Food distribution giant US Foods (NYSE:USFD) will be reporting earnings this Thursday before the bell. Here’s what you need to know.
US Foods met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $10.19 billion, up 4.8% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but a miss of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.
Is US Foods a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting US Foods’s revenue to grow 4.3% year on year to $9.90 billion, slowing from the 6.2% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.01 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. US Foods has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates twice over the last two years.
Looking at US Foods’s peers in the consumer discretionary segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Sysco delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 3%, meeting analysts’ expectations, and Performance Food Group reported revenues up 5.2%, in line with consensus estimates. Sysco traded up 10.4% following the results while Performance Food Group was down 7.2%.
Read our full analysis of Sysco’s results here and Performance Food Group’s results here.
Investors in the consumer discretionary segment have had fairly steady hands going into earnings, with share prices down 1.6% on average over the last month. US Foods is up 17.3% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $91.63 (compared to the current share price of $90.67).
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