11:35 AM EDT, 04/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We trim our 12-month target by $1 to $23, which is a factor of the KR merger deal price ($27.25) and our fair value estimate ($21). We cut our FY 25 (Feb.) EPS to $2.70 from $3.23 and begin FY 26 at $2.84. ACI posted FQ4 (Feb.) adj-EPS of $0.54 (-32% Y/Y) vs. the $0.52 consensus. Identical sales growth (ex-fuel) grew 1.0% vs. the 1.2% consensus. Growth was driven by pharmacy, as grocery comp sales faced softness from declining unit sales and lower Y/Y food inflation. Margins faced pressure due to mix (pharmacy and e-commerce have lower margins), shrink (e.g., theft), price investments, and wage/associate wages. Adj-EBITDA margins are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels at 5.0%. FY 25 is expected to be another tough year, as we see weaker identical sales growth and continued margin pressure. We forecast EPS falling 6% in FY 25, following a 15% decline in FY 24. We believe big-box retailers (e.g., WMT) and club stores (e.g., COST, BJ) are taking market share away from conventional food retailers like KR and ACI.