United Natural Foods Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

United Natural Foods (NAS: UNFI) reported earnings yesterday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended April 28 (Q3), United Natural Foods beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue improved significantly and GAAP earnings per share expanded significantly.


Gross margins shrank, operating margins grew, and net margins increased.

Revenue details
United Natural Foods notched revenue of $1.39 billion. The 14 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for revenue of $1.35 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 15% higher than the prior-year quarter's $1.20 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
EPS came in at $0.60. The 15 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.56 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.59 for Q3 were 23% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.48 per share.

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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 17.6%, 60 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 3.5%, 30 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 2.1%, 20 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $1.31 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.51.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $5.18 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.92.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 250 members rating the stock outperform and 39 members rating it underperform. Among 102 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 94 give United Natural Foods a green thumbs-up, and eight give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on United Natural Foods is outperform, with an average price target of $48.08.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. 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. 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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