Zacks Research Forecasts Weaker Earnings for Grocery Outlet

Key Points

• Zacks Research lowered its Q3 2026 EPS estimate for Grocery Outlet to $0.16 from $0.18, signaling a more cautious outlook for the retailer’s near-term earnings.
• The company’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $0.05 versus the $0.02 consensus and revenue of $1.17 billion, above estimates of $1.15 billion.
• Wall Street sentiment remains weak overall, with 11 Hold ratings and 2 Sell ratings, and an average price target of $10.32 despite recent price-target increases from some firms.

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO - Free Report) - Research analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q3 2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Grocery Outlet in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.16 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.18. The consensus estimate for Grocery Outlet's current full-year earnings is $0.37 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Grocery Outlet's Q1 2027 earnings at $0.02 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $0.14 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $0.18 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $0.12 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $0.46 EPS and Q1 2028 earnings at $0.03 EPS.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Grocery Outlet had a positive return on equity of 5.69% and a negative net margin of 8.08%.Grocery Outlet's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. Grocery Outlet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.450-0.550 EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Grocery Outlet from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Craig Hallum cut Grocery Outlet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Grocery Outlet from $6.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Telsey Advisory Group cut Grocery Outlet from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Grocery Outlet from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $10.32.

Grocery Outlet Price Performance

Grocery Outlet stock opened at $8.19 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $7.54 and its 200 day moving average is $8.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $810.15 million, a P/E ratio of -2.11, a P/E/G ratio of 13.37 and a beta of 0.67. Grocery Outlet has a one year low of $5.66 and a one year high of $19.41.

Institutional Trading of Grocery Outlet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GO. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Grocery Outlet by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 122,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,736 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Grocery Outlet by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 357,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,003,000 after purchasing an additional 44,214 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Grocery Outlet by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Grocery Outlet by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 220,432 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,738,000 after purchasing an additional 26,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of Grocery Outlet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $149,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Grocery Outlet

In other news, CEO Jason J. N. Potter purchased 286,097 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.90 per share, with a total value of $1,687,972.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,388,759.40. This represents a 99.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carey F. Jaros acquired 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.26 per share, for a total transaction of $250,400.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 76,066 shares in the company, valued at $476,173.16. This represents a 110.91% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 899,905 shares of company stock worth $5,396,307 and sold 89,493 shares worth $524,431. Insiders own 4.50% of the company's stock.

Grocery Outlet Company Profile

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. NASDAQ: GO is a specialty discount retailer that offers consumers deeply discounted groceries by purchasing excess inventory, closeouts, and overstocks from manufacturers and distributors. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, the company operates two primary banners—Grocery Outlet and Fresh2Go—with a combined footprint of more than 400 stores. Its product assortment spans fresh produce, meat, dairy, bakery items, household staples, natural and organic offerings, and select specialty products, all sold at significant markdowns compared to conventional supermarkets.

The company's unique buying model enables it to source inventory through opportunistic purchases of surplus freight, discontinued items, and closeout deals, which it then passes on as savings to its customers.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.