Piper Jaffray reiterated an Underweight rating and $31.00 price target on Kroger (NYSE: KR) ahead of the company's 2Q earnings report.

Analyst Sean Naughton commented, "Over the course of Q2 earnings reports, we have consistently heard about weakness from deflation, food stamp cuts and generally weaker traffic trends, offset partially by some marginally better than expected gross margin trends. That said, we believe the same store sales guidance from Kroger remains important as the 2 year trend has a .77 correlation with the stock's relative multiple over the past 14 years and it is currently decelerating. We believe the decelerating 2 year comp trend will make multiple expansion difficult and maintain our Underweight rating and $31 PT despite solid business execution."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Kroger click here. For more ratings news on Kroger click here.

Shares of Kroger closed at $32.67 yesterday.