The Kroger (KR) Surges 9.8% on Optimistic Sales Growth Outlook

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is one of the 10 Stocks End Trading Week Soaring, Outshining Wall Street.

Kroger rallied by 9.84 percent on Friday to finish at $71.97 apiece as investor sentiment was buoyed by its optimistic sales outlook despite macroeconomic uncertainties.

In a statement, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Chief Finance Officer David Kennerley said that strong sales results in the first quarter of the year has pushed the management to raise its identical sales guidance, without the impact of fuel, by 2.25 percent to 3.25 percent.

Outlook for other elements, however, remained unchanged. Net earnings per share were reaffirmed at a range of $4.6 to $4.8, while capital expenditures were pegged at $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion.

A customer buying an item at a checkout counter in a grocery store.

In the first quarter of the year, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) dropped its attributable net income by 8.5 percent to $866 million from $947 million in the same period last year. Sales remained flat at $45 billion.

While we acknowledge the potential of KR as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.