United Natural Profit Misses Estimates, Tightens FY Guidance; Stock Down 8%

(RTTNews) - United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI) on Monday reported second-quarter net earnings of $27.8 million or $0.55 per share compared with $28 million or $0.56 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.65 per share compared with $0.56 per share a year ago.

Revenues for the quarter were up 22.5% at $2.02 billion compared with $1.65 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.67 per share on revenues of $2.02 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company said that amid the record quarterly sales, it also faced several challenges highlighted by weakness in the Canadian dollar and a non-recurring reduction to sales associated with a contractual obligation to a customer.

The company's gross margin for the quarter fell to 14.8% from to 16.3% a year ago.

For the full year 2015, the company now expects adjusted earnings of $2.90 to $2.99 per share on revenues of $8.19 billion to $8.29 billion. It earlier expected earnings of $2.88 to $3.01 per share on revenues of $8.13 billion to $8.38 billion.

Analysts expect earnings of $2.97 per share on revenues of $8.33 billion for 2015.