NEW YORK (AP) -- Supermarket shares wavered Thursday as one chain reported quarterly earnings, another issued guidance and investors reacted to a Whole Foods Market Inc. acquisition that gives the store an even bigger share of the natural foods market.
Shares in most of the sector either fell slightly or rose slightly throughout the day. Safeway was the exception, dropping $1.43, or 3.8 percent, to $35.54 by the afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange.
Before the market opened, Safeway reported its fourth-quarter profit rose 77 percent on favorable tax items and higher sales. The chain also reaffirmed its 2007 full year earnings guidance.
Goldman Sachs analyst John Heinbockel said in a note to investors that the store's earnings were impressive and "bode well for 2007 and beyond."
Heinbockel noted the company's gift card program, called Blackhawk, and said the company has done a good job controlling its expenses.
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070222/supermarkets_sector_wrap.html?.v=1
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