Fresh Market Posts Upbeat Q1 Earnings, But Sales Miss Views

reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, but the company's sales missed analysts' estimates. The Greensboro, North Carolina-based company reported a quarterly profit of $15.2 million, or $0.31 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $16.6 million, or $0.34 per share. Excluding items, the company's profit climbed to $0.50 per share from $0.43 per share. Its revenue gained 7.2 percent year-over-year to $462 million. Fresh Market's comparable store sales shrank 0.1 percent in the quarter. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.49 per share on revenue of $474 million. The average estimate among 11 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.48 per share and revenue of $474.21 million. Its adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter climbed 12.3 percent to $57.9 million, versus $51.6 million, in the year-ago quarter Its gross margin widened to 34.7 percent from 34.4 percent. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose $6.3 million from the year-ago quarter to $105.1 million for the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, Fresh Market had $89.4 million in cash and no long-term debt, versus $48.5 million in cash and no long-term debt at the end of fiscal 2014. During the first quarter, the company opened 2 new stores and closed 3 stores. Sean Crane, Interim Chief Executive Officer, said, "We achieved adjusted diluted earnings per share growth of 16.8%, reflecting the expense and operating improvements we have implemented in a challenging environment. These results demonstrate our ability to leverage expenses with relatively flat comparable store sales and we believe this flexibility will enable us to invest in initiatives and help increase customer frequency and attract new customers as we grow our store base and position The Fresh Market for long-term growth." For the year, Fresh Market now projects same-store sales growth of 1 percent to 3 percent. The company expects adjusted earnings of $1.85 to $1.93 per share on total net sales growth of 9.0 percent to 11.0 percent. Fresh Market shares fell 0.06 percent to $33.75 in the after-hours trading session.