Whole Foods to close nine stores

The natural and organic foods grocer said that comp sales in the fiscal first quarter ended January 15 experienced some weakness around the election time and added that the current second quarter will be impacted by a calendar shift in Easter. Analysts anticipate that Whole Foods Market will post $1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year. Whole Foods meanwhile reported its sixth consecutive same-store sales decline. At least six analysts have responded with price-target cuts.

The 21 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Whole Foods Market Inc have a median target of 30.00, with a high estimate of 40.00 and a low estimate of 20.00. In comparison, Sprouts Farmers is rated 2.1, Kroger is rated 2.2, and SVU is rated 2.6. SFM and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Instead, it will close unprofitable stores and hold back on building more of its lower-priced 365 stores until it’s more confident in the concept’s long-term performance. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.30, for a total value of $53,210.00.

But as such, Whole Foods has not ventured beyond B.C. and Ontario.

“While conventional grocers have been a major drag to comp sales, we believe they aren’t stealing Whole Foods’ existing customers as much as they are preventing Whole Foods from recruiting new ones”, analysts wrote in a Thursday note.

How Whole Foods Market, Inc. dominated Wall Street through eye-catching trend? .

Proffitt Goodson Inc has added 270 additional shares in Whole Foods Market (WFM) during the most recent quarter end. Mr. Mackey said the stores set to close primarily are older, smaller locations that Whole Foods had acquired. Further, the company shuttered one commissary kitchen and plans to close nine outlets and the last two remaining commissary kitchens during the quarter. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 185,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,800,578.60.

CREE has dropped 4.6% at $26.63, after the company warned that the $850 million sale of its Wolfspeed Power unit to Infineon Technologies could be blocked by regulators. GAM Holding AG raised its position in Whole Foods Market by 35.3% in the second quarter. Management now anticipates fiscal 2017 capital expenditures to be 4% of sales. The company had revenue of $3497.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3509.25 million.

What investors were looking for from the Whole Foods Market, Inc. Earlier this week, Aldi announced plans for a $1.6-billion USA expansion, with much of that growth aimed at offering “a wider range of organic and gluten-free products”. The Stock opened its session at $29.32 and closed at $28.98 by showing decrease of -1.02 percent.

Whole Foods now carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Whole Foods Market from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, January 7th. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.