Vetr Inc. Downgrades Whole Foods Market to Buy (WFM)

Whole Foods Market (NYSE:WFM)’s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at SunTrust in a research report issued on Thursday, Analyst Ratings.Net reports. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. “But we don’t know exactly how much until we do it. It’ll probably be less than when we open up an actual branded Whole Foods Market store, because it’s going to appeal to a little bit different customer, we think”. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.60, for a total transaction of $187,440.00. The stock had previously closed at $40.82. Consequently, shares of this natural and organic foods supermarket chain operator nosedived 11.3% during after-market trading hours yesterday. The average estimate tracked by Bloomberg was $3.69 billion.

Shares of Whole Foods Market, Inc. But that’s not the story for all stocks, Whole Foods Market (WFM) in particular.

Management hinted that given the current comps trends, it anticipates sales growth of approximately 7% and earnings in the band of 34-35 cents a share in the fourth quarter. The company now expects same-store sales to grow by a low-single-digit percentage, compared with an earlier projection for low- to mid- single digits. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. This number was $0.01 away from what analysts had predicted resulting with a surprise factor of 2.38%.

Whole Foods cut its sales forecast for the year after its quarterly profit and sales fell short of expectations amid intensifying competition. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%.

Shares of Whole Foods Market, Inc.

It is a timely move, given that the high-end grocer was fined $800,000 last month after state and local inspectors in California found evidence of price-gouging in its stores.

For the third quarter ended July 5, Whole Foods earned $154 million, or 43 cents a share. “From the unique experience of our Whole Foods Market stores, to our growing online channel for home delivery, to the exciting launch of our 365 by Whole Foods Market stores, we are making investments to extend our reach to both new and existing customers”.

During the company’s conference call with analysts Wednesday evening, Robb stressed that the company is doing what it can to ensure that this won’t happen again.

Founded in 1978 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (wholefoodsmarket.com) is the leading retailer of natural and organic foods, the first national “Certified Organic” grocer, and uniquely positioned as America’s Healthiest Grocery Store™. On the high end, one analyst sees the stock at $65.