Whole Foods Market Inc.' announced fiscal first quarter earnings far exceeding wall street expectations Tuesday. The specialty, organic grocer saw earnings up 71 percent with a sales rise of 7 percent.
Total revenue for the Austin based company grew by 11 percent through Saturday. Whole Foods is forecasting fiscal-year earnings of as much as $1.25 a share a 15 cent improvement on figures released in November. The company was equally optimistic about its sales outlooks estimating total revenue gains of 8.5 to 10.5 percent. Revised estimates for revenue gains are now between 5 and 8 percent.
Whole Foods shares were up 5.2% to $32.10 in after-hours trading. The stock has tripled over the past year.
The increases seem surprising considering the nature of the Whole Foods brand as a luxury company in very tight times. Still they have dedicated considerable energy to finding a medium between their upscale attitude and marketing for value.
In the quarter that ended Jan. 17, Whole Foods reported earnings of $55.2 million up from $33.3 million. That’s 32 cents a share compared with the 20 cents a share earned this time last year. Sales grew to $2.64 billion, from $2.47 billion over the past year.
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