Shares of Kroger Co. KR climbed 3.8% in premarket trading Thursday, after the grocery-store chain reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit and same-store sales that beat expectations and provided an upbeat outlook. Net income for the quarter to Jan. 28 fell to $450 million, or 62 cents a share, from $566 million, or 75 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 99 cents from 91 cents and beat the FactSet consensus of 90 cents. Sales rose 5.4% to $34.82 billion, but missed the FactSet consensus of $35.03 billion, but same-store sales growth of 6.2% beat expectations of a 4.9% rise. Gross margin was 21.8% of sales, down from 22.2% a year ago. The company said that it expects to keep paying its dividend, and expects it to increase over time, but has paused share repurchases to focus on reducing debt following its proposed buyout of Albertsons Companies Inc. ACI For fiscal 2023, the company expects adjusted EPS of $4.45 to $4.60, above the FactSet consensus of $4.19, and expects same-store sales growth of 1.0% to 2.0%. The stock has dropped 8.8% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has lost 3.0%.
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