Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co. (KR 1.80%) shares suffered mightily in the wake of Q1 earnings results, released Thursday.
Kroger shares slumped 6.1% in Thursday trading (rebounding slightly in the after-hours). This was despite the company announcing that it had increased sales 3.4% to $30 billion in Q1, and grown its profits 18% in comparison to last year's Q1 numbers, to $0.92 per share. That profits number topped analyst estimates by $0.04. However, investors didn't seem to like the company's admission that sales missed the analyst target of $30.2 billion.
Going forward, the company promised to beat its own estimates once again -- for earnings, at least. New guidance for 2013 is $2.73 to $2.80 per share, up from the company's prior promise of $2.71 to $2.79. Even the new numbers, however, appear to only match what analysts were already expecting. Yahoo! Finance figures show the consensus among analysts following the stock is for Kroger to earn $2.77 per share this year -- right in the middle of the new targeted earnings range.
