Albertsons Stock Drops 20% as Shoppers Cut Back on Groceries
Grocery giant Albertsons saw its stock plunge over 20% after warning that cautious shoppers will hurt its sales and profits this year.
Albertsons, one of America's biggest grocery store chains, saw its stock price crash more than 20% on Thursday after the company gave investors bad news about its future earnings.
The problem? Americans are spending less on groceries. With food prices still high and expenses like gas eating into people's budgets, shoppers are being more careful with their money — meaning fewer trips to the store and smaller baskets.
Because of this, Albertsons lowered its outlook (its own prediction of how much money it expects to make during the year). When a company expects to earn less, investors often sell their shares, which pushes the stock price down.
Here are the key numbers:
- Earnings per share (profit divided by the number of company shares) is now expected to be $1.75 to $1.85, down from an earlier forecast of $2.22 to $2.32.
- Adjusted EBITDA (a measure of a company's core profits before certain costs) was lowered to $3.55–$3.625 billion, down from $3.85–$3.925 billion.
- Identical sales (sales from stores open at least a year — a way to measure real growth) are now expected to *fall* between 0.5% and 1.5%, instead of staying flat or rising slightly.
- Identical sales dropped 0.8%
- Net income (total profit) fell to $84.7 million — far below the $236.4 million from the same time last year.
Morris said Albertsons is "moving decisively" to invest in improving the shopping experience, hoping to win back customers and boost store traffic over time.
Bottom line: Albertsons is feeling the pinch as budget-conscious shoppers cut back. While the company believes it can recover, investors reacted sharply to the weaker outlook.
This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/23/albertsons-stock-plunges-on-lowered-outlook-softened-grocery-trends.html