Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Grocery Stores
The Kroger Co. KR
$59.03 -0.76% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $36.16B
Low risk
Next earnings report: Dec 3, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.85, down 53.0% year over year.
- The diluted share count fell 8.6% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- Net debt is 4.4× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Defensive sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth30Weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 37%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 21%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 44%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 31%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 49%
Quality38Weak
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 38%
- Gross marginBottom 26%
- Operating marginBottom 25%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 17%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 21%
- Interest coverBottom 33%
Value57Neutral
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 44%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 47%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 38%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 14%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 22%
Momentum45Neutral
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 38%
- 6-month returnBottom 28%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 50%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 42%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 44%
Revisions27Very weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 32%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 38%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 47%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 38%
Stability82Strong
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 25%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 13%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 2%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 21%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 1.1% | 1.6% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -53.4% | -53.0% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 23.1% | 23.1% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 2.7% | 1.4% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 1.5% | 1.5% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 1.6% | 1.1% | ↑ | Bottom 37% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -53.0% | -53.4% | ↑ | Bottom 21% |
| Gross margin | 23.1% | 23.1% | ↓ | Bottom 26% |
| Operating margin | 1.4% | 2.7% | ↓ | Bottom 25% |
| Net margin | 0.7% | 1.9% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 1.5% | 1.5% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 5.0% | — | Bottom 38% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -0.1% | — | Bottom 31% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -11.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -2.7 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 4.35×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.9×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 2.47%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 10.26%
- Shareholder yield
- 12.74%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -8.6%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -5.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Aug 15, 2026 (filed Sep 18, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 6 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +2.7%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.0%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 7
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $70.50
- Target vs current price
- +19.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 44
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 48%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2026 | +2.8% | +2.7% | +6.7% | — | — |
| Jun 18, 2026 | -0.6% | -8.4% | -6.6% | -4.9% | -1.5% |
| Mar 5, 2026 | +6.7% | +5.3% | +6.2% | +3.8% | -8.6% |
| Dec 4, 2025 | +1.9% | -4.6% | -7.5% | -4.9% | +3.7% |
| Sep 11, 2025 | +4.6% | +0.3% | -0.1% | +1.6% | -5.8% |
| Jun 20, 2025 | +2.8% | +9.8% | +8.8% | +9.0% | +2.9% |
| Mar 6, 2025 | +2.7% | +2.0% | +3.9% | +7.6% | +9.1% |
| Dec 5, 2024 | +0.0% | +1.3% | +2.4% | +2.6% | +4.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2026 | $1.09 | $1.06 | +2.8% | $34.62B |
| Jun 18, 2026 | $1.58 | $1.59 | -0.6% | $46.12B |
| Mar 5, 2026 | $1.28 | $1.20 | +6.7% | $34.73B |
| Dec 4, 2025 | $1.05 | $1.03 | +1.9% | $33.86B |
| Sep 11, 2025 | $1.04 | $0.99 | +4.6% | $33.94B |
| Jun 20, 2025 | $1.49 | $1.45 | +2.8% | $45.12B |
| Mar 6, 2025 | $1.14 | $1.11 | +2.7% | $34.31B |
| Dec 5, 2024 | $0.98 | $0.98 | +0.0% | $33.63B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 31.9× | 18.6× | 76th | Bottom 44% |
| P/E (forward) | 11.4× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.9× | — | — | Top 38% |
| EV / Sales | 0.40× | — | — | Top 14% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 6.28% | — | — | Top 47% |
| Earnings yield | 3.13% | — | — | Bottom 44% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 13.2× – 58.5× since Aug 14, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -11.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -53.0%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +94.9%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 7
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.9%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +1.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -7.1%
- RSI (14)
- 50.4
- Relative volume
- 0.56×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 27.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 61th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- -0.26
- Correlation with S&P 500
- -0.16
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -21.9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -26.5%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 2022 | Oct 17, 2022 | -31.7% | 131 days | 542 days (Dec 12, 2024) |
| Mar 13, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | -26.6% | 74 days | Not yet recovered |
| Aug 11, 2025 | Jan 7, 2026 | -20.3% | 103 days | 44 days (Mar 12, 2026) |
| Sep 2, 2021 | Oct 15, 2021 | -18.4% | 30 days | 58 days (Jan 7, 2022) |
| Jan 27, 2021 | Feb 26, 2021 | -16.9% | 21 days | 50 days (May 10, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $36.16B
- P/E (TTM)
- 31.9
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.85
- Revenue (TTM)
- $149.33B
- Dividend yield
- 3.10%
- 52-week range
- $54.15 – $76.58
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $137.89B | $148.26B | $150.04B | $147.12B | $147.64B |
| Gross profit | $30.35B | $31.78B | $33.36B | $33.40B | $34.40B |
| Operating income | $3.48B | $4.13B | $3.10B | $3.85B | $1.89B |
| Net income | $1.66B | $2.24B | $2.16B | $2.67B | $1.02B |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.17 | $3.06 | $2.96 | $3.67 | $1.54 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $33.63B | $34.31B | $45.12B | $33.94B | $33.86B | $34.73B | $46.12B | $34.62B |
| Net income | $618.0M | $634.0M | $866.0M | $609.0M | -$1.32B | $861.0M | $903.0M | $641.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.84 | $0.90 | $1.29 | $0.91 | -$2.02 | $1.36 | $1.46 | $1.05 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $6.19B | $4.31B | $6.79B | $5.79B | $7.21B |
| Capital expenditure | -$2.61B | -$3.08B | -$3.90B | -$4.02B | -$3.85B |
| Free cash flow | $3.58B | $1.23B | $2.88B | $1.78B | $3.35B |
| Dividends paid | -$589.0M | -$682.0M | -$796.0M | -$883.0M | -$885.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.48B | -$859.0M | -$12.0M | -$5.03B | -$2.52B |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.68B
- Total assets
- $49.49B
- Total liabilities
- $43.65B
- Total debt
- $24.16B
- Net debt
- $23.96B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $5.85B
As of Aug 15, 2026 (filed Sep 18, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 16, 2026 | $0.39 | Dec 1, 2026 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | $0.39 | Sep 1, 2026 |
| May 15, 2026 | $0.35 | Jun 1, 2026 |
| Feb 13, 2026 | $0.35 | Mar 1, 2026 |
| Nov 14, 2025 | $0.35 | Dec 1, 2025 |
| Aug 15, 2025 | $0.35 | Sep 1, 2025 |
| May 15, 2025 | $0.32 | Jun 1, 2025 |
| Feb 14, 2025 | $0.32 | Mar 1, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 29,646,792
- Days to cover
- 3.98
- Change vs previous report
- +3.7%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jul 14, 2015
- 2-for-1
- Jun 29, 1999
- 2-for-1
- Apr 23, 1997
- 2-for-1
- Oct 1, 1986
- 2-for-1
- May 29, 1979
- 2-for-1