Performance Food Group lifts Q2 2024 results, surpasses expectations

Performance Food Group Inc., which owns Vistar Corp., the nationwide vending product warehouse distributor, lifted its sales and earnings for Q2 2024 over the prior year period, according to an earnings report. Highlights include:

• Net sales grew 2.9% from $13.9 billion in Q2 2023 to $14.3 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 30, 2023. Organic case volume benefited 8.7% from growth in Performance Brands cases and in cases sold to foodservice businesses and broad-based growth across Vistar's channels.
• Net income rose from $71.1 million to $78.3 million in the comparative quarters, primarily a result of the $29.9 million increase in operating profit, partially offset by an increase in income tax expense, other expense and interest expense.
• EPS rose from 46 cents to 51 cents on a basic basis and from 46 cents to 50 cents on a diluted basis.
• Adjusted diluted EPS rose 8.4% to 90 cents.
• Net sales for foodservice increased 2.6% to $7.1 billion, driven by case volume growth, partially offset by a decrease in selling price per case.
• Net sales for Vistar increased 7.4% to $1.2 billion, driven primarily by an increase in selling price per case as a result of inflation and a recent acquisition, as well as case volume growth.
• Convenience store sales increased 1.3% to $5.9 billion, driven primarily by an increase in selling price per case as a result of a cigarette manufacturers' price increases and continued inflation for food and foodservice related products, partially offset by a decline in cigarette carton sales and food and foodservice related cases sold.

Shares traded today at $71.49 against a 52-week range of $52.32 to $74.74.

The $14.3 billion in quarterly revenue beat analyst expectations by $20 million and the non-GAAP EPS of 90 cents missed expectations by 2 cents, according to Seeking Alpha.

"Our strong business momentum continued through the fiscal second quarter, producing solid top and bottom-line results for our company," George Holm, PFG's chairman and CEO, said in the press release. "Our company benefitted from outstanding organic independent case growth, leading to another quarter of strong market share gains. Solid execution across our business segments, along with positive mix shift and broad channel growth, led to margin expansion and strong cash flow generation."

For the third quarter of fiscal 2024, the company expects net sales to be in a range of $14 billion to $14.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be in a range of $310 million to $330 million.

For the full fiscal year, the company continues to expect net sales to be in a range of $59 billion to $60 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be at the upper end of the previously announced $1.45 billion to $1.5 billion range.