Albertson Cos. sales gained while earnings slipped in its third quarter, but both results beat Wall Street estimates.
Net income was $361.4 million, or 62 cents per diluted share, versus $375.5 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, in the year-prior quarter.
Net income per share during the 2022 third quarter included a 45 cent per share reduction due to a special cash dividend of $6.85 per share provided holders of convertible preferred stock.
Adjusted for all one-time events, net income was $462.3 million, or 79 cents per diluted share, as compared to $505.1 million, 87 cents per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.
Albertsons beat a Yahoo Finance-published analyst consensus estimate of 66 cents per diluted share and $18.37 billion in revenue
Albertsons reported a 2.9% increase in identical sales in the quarter year over year. Net sales were $18.56 billion versus $18.15 billion in the year-previous period. The company reported its digital business increased 21% in the quarter versus the year-past period. Operating income was $566.1 million versus $582.4 million in the year-before quarter
“We delivered another solid quarter amidst a challenging economic backdrop,” said Vivek Sankaran, Albertsons CEO. “As we look ahead, our ambition is to create ‘Customers for Life,’ in part through our focus on operational excellence in our stores, driving growth in our digital and pharmacy operations and deepening our relationships with our customers. While we are benefiting from our productivity initiatives, we expect to continue to see the impacts of investments in associate wages and benefits, cycling significant prior year food inflation, customers receiving less government assistance, the resumption of student loan payments and other types of payment deferrals, inflationary cost increases and the outsized growth of our pharmacy and digital businesses as we continue to lean into increased customer engagement in our ‘Customers for Life’ strategy.”
Albertsons remains in a merger process with The Kroger Co. currently under United States Federal Trade Commission review.
