New York, Feb 24, 2026, 08:31 (ET) — Premarket
- SFM tacked on about 0.3% in premarket moves after a jump of nearly 6% at Monday’s close.
- The company is signaling weaker comparable sales for early 2026, but it’s ramping up share buybacks.
- A management shakeup brings in fresh faces to lead merchandising and customer divisions.
Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. edged 0.3% higher in premarket action Tuesday, priced at $71.71. The stock finished Monday at $71.50, up roughly 6% for the session. (Investing)
The stock’s reaction comes as expectations for 2026 get a shakeup. “We are not happy with how the year finished,” Chief Executive Jack Sinclair told investors during the earnings call. The grocer is working to steady customer visits and is putting more weight on loyalty and value efforts. (Grocerydive)
Sprouts’ Feb. 19 filing showed a fourth-quarter net sales increase of 8% to $2.1 billion, with diluted earnings per share at $0.92. For the full year, sales jumped 14% to $8.8 billion, and diluted EPS hit $5.31. The grocer projected first-quarter comparable sales to slip between 3% and 1%, while guiding for full-year diluted EPS in a range of $5.28 to $5.44 on a 52-week basis. Plans call for more than 40 new store openings. Looking ahead, fiscal 2026 brings a 53rd week, likely adding about $0.21 to EPS. Sprouts announced a $1 billion share buyback after repurchasing $472 million of stock in 2025. But Chief Financial Officer Curtis Valentine flagged “challenges in 2026, especially in the first half.” (SEC)
Sprouts tapped Don Clark for chief merchandising officer and brought on Amanda “Mandy” Rassi as its inaugural chief customer officer, filling spots as Scott Neal prepares to retire. President and COO Nick Konat described the hires as “very excited to welcome” both leaders, nodding to the grocer’s bigger play around personalization and loyalty. (Sprouts)
U.S. stock futures picked up a bit after Monday’s rough session, as worries over tariffs and renewed anxieties about artificial intelligence spending kept traders on edge. With the mood this unsettled, investors haven’t hesitated to hit stocks with weak guidance, including some retailers typically seen as safer bets. (Reuters)
Investors watch comparable store sales—sales from stores open at least a year—as a quick gauge for traffic and pricing. Once that figure drops below zero, those fixed costs start to sting, and quickly.
Sprouts operates in a heavily competitive space. The chain’s footprint is more modest compared to giants like Walmart and Kroger. But when it comes to affluent customers, Sprouts is up against upscale players, including Whole Foods—owned by Amazon—where both selection and prices can shift from week to week.
During the earnings call, management highlighted “EBIT margin pressure of approximately 85 basis points” expected in the first quarter. EBIT refers to earnings before interest and taxes, with a basis point equal to 0.01 percentage point. (The Motley Fool)
Buybacks might prop up per-share numbers, but they leave the real demand issue unresolved. Should trip volumes keep falling into spring, shares that rallied on “less bad than feared” could just as swiftly reverse course.
The key date ahead: Sprouts plans to file its proxy statement for the 2026 annual meeting within 120 days of its fiscal year end, which puts the cutoff at April 27. Traders have their sights set on the next quarterly numbers—traffic and margins both in focus—especially after management flagged a choppy start to the year. (Cloudfront)
