United Natural Foods Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) gained almost 3% on Nov 1 after it announced top-most managerial changes in order to maximize efficiency. The company announced that it will promote its current President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Steven L. Spinner to the post of Chairman. Spinner will assume his new role effective Dec 2016, following the company’s annual meeting of stockholders.
Spinner will replace Michael S Funk, who is also the co-founder of United Natural and was the former CEO of the company. He has served in his current role since Sep 2008. Under his leadership, the company’s revenues soared approximately 142% from around $3.5 billion in fiscal 2009 to nearly $8.5 billion in fiscal 2016.
United Natural currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We expect the recent management changes to help United Natural enhance its top line going amid the headwinds that the grocery industry is grappling with. The grocery/supermarket business is struggling with food deflation, stiff competition, aggressive promotional environment and waning store traffic. .
United Natural is expected to announce its first quarter fiscal 2017 earnings by Dec 9, 2016. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 63 cents. The company has reported positive earnings surprises in the last three quarters with an average positive surprise of 5.4%. However, it missed sales estimates in all the four trailing quarters.
Key Picks in the Sector
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader consumer staples sector worth considering includes ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE:CAG) , The Chef’s Warehouse Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) and Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) , all carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
ConAgra Foods has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.82%. Chef’s Warehouse has a long-term growth rate of 12.5% while Freshpet has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 18%.
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FRESHPET INC (FRPT): Free Stock Analysis Report
UTD NATURAL FDS (UNFI): Free Stock Analysis Report
CONAGRA FOODS (CAG): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHEFS WAREHOUSE (CHEF): Free Stock Analysis Report
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