Whole Foods' Stock Rallies After Profit, Same-store Sales Beat

Whole Foods Market's stock rallied 2.8% in after-hours trade Wednesday, after the health food grocer reported fiscal first quarter profit and sales that rose above expectations. For the quarter ended Jan. 18, earnings grew to $167 million, or 46 cents a share, from $158 million, or 42 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. That beat the FactSet consensus analyst per-share estimate of 45 cents. Revenue rose 10% to $4.67 billion from $4.24 billion, and same-store sales increased 4.5%, compared with the FactSet consensus of $4.67 billion and 4.4%, respectively. The company is targeting totals sales to rise 9% in fiscal 2015 and same-store sales growth in the low-to-mid single-digit percentage range, while analysts estimates imply growth of 11% and 4.5%, respectively.