Whole Foods Market Inc. shares jumped 3.7% in after hours trading Wednesday after third-quarter earnings beat expectations. The healthy food grocer said it had net income of $142 million, or 44 cents per share, down from $158 million, or 44 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was 41 cents per share. Sales totaled $3.70 billion for the quarter, up slightly from $3.65 billion last year. The FactSet consensus was $3.74 billion. Same-store sales decreased 3%, exceeding the FactSet consensus of a 2% decline. The company now expects to be at or below its previous earnings per share and sales guidance for fiscal 2016. Whole Foods sees earnings per share up to $1.53, below the FactSet consensus of $1.55. And the company forecasts a 3% increase in sales, with previous guidance of $15.85 billion on the low end. The FactSet consensus is $15.95 billion. Whole Foods shares are down 14.9% for the year so far while the S&P 500 is up 0.4% for the same period.
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