UNFI - United Natural Foods Faces Long-term Structural Challenges; Analyst Sees Competition FCF Pressure Labor Issues | Benzinga
BMO Capital Markets analyst Kelly Bania reiterated a Market Perform on United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE: UNFI), lowering the price target to $13 from $20.
UNFI reported fourth-quarter FY23 sales growth of 2% year-on-year to $7.417 billion, missing the analyst consensus of $7.47 billion. Gross margin for the quarter was 13% versus 14.5% last year. The gross profit fell 8.3% to $966 million.
Bania continues to see longer-term structural headwinds for UNFI, particularly as the grocery environment becomes more competitive and the company's investments in automation are likely to take many years and weigh on FCF.
While UNFI is investing in network automation, digital, technology infrastructure, and modernization of systems ...