Whole Foods Co-CEO: Lots More Metrics To Judge, Not Just Comp Store Sales

Whole Foods Market, Inc. WFM announced mixed quarterly earnings post the market closing on Wednesday night.

Walter Robb, Whole Foods Co-CEO, was on CNBC Thursday to weigh in on the earnings.

Opportunity To Grow

“The comps, definitely we lost momentum in the winter, but if you look at some of that was self-inflicted with our cannibalization,” Robb said. “Some of these big markets, but there’s no question they were little short of expectations. But when you look within the numbers you see 10 percent growth, you see 11 percent square footage growth.”

“You see $1,000 a square foot on the sales and you see 40 new stores coming in this year with a lot of momentum there. So, I think really what you see is a marketplace that’s evolving; Whole Foods is evolving with it.”

He continued, “We continue to think we have the right steps in place to grow the company with our price investments, our technology investments, our marketing investments and we see an opportunity to grow this bigger market with the new, exciting format and brand.”

Comps Not The Only Metric

Robb was asked if market participants are looking at Whole Foods incorrectly by judging the company only through comparable store sales. He replied, “Well, comps has some validity as one metric that makes a difference in terms of your progress and growth year over year.”

“But yes, I think look at the total growth, look at the sales per square foot for they are double the industry average, look at the balance sheet, look at the strength and the vitality of the new store openings of 40 a year. There’s lots more metrics to judge this company by as opposed to just the comp store sales,” Robb said.