Albertsons Companies Inc (NYSE:ACI) saw its shares took off Monday, after the company reported second-quarter FY21 sales growth of 4.7% year-on-year, to $16.50 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $15.81 billion.
Identical sales increased 1.5%. On a two-year stacked basis, identical sales growth was 15.3%. Gross profit grew 3.1% Y/Y, and profit margin decreased 40 basis points Y/Y to 28.6%.
The operating margin was 2.9%, and operating income for the quarter declined 13.5% to $485.9 million.
Adjusted EBITDA was $965.4 million, with the margin contracting 20 basis points to 5.8%.
Albertsons held $2.8 billion in cash and equivalents as of September 11. Cash provided by operating activities for the 28 weeks totaled $2.1 billion.
Adjusted EPS of $0.64 beat the analyst consensus of $0.45. Albertsons also increased its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.12 per share. The next quarterly dividend will be paid on November 12, 2021, to stockholders of record on October 29.
Albertsons raised FY21 EPS guidance to $2.50 - $2.60 (previously $2.20 - $2.30) versus the consensus of $2.28.
The company also raised adjusted EBITDA to $3.95 billion - $4.05 billion (prior view $3.7 billion - $3.8 billion).
Said CEO Vivek Sankaran, "We are pleased with our second quarter results as we continue to execute our transformation strategy. The favorable consumer backdrop together with our focus on in-store excellence, accelerating our digital and omni-channel capabilities, increasing productivity and strengthening our talent and culture, are driving increased identical sales and improved performance."
ACI shares are trading higher by 95 cents, or 3.3%. at $29.51 Monday.
