Performance Food Group reports solid Q4, FY 2023 results

Performance Food Group, which owns Vistar Corp., the nationwide vending product warehouse distributor, lifted its Q4 and FY 2023 results boosted by price increases while last year's acquisition of Core-Mark Holding Co. positively affected full year gains, according to an earnings release.

Highlights include:

• Net sales grew 1.9% from $14.6 billion in Q4 2022 to $14.9 billion for the quarter ending July 1, 2023, primarily attributable to channel mix, growth in cases sold and an increase in selling price per case as a result of inflation.
• Net income rose from $76 million to $150.1 million in the comparative quarters.
• EPS rose from 50 cents to 97 cents on a basic basis and from 49 cents to 96 cents on a diluted basis in the comparative quarters.
• Adjusted diluted EPS rose from $1.07 to $1.14 in the comparative quarters.
• Net sales for Vistar increased 18.3% to $1.2 billion in the comparative quarters driven primarily by an increase in selling price per case as a result of inflation and channel mix, as well as case volume growth.
• For the full year, net sales grew 12.5% from $50.9 billion in fiscal 2022 to $57.3 billion in 2023, primarily attributable to the acquisition of Core-Mark Holding Co. Inc. in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and an increase in selling price per case due to inflation and channel mix.
• EPS rose from 75 cents to $2.58 on a basic basis and from 74 cents to $2.54 on a diluted basis for the comparative years.
• Adjusted diluted EPS rose from $2.60 to $3.88 in the comparative years.

Shares traded at $62.47 today against a 52-week range of $42.77 to $63.22.

The $14.9 billion in quarterly revenue missed analyst expectations by $170 million while the non-GAAP EPS of $1.14 met expectations, according to Seeking Alpha.

"PFG closed out fiscal 2023 with strong financial results and solid momentum as our organization continues to execute at a high level," George Holm, chairman and CEO, said in the press release. "Our company is seeing broad-based strength across all three reportable segments, particularly in our high margin, high return businesses."

For the fiscal first quarter of 2024, PFG expects net sales to be in a range of $14.7 billion to $15 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be in a range of $360 million to $380 million.

For the full fiscal year 2024, PFG expects net sales to be in a range of $59 billion to $60 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be in a range of $1.45 billion to $1.5 billion.