NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 8, 2018 / Costco and Kroger both saw losses in Wednesday trading. Kroger investors showed caution yesterday, dragging the stock down 6.35% ahead of the company's earnings report which was released this morning. Shares of Costco saw a dip after the company reported second quarter earnings that missed the mark.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Costco Wholesale Corporation
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=COST

The Kroger Co.
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=KR

Costco Wholesale Corporation shares closed down 2.14% on Wednesday with more losses seen in extended after-hours trading. The bulk retailer announced its fiscal second quarter earnings report. For the quarter Costco saw profit rise 36% to $701 million, but it was still trailing behind what analysts had expected. Earnings at $1.59 a share in 2nd quarter, lagged ten cents behind the $1.49 that analysts were waiting for. Revenue of $32.99 billion was however a win, beating the $32.72 billion that analysts waited for. The company's profit rise was helped by tax cuts, which Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said the company hopes to share with its employees. There were no details announced yet though. Comparable-store sales, excluding the impact of fuel and currency changes, saw a rise of 5.4 percent but was behind the 5.6 percent increase analysts called for.

Access RDI's on Costco Wholesale Corporation Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=COST

The Kroger Co. shares closed down 6.35% yesterday on about 22 million shares traded which was more than double the stock's average trading volume. It was a day of red for the grocery chain giant as Wall Street prepared for its earnings release today before the open. According to analyst Ajay Jain of Pivotal Research who spoke to TheStreet, "Kroger is one of the few operators that are taking market share." He added, "The overall environment is competitive. Their expectations are flat or slightly positive for the fourth quarter, which is consistent with what we expect." Kroger recently sold its convenience store business, the EG Group in the U.K., for $2.15 billion. Analyst Kelly Bania of BMO wrote, "Given what appears to be a significant re-investment by industry market share leader (Walmart Inc.) into wages, price and e-commerce. We assume KR may need to make incremental wage investments."

Access RDI's The Kroger Co. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=KR

Our Actionable Research on Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) and The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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