United Natural Foods narrows outlook as Canadian dollar hurts business; shares dip aftermarket

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – United Natural Foods Inc. said Monday the weakened Canadian dollar is still hurting its business, and its shares slumped in aftermarket trading.

The natural and specialty foods distributor's fiscal second-quarter results were about equal to Wall Street estimates, but it narrowed its guidance for the full year. United Natural Foods also recorded a one-time reduction in revenue because of a contractual issue.

Shares of United Natural Foods lost $5.48, or 6.7 percent, to $76 in aftermarket trading following the release of the earnings report.

The company said it earned $27.8 million, or 55 cents per share, over the three months that ended Jan. 31. A year earlier, it earned $28 million, or 56 cents, a share.

The Providence, Rhode Island-based company said it earned 65 cents per share in the most-recent period if one-time items are excluded. Its revenue totaled $2.02 billion, up from $1.65 billion a year ago.

According to Zacks Investment Research, analysts expected net income of 66 cents per share on $2.02 billion in revenue.

United Natural now expects to report an adjusted annual profit of $2.90 to $2.99 per share on $8.19 billion to $8.29 billion in revenue. It had expected net income of $2.88 to $3.01 per share and $8.13 billion to $8.38 billion in revenue.

According to FactSet, analysts are forecasting net income of $2.97 per share and $8.33 billion in revenue.

United Natural shares rose 2.2 percent to close at $81.48 on Monday prior to the release of the earnings report. They are up 5 percent in 2015 and are have risen almost 9 percent over the last 12 months.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on UNFI at http://www.zacks.com/ap/UNFI

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Keywords: United Natural Foods, Earnings Report