Kroger (KR)

Consumer Staples · $40.8B market cap · SEC CIK 0000056873

Next reports on Dec 2, 2026, with analysts expecting $1.19 in earnings per share.

52-week range $54.15 to $76.58. 10% below its 52-week high and 27% above its low.

The case for KR

• Free cash flow of 8.5% of its market value a year: a lot of cash for the price.
• Moves less than the market (beta 0.33).
• Price/sales of 0.3× is lower than 97% of Consumer Staples companies.

The case against

• Expensive for its growth: 37.6× earnings, where 0% a year of growth would justify about 8×.
• Earnings per share down 53.1%.
• Heavily leveraged. Debt is 2.9× equity.
• Operating profit covers its interest bill only 2.8 times.
• Return on equity of only 3%.
• Net margin of 0.7% leaves very little room for error.

What the score is made of

Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Consumer Staples companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. The score is where that blend places it in the S&P 500. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.

• Its dividend figures disagree with each other (a 2.6% yield against about 0.7% implied by its payout ratio and P/E), so the dividend is not counted.
• Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 36 Consumer Staples companies.

The financials

The financials, five years deep

Pulled from Kroger's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are worked out from the others.

What Kroger says it does

The Kroger Co. (the “Company” or “Kroger”) was founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1902. Our Company is built on the foundation of our retail grocery business, which includes the added convenience of our retail pharmacies and fuel centers. Our strategy is focused on growing households and increasing customer loyalty by delivering great value and convenience, and investing in Fresh, Our Brands , Personalization and eCommerce. We utilize the data and traffic generated by our retail business to create personalized experiences and value for our customers. This data and traffic also enable our fast-growing, high operating margin alternative profit business, including third-party media revenue. In turn, the value generated from these businesses enables us to reinvest back into our retail business. Our revenues are predominately earned and cash is generated as consumer products are sold to customers in our stores and fuel centers and via our…

Risk factors KR lists in its 10-K

• If we do not appropriately or accurately anticipate customer preferences or fail to quickly adapt to these ever-changing preferences, our sales and profitability could be adversely affected
• The nature and extent to which our competitors respond to the evolving and competitive industry by developing and implementing their competitive strategies could also adversely affect our profitability
• Providing flexible fulfillment options and implementing new technology is complex and may not meet customer preferences
• The emergence of artificial intelligence-powered agentic shopping tools, in which AI agents autonomously research, compare and purchase products on behalf of consumers could further disrupt traditional grocery retail
• If customers increasingly delegate purchasing decisions to AI agents that prioritize price, speed or other factors over retailer preference or brand loyalty, we could become disintermediated from the customer relationship
• This could result in reduced visibility into customer behavior, increased margin pressure and a weakened ability to influence purchasing decisions
• Concerns regarding the safety of the products that we sell could cause shoppers to avoid purchasing certain products from us or to seek alternative sources of supply, even if the basis for the concern is outside of our control
• We could be adversely affected by personal injury or product liability claims, product recalls, or other health and safety issues, which occur from time to time
• Upon the expiration of our collective bargaining agreements, work stoppages by the affected workers could occur (and have occurred in the past) if we are unable to negotiate new contracts with the applicable labor union
• In addition, changes to national labor policy could affect relations with our associates and with unions

Filings

Other Consumer Staples companies