Wall Street High on Friday

United Natural tops estimates

Author's Avatar
Mar 09, 2018
Article's Main Image

U.S. markets are in positive territory on Friday on strong economic data. The U.S. added 313,000 new jobs the past month; however, the hourly pay only rose 4 cents to $26.75 an hour.

Shares of United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI, Financial) rose on the heels of the company reporting its financial results for the second quarter. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of 71 cents. The company’s revenue of $2.53 billion was also higher than the figure reported a year earlier by 10.5%. Moreover, the company beat analysts' estimates by 16 cents in earnings per share and by $80 million in revenue.

Further, the gross margin for the quarter reached 14.70%, a 39-basis-point decrease when compared to the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted Ebitda was $73.3 million, an increase of 8.5% from $67.5 million in the same trimester of the previous fiscal year.

For fiscal 2018, the company expects net sales between $10.01 billion to $10.16 billion, compared to the previous estimate of $9.84 billion to $10.00 billion. It is projected earnings per diluted share was in the range of $3.27 to $3.35, higher than the previous estimate of $2.72 to $2.80.

Gainers

• Chesapeake Energy Corp”‹. (CHK, Financial)

• Deere & Co. (DE, Financial)

• Hess Corp. (HES, Financial)

• Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN, Financial)

Losers

• Mattel Inc. (MAT, Financial)

• Hasbro Inc. (HAS, Financial)

• SCANA Corp. (SCG, Financial)

• Micron Technology Inc. (MU, Financial)

Global markets

The main European stock markets closed higher. The U.K.'s FTSE gained 0.30%, France's CAC advanced 0.39% and Spain's Ibex gained 0.41%, but Germany's Dax fell 0.07%

In Asia, India’s BSE Sensex lost 0.13%, but Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.47%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.11% and China´s SSE Composite gained 0.57%.

Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.