Shares of United Natural Foods (NYSE: UNFI) fell more than 20% this morning after the food wholesaler reported quarterly earnings well short of expectations and suggested it is still struggling to integrate its 2018 acquisition of rival SUPERVALU. Management believes better times are right around the corner, but investors on Wednesday were in no mood to stick around to find out.
Before markets opened today, United Natural Foods reported fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.12 per share, well short of the $0.26 consensus, despite revenue of $6.02 billion that beat estimates by more than $200 million. Gross margin in the quarter fell to 12.81% of net sales, down from 14.38% in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, due largely to the addition of SUPERVALU's less profitable inventory.
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