Kroger reported earnings on September 11th with Q2 total sales up 2% to $34.6B and identical sales excluding fuel up 0.2%. Management was candid that it would have liked to see stronger underlying sales momentum, but pointed to nearly 3% ID sales excluding several headwinds as evidence that progress is beginning to emerge beneath the headline result.
New CEO Greg Foran’s approach to “get a little better every day in a lot of places at once” is evident in nearly every aspect of the business. He is also refreshing the leadership team with Walmart talent across people, eCommerce and store operations, while pursuing the pending Giant Eagle acquisition.
Investors still have questions on market share, which is improving versus traditional grocers but remains less clear relative to mass and digital peers. As a result, the stock moved little on the day.
Get Harvest Group’s full earnings recap with unique takeaways for suppliers here: