What Analysts Think of Kroger Stock Ahead of Earnings | Global News Avenue

The Kroger Company (South Korea) will report third-quarter results before the bell on Thursday, and the grocery giant is awaiting a decision on the results. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Legal challenge to its proposed merger with Albertsons Companies (ACI).

Analysts are cautious on Kroger’s stock, with four “buy” ratings and six “hold” ratings from 10 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha. However, the $58.80 average price target suggests analysts think Kroger’s stock has room to continue falling, with Friday’s closing price of $61.08 being its highest close in more than two years.

Kroger shares fell 1.6% to $60.11 on Monday afternoon, but are still up more than 30% since the beginning of the year.

The supermarket chain is forecasting revenue of $34.23 billion, up 0.8% year-over-year, and profit rising 2.6% to $662.6 million, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Kroger, Albertsons await legal ruling

Kroger awaits decision trial ended FTC lawsuit try to prevent The grocer plans to merge with Albertsons. In its most recent announcement, Kroger went on to say it expected the merger to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

The closing argument is layout In September, the commission argued the merger would harm competition for consumers and workers. If combined, Kroger and Albertsons would no longer lower prices or raise wages to compete with each other, the agency said.

However, the companies said the merger would allow them to compete with larger retail rivals such as Walmart.WMT) and Costco Wholesale (cost), and Amazon’s (Amazon) growing grocery business. The FTC said the comparisons were incorrect because Kroger and Albertsons should be compared to other regional grocers rather than membership or online retailers.

exist Last quarter’s earnings reporthook up Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rodney McMullen said the company was “confident in the facts and our position”. Kroger also said it is seeing positive consumer spending trends and expects them to continue in the second half of fiscal 2024.