Overview

* United Natural Foods ( UNFI ) Q4 sales rise 1.6%, beating analyst expectations, per LSEG data

* Adjusted EPS for Q4 beats estimates, per LSEG data

* Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 exceeds analyst expectations, per LSEG data

Outlook

* UNFI expects fiscal 2026 net sales between $31.6 bln and $32.0 bln

* Company forecasts fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of $1.50 to $2.30

* UNFI sees fiscal 2026 adjusted EBITDA between $630 mln and $700 mln

* Company anticipates fiscal 2026 free cash flow of approximately $300 mln

Result Drivers

* CYBER INCIDENT - Costs related to cyber incident impacted Q4 results, including $15 mln in gross profit and $11 mln in operating expenses

* LEAN MANAGEMENT - Deployment of lean daily management in 28 distribution centers improved customer and supplier experience, benefiting safety, quality, delivery, and cost

* FREE CASH FLOW - Significant improvement in free cash flow, up $331 mln from prior year, attributed to enhanced operational effectiveness

Key Details

Metric Beat/Mis Actual Consensu

s s

Estimate

Q4 Sales Beat $7.7 bln $7.64

bln (8

Analysts

)

Q4 Beat -$0.11 -$0.19

Adjusted (9

EPS Analysts

)

Q4 EPS -$1.43

Q4 Net -$87 mln

Income

Q4 Beat $116 mln $114.40

Adjusted mln (8

EBITDA Analysts

)

Analyst Coverage

* The current average analyst rating on the shares is "hold" and the breakdown of recommendations is 4 "strong buy" or "buy", 7 "hold" and no "sell" or "strong sell"

* The average consensus recommendation for the food retail & distribution peer group is "buy."

* Wall Street's median 12-month price target for United Natural Foods Inc ( UNFI ) is $29.00, about 9.5% below its September 29 closing price of $31.76

* The stock recently traded at 22 times the next 12-month earnings vs. a P/E of 24 three months ago

Press Release:

(This story was created using Reuters automation and AI based on LSEG and company data. It was checked and edited by a Reuters journalist prior to publication.)