United Natural Foods ekes out an unexpected profit and stock rallies more than 20%

By Steve Gelsi

Company sales rise 10%, beating analyst estimates

United Natural Foods Inc.'s stock rallied more than 20% on Tuesday after it reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss as sales rose 10%, and its adjusted profit delivered an upside surprise against analyst estimates.

United Natural Foods (UNFI) said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed to $37 million, or 63 cents a share, from a loss of $68 million, or $1.15 a share, in the year-ago quarter.

United Natural Foods stock rose $4.23 to trade at $21.05, its highest level in about a year.

The food distribution company's adjusted profit of a penny a share beat the FactSet consensus estimate for a loss of 8 cents a share.

Sales increased to $8.16 billion from $7.42 billion and beat the analyst estimate of $7.94 billion.

Looking ahead, the company expects adjusted fiscal-year 2025 earnings of 20 cents a share to 80 cents a share, while analysts are projecting earnings of 57 cents a share.

United Natural Foods Chief Executive Sandy Douglas said the company is working on a financial review in order to "drive accelerating performance" while reducing net leverage by "optimizing" its distribution center network.

United Natural Foods stock is up 3.6% so far in 2024, compared to a roughly 20.8% gain by the S&P 500.

-Steve Gelsi

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10-01-24 1105ET

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