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Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), one of North America's largest food retailers, is scheduled to discuss its third quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Thursday at 11:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.
During the three months that ended in September, Safeway appointed new board members, offered seasonal flu shots, and declared a quarterly dividend. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this Pleasanton, Calif.-based grocer to report that earnings fell 34.8% from a year ago to $0.30 per share. Sales for the quarter are expected to be 7% lower to $9.5 billion.
So far, the forecast for the full year is for earnings of $1.73 per share (-21.7%) on $41 billion (-7.0%) in sales. Safeway's earnings fell short of the the Street view in three of the past four quarters, by six cents per share or less. Zacks expects another negative surprise from Safeway, but Seeking Alpha is more positive.
Safeway's long-term EPS growth forecast is 9.1%, which is about the same as that of competitor Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), and its earnings multiple is 12x. The First Call consensus recommendation is to hold SWY.
Safeway shares are about 6% higher than three months ago, recently rising above the 200-day moving average for the first time in more than a year. But shares are still about 7% lower than a year ago.
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