Analyst sees Whole Foods primed to make acquisitions
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Supermarket News] - December 19, 2014 -
Whole Foods Market next year will use its might to absorb competitors in the rapidly growing health and wellness field, according to stock analyst Charles Grom of Sterne Agee.
“We think conditions are ideal for [Whole Foods] to go on an acquisition spree in 2015,” Grom wrote while speculating on 10 predictions for the retail space in the coming year. Grom cited the growing number of competitors crowding the natural/organic space; the falling valuation of Whole Foods stock in recent years; and a “debt-free, robust balance sheet,” that could allow Austin, Texas-based chain to buy a rival if it wanted one.
Grom speculated that potential candidates include privately held Earth Fare, Fletcher, N.C. as well as Fairway Markets, a New York-based specialty player. Intensifying competition in the natural space was also behind Grom’s prediction that The Fresh Market, Greensboro, N.C., tempers in its growth plans next year so as to further concentrate growth on the East Coast.
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