Kroger And Rite Aid In The Earnings Spotlight

• The earnings season has wound down, so very few companies will be sharing quarterly results this week.
• However, two leading specialty retailers are expected to report their latest earnings.
• Wall Street analysts are looking for top and bottom line growth from both.

In what overall will be a very quiet week on the earnings front, the latest quarterly results from The Kroger Co KR, the largest U.S. supermarket operator, and from Rite Aid Corporation RAD, the third largest drugstore chain in the country, will be among the scant highlights.

Wall Street analysts forecast growing top- and bottom-line numbers from both of them, but the increase in revenue is expected to be particularly sharp at Rite Aid, which will become the world's largest retail pharmacy chain by locations if its buyout by Walgreens is approved by regulators. That deal appeared to become more likely this past week.

Below is a quick look at what analysts expect from these two reports, followed by a glance at some of the other most anticipated earnings results scheduled for this week.

Kroger

When this Cincinnati-based retailer shares its fiscal first-quarter results Thursday morning, the Estimize consensus forecast calls for a profit of $0.70 per share, a penny higher than Wall Street's estimate. Note that earnings were $0.63 per share in the year-ago period and that Kroger has offered positive surprises in the past six quarters — by more than 5 percent in the most recent.

Revenue for the three months that ended in April will be $34.57 billion, or up more than 5 percent year-over-year, if the 24 Estimize survey respondents are correct. Wall Street analysts are looking for $34.88 billion. Either estimate would be the highest quarterly revenue in the past two years.

Rite Aid

Wall Street's forecast for this Fortune 500 company sees fiscal first-quarter earnings at $0.05 per share, up three cents from the year-ago period. The consensus forecast from 14 Estimize respondents is $0.06. However, note that Rite Aid's EPS have not topped analysts' expectations in the past four quarters.

Revenue fell short of consensus estimates in previous quarter too, and now Estimize respondents are looking for $8.20 billion for the most recent quarter. The Wall Street forecast pegs the number at $8.26 billion, which would be more than 24 percent higher year-over-year, though down slightly from the previous quarter. Look for Rite Aid's report after regular trading concludes on Thursday.

And Others

Other companies that Wall Street analysts expect to show at least some earnings growth when they report this week include Oracle, SAIC and Smith & Wesson. The consensus forecasts call for EPS at Finisar to be the same as in the year-ago period, as well as per-share earnings at Clarcor and Jabil Circuit to be smaller than a year ago. A wider net loss is in the cards for Ctrip.com, if the analysts are correct.

The following week will be quiet on the earnings front as well, but keep an eye out for the latest quarterly numbers from Adobe Systems, BlackBerry and FedEx.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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