The Austin, Texas-based company said it had profit of 16 cents per share. Whole Foods reports quarterly financial results on Wednesday, November 4, 2015. Moreover, the poor trend continued into the current quarter, with Whole Foods reporting a steeper 2.1% drop in comps through November 1.
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Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) were $196 million, or 5.7% of sales, and diluted earnings per share were $0.16.
This quarter’s same-store sales through November 1 were down 2.1%.
During the quarter, the Company produced $132 million in cash flow from operations, invested $172 million in capital expenditures, returned $47 million in quarterly dividends to shareholders and repurchased $325 million or 9.9 million shares of common stock.
Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on WFM.
Whole Foods’ shares traded down about 5.7% after-hours Wednesday at 28.95, below the stock’s 52-wk range of 29.73 – 57.57. Wedbush restated a “hold” rating on shares of Whole Foods Market in a report on Tuesday. The specialty store is looking less special, and affordable supermarkets are getting fancy faster than Whole Foods is getting affordable. Sterne Agee CRT cut Whole Foods Market from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $55.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Imperial Capital reduced their price objective on Whole Foods Market from $65.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 15th will be issued a $0.135 dividend. Let’s look more closely at what Whole Foods did, and why it was so unappetizing to investors. The share price can be expected to fluctuate from the mean short term target, can be seen from the standard deviation reading of $5.91. (NASDAQ:WFM) is a retailer of natural and organic foods and grocer.
Still, Whole Foods tried to accentuate its accomplishments. Kroger has expanded its Simple Truth line of natural and organic foods, and Wal-Mart started selling Wild Oats brand organics a year ago.
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Whole Foods also announced a $1 billion stock buyback program, dividend increase and capital structure plan. The Firm’s merchandise assortment includes market, meat, seafood, bakery, prepared foods and catering, coffee, tea, beer, wine, cheese, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care, and lifestyle products including books, pet products, and household products. The Company’s 365 and 365 Organic Everyday Day Value brands account for approximately half of its brand items.
