Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM - Free Report) released its first quarter financial results ended January 15, 2017, posting earnings of $0.39 per share and record sales of $4.918 billion.

Currently, Whole Foods is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and is down 2% to $28.68 per share in trading shortly after its earnings report was released.

Whole Foods

Matched earnings estimates. The company posted earnings of $0.39 per share (excluding $0.09 from non-recurring items) which is matching the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.39 per share.

Missed revenue estimates. The company saw revenue figures of $4.918 billion, missing our consensus estimate of $4.985 billion.

Whole Foods reported an 18% increase to $284 million in cash flow from operations year-to-year. The company also invested $245 million in capital expenditures and saw a return of $43 million in quarterly dividends to shareholders. 

In 2017, Whole Foods is focusing on seeing sales growth of 1.5% or greater and improve diluted EPS to $1.33 or greater.

 “To this end, we are refining our growth strategy, refocusing our efforts on best serving our core customers, and moving faster to fully implement category management,” said John Mackey, co-founder and CEO. “Evolving our purchasing operating model while developing data-rich, customer-centric category management capabilities is critical to our go-forward merchandising, pricing, marketing and affinity strategies.”

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Whole Foods Market, Inc. Price and Consensus

Whole Foods Market, Inc. Price and Consensus | Whole Foods Market, Inc. Quote

Whole Foods Market is the largest purveyor of natural foods in the world. They own and operate the country's largest chain of natural food supermarkets. They are like an old-fashioned neighborhood grocery store, an organic farmer's market, a European bakery, a New York deli, and a modern supermarket all rolled into one!