In the company’s latest earnings report, it beat earnings estimates by $0.01 while revenues jumped 25.4%. For this quarter, same-store sales grew 10.4%. Even though that is less than last year, it is still better than management’s goal in the high single digits.
How they all stack up
| Whole Foods | Fresh Market | Natural Grocers | Kroger | Safeway | |
| Market Cap | $19.23 billion | $2.39 billion | $635.07 million | $17.54 billion | $5.46 billion |
| Revenue | $12.52 billion | $1.33 billion | $378.96 million | $96.75 billion | $44.20 billion |
| Rev Growth | 0.13 | 0.15 | 0.25 | 0.13 | -0.00 |
| EBITDA | $1.17 billion | $148.42 million | $25.92 million | $4.43 billion | $2.21 billion |
| Gross Margin | 0.36 | 0.34 | 0.29 | 0.21 | 0.28 |
| Net Income | $517.57 million | $64.13 million | $8.61 million | $1.48 billion | $596.10 million |
| P/E | 37.42 | 37.25 | 74.61 | 12.16 | 8.62 |
| Employees | 53,100 | 6,250 | 1,370 | 347,000 | 171,000 |
For investors I also wanted to add the big name grocers The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) and Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) to see how they all compare. Both Kroger and Safeway have started to allot more store space to organics and natural products. Both have the size and scale to increase their share of the growing health food trend. For value investors, it makes sense to look at Kroger and Safeway. Kroger boasts a gross margin of 0.21 and Safeway’s is 0.28. Both are attractive compared to the other grocers in terms of P/E. Kroger sports a P/E of 12.16 and Safeway comes in at a cheap 8.62.
The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) operates over 2,400 supermarkets under the names Kroger, City Market, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, QFC, Ralph’s, and Smith’s. The company also manufactures and processes food for its supermarkets. Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) is a smaller competitor to Kroger with just over 1,600 supermarkets.
Foolish assessment
One thing that I love about the grocers is that people have to eat. All five grocers are unique in their own way and all offer potential. For value investors, there’s the traditional grocers Kroger and Safeway that are expanding their offerings with natural and organic items. For growth investors, you have the fast-growing specialty grocers. Among Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), The Fresh Market, and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage offers the most growth potential. Both The Fresh Market Inc (NASDAQ:TFM) and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc (NYSE:NGVC) have a long way to go, though, before they catch up to industry leader Whole Foods. Whole Foods is still expanding and wants to retain its crown as the top organic and natural grocer. A Fool wouldn’t be foolish (small “f”) to own any one of these grocers at the checkout.
Mark Yagalla has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends The Fresh Market and Whole Foods Market. The Motley Fool owns shares of Whole Foods Market. Mark is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
The article Don’t Check Out of These Grocers originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Mark Yagalla.
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