Kroger beats quarterly sales estimates on robust grocery demand

(Reuters) -Kroger on Thursday tightened its annual revenue and profit forecasts and beat quarterly same-store sales expectations, benefiting from a surge in customers shopping for its lower priced and freshly sourced groceries at its stores and online.

The US food retailer, which faces competition from giants such as Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), has been investing in e-commerce to catch up with customers who are more inclined to shop online.

It has also tried to offer products cheaper than rivals and are trying to not tread above the average market prices as U.S. consumers keep their spending in check by shopping during discounts and deal days.

The supermarket chain now expects fiscal 2024 identical sales, excluding fuel, to grow between 1.20% and 1.50%, compared with its prior forecast of 0.75% to 1.75%.

Identical sales, excluding fuel, rose 2.3% in the third quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 1.77% rise, according to LSEG data.

The company expects adjusted earnings per share between $4.30 and $4.50 for fiscal 2024, compared with $4.30 to $4.50 estimated earlier.

Shares of the company were down 1% in premarket trading.