Whole Foods Market (WFMI:Nasdaq) has done it again – after beating analyst expectations for first quarter sales, shares rose 5% for the largest natural foods supermarket chain.
WFMI brought $49.1 million, or 73 cents a share, on sales of $1.37 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 68 cents a share on sales of $1.33 billion.
Whole Foods projects 2005 sales growth of 15 – 20%, in line with analysts’ expectations. They expect earnings to grow at a slower pace than sales, because the company is accelerating new store openings. This will result in higher pre-opening expenses of $18 – $20 million, up from $10 million during 2004.
Shares were trading up $4.82 to $95.17.
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