April 14 (Reuters) - Albertsons forecast its annual sales below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, pointing to pressure on demand from fierce competition with bigger rivals, including Walmart and Amazon.com.
Shares of the Boise, Idaho-based grocer were down 2% in premarket trading. They had declined nearly 13% in 2025.
Larger rivals, including Walmart, Target and Kroger, have been slashing prices on essentials to lure in increasingly value-conscious shoppers, putting pressure on Albertsons to offer
affordable groceries.
The grocer, which also operates hundreds of gas stations, faces further risks as the Iran conflict fuels higher gasoline prices, weighing on already cautious consumer spending.
In the fourth quarter, Albertsons posted a net loss of $480.8 million compared with a profit of $171.8 million a year ago, as it accounted for charges from opioid-related claims.
Albertsons said on Tuesday it would pay out $774 million over nine years to resolve thousands of lawsuits by U.S. states, local governments and Native American tribes claiming the supermarket chain's pharmacies helped fuel the nation's opioid epidemic.
The company's fourth-quarter adjusted profit of 48 cents per share, however, beat analysts' average estimate of 43 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.
It expects fiscal 2026 identical sales growth in the range of flat to 1% rise, compared with the estimate of a 1.58% increase.
Albertsons also expects annual adjusted profit in the range of $2.22 to $2.32 per share, with the midpoint slightly below the estimate of $2.28.
Rival Kroger forecast muted annual sales and profit in March as the grocer plans to reinvest cost savings into lower prices and improve delivery service.
(Reporting by Sanskriti Shekhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
