Kroger beats Street 3Q forecasts

Kroger Co. on Thursday reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $397 million.

The Cincinnati-based company said it had profit of 44 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 40 cents per share.

The supermarket chain posted revenue of $27.75 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $27.31 billion.

Kroger expects full-year earnings in the range of $2 to $2.05 per share.

Kroger shares have dropped 29 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 17 percent. The stock has decreased 26 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on KR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/KR