Whole Foods Market (WFM) , Kroger (KR) Trade Lower in Sympathy with Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM)
Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) and Kroger (NYSE: KR) traded lower pre-market in sympathy with Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ: SFM) after it lowered its outlook ahead of a conference presentation.
Sprouts said, "This update reflects the impact of significant ongoing deflation, the stepped-up promotional environment and our cautious outlook for the remainder of the year. Comparable store sales growth for the third quarter ending October 2, 2016 is now expected to be approximately flat. The prolonged deflationary environment, competitive landscape and industry dynamics have prompted heavy promotions across the industry, adversely impacting retail deflation and traffic generation. Given the current environment, we are adjusting our full-year 2016 comparable store sales growth to be in the range of 1.5% to 2.5% and earnings per share to be in the range of $0.83 to $0.86."