Grocery Outlet reports Q3 EPS 28c, consensus 27c

Reports Q3 revenue $1.11B, consensus $1.1B…Comparable store sales increased by 1.2%, driven by a 2.0% increase in the number of transactions, partially offset by a 0.7% decrease in average transaction size.Eric Lindberg, Chairman and Interim President and CEO of Grocery Outlet (GO) said, “Our double-digit third quarter net sales growth reflects the strong positioning of our consumer offering – value continues to win in the market and we continue to grow our share of consumer non-discretionary spending.” Lindberg continued, “While these results were generally consistent with our expectations, our execution limited growth and earnings during the period. Challenges with the systems conversion have hindered our performance over the past year, and while we have made substantial progress on the implementation, it is critical that we return our focus to what we do best: executing well on the fundamentals and delivering outstanding value to our customers through our dedicated independent operators.”