Sprouts posts $2.3B Q1 sales

Grocery earnings can look boring — until they tell you what shoppers are actually doing. Sprouts just posted first-quarter 2026 sales of $2.33 billion, up 4% from a year earlier, but the more revealing number was a 1.7% drop in comparable-store sales. Basically, the chain sold more because it has more stores, not because existing stores got busier. Even so, Sprouts raised its full-year earnings outlook, which tells you management thinks this softer patch is manageable, not a breakdown. (investors.sprouts.com) ### What did Sprouts actually report? For the 13 weeks ended March 29, 2026, Sprouts said diluted EPS was $1.71, down from $1.81 a year ago. The company opened six new stores in the quarter and ended March with 483 stores across 25 states. It also generated $235 million in operating cash flow, spent $98 million on capital expenditures, and repurchased 1.9 million shares for about $140 million. (investors.sprouts.com) ### Why were sales up if comps were down? New stores did the heavy lifting. That is the cleanest way to read the quarter. Sprouts is still opening locations at a fast clip, so total revenue can rise even when existing stores are a bit softer. Management also pointed to a cautious consumer backdrop and tough comparisons with early 2025, when results were(investors.sprouts.com)— it just ran into a harder comparison base. (investors.sprouts.com) ### Why did investors still like it? Because the quarter landed roughly where Sprouts had guided, and the company nudged full-year EPS guidance higher. Back in February, Sprouts guided to 2026 diluted EPS of $5.28 to $5.44. After this report, that moved up to $5.32 to $5.48. For a retailer dealing with negative comps, that is the key signal — margins and execution look solid enough to offset slower traffic. (investors.sprouts.com) ### What is Sprouts doing to protect growth? The company is leaning into things that make Sprouts feel different from a standard supermarket. Management highlighted customer engagement, “foraging and discovery,” and supply-chain work. In plainer English, Sprouts wants shoppers comin(investors.sprouts.com)loyalty data and more targeted value on essential items instead of broad discounting. (investors.sprouts.com) ### Is private label part of the story? Yes — and it matters more in a cautious spending environment. Sprouts said its own brand is growing faster than the overall business and now makes up 26% of sales. That is useful because store brands can do two jobs at once: give shoppers a cheaper option and give the retailer better economics. When customers are selective, that mix shift can help stabilize margins. (finance.yahoo.com) ### What about e-commerce and expansion? E-commerce grew 10% and reached 16% of sales, which matters because Sprouts sees digital as a customer-acquisition tool for higher-value omnichannel shoppers. Expansion is still the bigger engine, though. Sprouts expects 40-plus new stores in 2026, has nearly 150 approved stores in the pipeline(finance.yahoo.com)ke Long Island. (investors.sprouts.com) ### What is the catch? The second quarter could still look soft. Sprouts guided comp sales to a range of down 2% to flat, and management flagged margin pressure from fixed-cost deleverage, loyalty investments, and higher fuel costs. So this is not a clean acceleration story yet. It is more like a retailer trying to grow through a consumer slowdown without panicking on price. (investors.sprouts.com) ### Bottom line? Sprouts showed that a specialty grocer can keep expanding even when shoppers get choosy. But the quarter also made the tradeoff clear — right now, growth is coming more from new stores, private label, and tighter execution than from broad-based demand. (investors.sprouts.com)