Mario Tama Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) notched a comfortable beat on top and bottom lines for its fiscal third quarter on Tuesday. The Idaho-based grocery chain reported $0.87 in earnings per share for the quarter, coming in $0.20 above expectations. Meanwhile, 8.5% revenue growth from the prior year quarter to $18.15B came in $550M above the analyst consensus. Identical sales increased 7.9%, also easily exceeding the Street consensus set at 4.87% prior to the report. Digital sales were also highlighted as a key growth driver, jumping 33% year over year. “Our investments in digital transformation, differentiation in Own Brands and Fresh offerings, and the modernization of our operational capabilities contributed to these results,” CEO Vivek Sankaran said. “As we look ahead to the balance of the year and into fiscal 2023, we believe that all of these initiatives position us well to continue to drive top-line growth and deepen our customer and community engagement both online and in-store. At the same time, our ongoing productivity engine is expected to continue to support our investments and partially offset anticipated inflationary cost increases, declines in COVID-19 vaccination and at-home test kit revenue, and macro-consumer headwinds.” Management did not provide further commentary on the expected merger with Kroger (KR) in the earnings release. Albertsons Companies (ACI) stock rose 1.24% shortly after Tuesday’s market open. Dig into the details of the results.
