SUPERVALU Goes Negative

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

SUPERVALU (NYS: SVU) reported earnings yesterday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Feb. 25 (Q4), SUPERVALU met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue shrank and GAAP earnings per share shrank to a loss.


Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
SUPERVALU booked revenue of $8.23 billion. The 11 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ predicted revenue of $8.32 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 5.0% lower than the prior-year quarter's $8.66 billion.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.38. The 17 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.36 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS were -$2.00 for Q4 against $0.45 per share for the prior-year quarter.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 22.8%, 190 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 2.6%, 140 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -5.2%, 630 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $10.88 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.39.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $35.61 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.29.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 890 members out of 954 rating the stock outperform, and 65 members rating it underperform. Among 253 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 232 give SUPERVALU a green thumbs-up, and 21 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on SUPERVALU is hold, with an average price target of $8.20.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson owned shares of the following at the time of publication: SUPERVALU. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool owns shares of SUPERVALU. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying calls on SUPERVALU. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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