Albertsons beats profit estimates for its fiscal second quarter, sees pressure on consumer

Albertsons Cos. Inc.
ACI,
+0.53%
said Tuesday it had net income of $266.9 million, or 46 cents a share, for its fiscal second quarter to Sept. 9, down from $342.7 million, or 59 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The supermarket chain, which is seeking to merge with Kroger Co.
KR,
+0.45%,
said adjusted EPS came to 63 cents, ahead of the 56 cent FactSet consensus. Sales rose to $18.291 billion from $17.919 billion, compared with a FactSet consensus of $18.300 billion. CEO Vivek Sankaran said the company is mindful of the pressure on the consumer against a background of shrinking federal and state government assistance and higher interest rates. “We also expect slowing food inflation, ongoing labor investment, broad inflationary cost increases and significant declines in COVID-19 vaccination and test kit revenue. We continue to partially offset these headwinds with the benefits of our productivity initiatives,” he said in a statement. The stock has gained 8% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.01%
has gained 14%.