CINCINNATI, OH - Kroger has announced its Q3 2015 financial results this morning, highlighting a profit that beat analysts’ estimates and increased stock prices by over 5%. Kroger also raised its annual outlook after this quarter’s success with new locations and organic product sales.

“Our associates delivered another quarter of excellent identical supermarket sales and earnings results that provide great momentum as we head into the holiday season,” Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen explained. “Kroger’s consistent results demonstrate once again that our relentless focus on customers is the key to sustainable shareholder returns. We continue to implement our growth plan and expect to exceed our longterm net earnings per diluted share growth rate for fiscal 2015.”

The company reported net earnings of $428 million, or $0.43 per diluted share, and identical supermarket sales growth, without fuel, of 5.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2015. This is up 18% over Q3 of last year, which reached $362 million. Kroger’s Simple Truth line of natural and organic goods has grown to more than $1 billion in annual sales, Bloomberg reports, as the trend of healthier eating continues to grow. more Americans attempt to eat healthier. 

This successful quarter comes on the heels of Kroger’s announcement that it will be acquiring the Roundy’s chain for $800 million. 

Other highlights from Kroger’s Q3 2015 report include:

• Total sales, excluding fuel, increased 5.5% in the third quarter over the same period last year.
• Achieved 48th consecutive quarter of positive identical supermarket sales growth, excluding fuel.
• Leveraged operating expenses as a rate of sales due to strong cost controls and identical supermarket sales growth.
• FIFO gross margin was 22.4% of sales for the third quarter. 
• Total operating expenses  decreased 23 basis points as a percent of sales compared to the prior year.
• Return on invested capital (ROIC), on a rolling four quarters basis, was 14.16%. 

As of 12:23 PM EST, Kroger’s shares were up 5.69% to $40.28 following the quarterly announcment. 

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue to follow Kroger’s financial performance in Q4 2015 and beyond.

Kroger Co.