United Natural Foods (NASDAQ:UNFI) Inc shares sank 24% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the grocery wholesaler announced that its fiscal third-quarter profit fell to $7 million, or $0.12 a share, from $67 million, or $1.10 a share, a year earlier.
Its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter fell 50.9% year over year to $0.54, missing the FactSet consensus of $0.65.
The company’s revenue for the period, though, rose 3.7% to $7.51 billion, matching the FactSet consensus.
“Our profitability was impacted by a greater-than-expected decline in gross margins reflecting a challenging operating and macroeconomic backdrop, which contributed to lower inflationary benefits primarily related to reduced procurement gains, as well as higher shrink,” United Natural Foods (NASDAQ:UNFI) CEO Sandy Douglas said in a statement.
For fiscal 2023, United Natural Foods slashed its guidance range for adjusted EPS to $1.80 to $2.30 from $3.05 to $3.90 but kept its revenue outlook unchanged at $30.1 billion to $30.5 billion.
Shares of United Natural Foods have plunged 37% over the past 52 weeks to their current price of $27.57.
Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com