After Its Earnings Beat, Is United Natural Foods Still a Buy?

By Erin Kennedy and Jason Moser – Sep 16, 2013 at 2:00PM

NYSE: UNFI

United Natural Foods

Market Cap

$541M

Today's Change

(-1.83%) -$0.17

Current Price

$9.10

Price as of April 22, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

The stock is up nearly 30% year to date. Should investors jump in?

United Natural Foods' (UNFI -1.83%) fourth-quarter earnings were met with applause last week. The stock jumped nearly 13% on Friday, and it opened this week still climbing. The company beat analysts' expectations on earnings and revenue, and today it saw a price-target bump from the likes of Citigroup, which maintains a buy rating on the stock.

Motley Fool analyst Jason Moser notes that as a distribution play, United Natural is reliant on orders from major customers like Whole Foods Market. But Jason sees United Natural continuing to diversify and grow its customer base, which decreases the risk of being overdependent on a single customer.

Jason recommended United Naturals at the beginning of 2013, as it's the big dog in the distribution space -- and the stock has had a great year, up nearly 30% year to date. However, now that shares are trading at more than 30 times earnings, Jason thinks this might be one stock to keep on your watchlist.

Erin Kennedy owns shares of Whole Foods Market. Jason Moser has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Whole Foods Market. The Motley Fool owns shares of Citigroup and Whole Foods Market. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.