Whole Foods has been trying to shake its “Whole Paycheck” reputation of lofty prices and is pouring money into a new value-oriented chain called 365 by Whole Foods Market, which it said had started off well.
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Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM) reported earnings for third quarter that declined from a year ago.
Whole Foods Market Inc. Whole Foods Market was Downgraded by Northcoast to ” Sell” on Jun 15, 2016. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company.
The bank rates Whole Foods shares hold with a $32 price target.
Several hedge funds recently modified their holdings of WFM.
The company announced previous year that it would eliminate jobs to help offset its price discounts and it reduced more than 2,000 positions, or around 2% of its workforce, as of last September, according to financial filings. Raymond James Trust N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Whole Foods Market during the second quarter valued at about $204,000. That was the fourth consecutive quarterly decline. Finally, Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Whole Foods Market during the second quarter valued at about $250,000. (NASDAQ:WFM) went down -1.38% during trading on 7/27/2016, hitting $34.47. It is now trading -1.48% below its 20 day moving average and 5.44% above its 50 day moving average. The firm has a market cap of $10.80 billion and a P/E ratio of 22.95. It has twelve month low of $28.07 and twelve month high of $36.70.
Whole Foods’ stock was down over 5% in after hours trading following the announcment, reaching a low of $31.90 per share, as of 8:00 PM EDT on July 27.
For its fiscal fourth quarter, it said it expects earnings of 23 cents to 24 cents per share. Analysts had estimated that Whole Foods had revenue of $3.72 billion, according to Bloomberg. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter past year.
Comparable-store sales – at locations open for at least one year – fell 2.6%, greater than an expected decline by 2.4%.
Whole Foods ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $472 million, total long-term debt and capital lease obligations of $1,052 million, and shareholders’ equity of $3,185 million. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%.
Analysts worry about competition from other supermarkets as well as from 365 itself will affect Whole Foods.
Whole Foods Market, Inc.’s (WFM) price volatility for a month noted as 1.96% however its price volatility for a week documented as 1.99%.
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Company executives said they hadn’t seen cannibalized sales from Whole Foods’ pricier full-format stores so far, but will be monitoring its third location opening near Seattle later this year.
