Kroger Co (NYSE:KR) shares lost sharply on the latest quarterly figures.
The Cincinnati-based supermarket giant told investors total company sales were $29.7 billion in the third quarter, compared to $28.0 billion for the same period last year. Excluding fuel and dispositions, sales grew 11.3%.
Gross margin was 23.0% of sales for the third quarter. The FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, decreased 2 basis points compared to the same period last year. This decrease was primarily driven by price investments and mix changes, offset by sourcing efficiencies, sales leverage and growth in alternative profit streams.
The LIFO charge was $23 million for both the third quarters of 2020 and 2019.
Moreover, during the quarter, Kroger repurchased $304 million of shares under its $1 billion board authorization announced on September 11. Year-to-date, Kroger has repurchased $989 million of shares.
Said CEO Rodney McMullen, "We delivered strong results in the third quarter. Customers are at the center of everything we do and sales remain elevated as we continue to enhance our competitive moats – Fresh, Our Brands , Data & Personalization and Seamless. We are executing against our strategy even during the pandemic and continue to grow market share.
"The strong underlying momentum in our core supermarket business and acceleration in the growth of our alternative profit business demonstrates we are successfully transforming our business model to deliver consistently strong and attractive total shareholder return in 2020 and beyond."
KR shares deducted $1.75, or 5.4%, to $30.54 shortly after the opening bell Thursday.
