RTTNews | Oct 18, 2021 07:56AM EDT

07:56 Monday, October 18, 2021 (RTTNews.com) - While reporting financial results for the second quarter on Monday, food and drug retailer Albertsons Companies, Inc. (ACI) raised its adjusted earnings and identical sales guidance for the full-year 2021.

For fiscal 2021, the company now projects adjusted earnings in a range of $2.50 to $2.60 per share on identical sales decline of 2.5 to 3.5 percent, representing two-year stacked growth of 13.4 to 14.4 percent.

Previously, the company expected adjusted earnings in the range of $2.20 to $2.30 per share on identical sales decline of about 5 to 6 percent, representing two-year stacked growth of 10.9 to 11.9 percent.

On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $2.28 per share on net sales decline of 2.70 percent to $67.84 billion for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For the second quarter, net income grew to $295.2 million or $0.52 per Class A common share from $284.5 million or $0.49 per Class A common share in the prior-year quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income was $0.64 per Class A common share, compared to $0.60 per Class A common share in the year-ago quarter.

Sales and other revenue increased to $16.5 billion from $15.8 billion in the same quarter last year, primarily driven by the Company's 1.5% increase in identical sales and higher fuel sales. Identical sales growth was 15.3% on a two-year stacked basis.

The Street was looking for earnings of $0.45 per share on net sales of $15.81 billion for the quarter.

Based on the continued strong performance and balanced overall approach to capital allocation, the Company also announced a 20% increase to its quarterly dividend to $0.12 per share of Class A common stock, payable on November 12, 2021 to stockholders of record as of October 29, 2021.

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