Key Highlights

  • Total Revenue was about $46.1 billion, up about 2.2% and ahead of estimates, with identical sales without fuel up about 1.0%, a deceleration from about 3.2% a year earlier.
  • Adjusted EPS was about $1.58, in line with expectations, while gross Margin contracted slightly to about 22.7%.
  • Adjusted E-commerce sales grew about 19%, and Kroger Precision Marketing, its retail-media business, saw profit up over 20%.
  • The company maintained its full-year 2026 adjusted-EPS guidance of about $5.10 to $5.30.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) rose 0.70% to $57.94 at last closing. One of the largest U.S. grocers delivered revenue growth and steady adjusted Earnings in its most recently reported quarter, with strong digital growth, though decelerating identical sales and margin pressure weighed on results. For investors, the question is whether Kroger's scale and digital momentum can reward patient shareholders.

Kroger operates supermarkets and multi-department stores across the United States, along with pharmacy, fuel, private-label brands, a growing digital business, and a retail-media business. Its results depend on identical sales at established stores and its margins.

Latest Developments

In its most recently reported quarter, fiscal 2026 first quarter, Kroger reported total revenue of about $46.1 billion, up about 2.2% and ahead of estimates, with identical sales without fuel up about 1.0%, a deceleration from about 3.2% a year earlier. Adjusted EPS was about $1.58, in line with expectations, while gross margin contracted slightly to about 22.7% amid margin headwinds. Digital momentum was strong, with adjusted e-commerce sales up about 19% and Kroger Precision Marketing profit up over 20%. The company maintained its full-year 2026 adjusted-EPS guidance of about $5.10 to $5.30.

Financial and Business Position

The revenue growth, steady adjusted earnings and strong digital and retail-media growth reflect the resilience and scale of Kroger's grocery business. The considerations for investors are the deceleration in identical sales and margin pressure from costs and price investments.

Stock-Market Context

Kroger (NYSE:KR) rose 0.70% at last closing, a modest move set against decelerating identical sales and margin pressure. The improvement case rests on identical-sales growth stabilizing while digital and retail-media growth improve the margin mix; the cautionary case is the identical-sales deceleration and the competitive, low-margin grocery environment.

What Investors Should Watch

Investors may focus on identical sales without fuel, digital and retail-media growth, and gross margins and cost pressures. Evidence that identical sales are stabilizing while digital and retail-media growth lift the margin mix would do the most to support the shares.