5% decline in identical sales. In comparison, analysts are calling for $2.28 of EPS on a 4.0% decline in identical sales.
Earlier this month, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Albertsons to “underperform”.
The post Albertsons CEO on supply chain issues: ‘there’s no reason to panic on that front’ appeared first on Invezz.
