Kroger (KR) Extends Losses on Net Loss Fall, Weak Outlook

We recently published 10 Stocks Losing Their Fire. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is one of the worst performers on Thursday.

Kroger fell for a third day on Thursday, slashing 4.62 percent to close at $63.14 apiece, as investor sentiment was dampened by a steep net loss and lower sales guidance for the full year. At intra-day trade, shares were down as much as 7.9 percent.

In an updated report, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) said that it swung to a net loss of $1.32 billion from a $618 million net income in the same period last year.

Sales, which included $387 million from Kroger Specialty Pharmacy sales, finished at $33.8 billion, or flat from $33.6 billion year-on-year. Excluding fuel and Kroger Specialty Pharmacy, sales increased by 2.6 percent from the same comparable period.

Looking ahead, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) provided a weak outlook for key growth metrics for the rest of the year, with identical sales without fuel now projected to grow by 2.8 percent to 3 percent, versus the 2.7 percent to 3.4 percent previously.

Guidance for operating profit was maintained at a range of $4.8 billion to $4.9 billion, while earnings per share slightly inched up to a range of $4.75 to $4.80, versus at least $4.70 previously.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is one of the leading supermarket and retail operators in the US.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.