United Natural Foods Beats Q4 EPS, Posts EBITDA Surge, Guides FY27 Sales Below Estimates

UNFI beat on the bottom line in fiscal Q4, reporting adjusted earnings of $0.69 a share against a consensus near $0.62, on revenue of $7.64 billion versus expectations of roughly $7.71 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose about 48% year on year, and the company reduced net debt over the period.

The guidance is where the story turns. UNFI set fiscal 2027 net sales at $31.2 billion to $31.8 billion, below the consensus in the high $31 billion range, with adjusted EPS of $3.00 to $3.50 against a street figure of roughly $3.21. A margin-led beat paired with a soft top-line guide is a recognisable pattern for a distributor: cost discipline is working faster than volume is recovering.

A note on the consensus numbers themselves. Different aggregators publish materially different estimates for this name, with revenue consensus quoted anywhere from $7.69 billion to $7.71 billion and FY27 EPS consensus from $3.21 to $3.31. The beat and the guidance shortfall hold under any of them, but the precise size of each depends on which provider you read.

The 48% EBITDA increase is the number that deserves the most scrutiny, because for a business operating on distribution margins measured in low single digits, a swing of that magnitude usually reflects a specific driver rather than broad operating leverage. What to watch: whether management attributes it to durable cost programs or to comparisons against a weak prior-year quarter, whether net debt reduction continues at this pace, and whether the FY27 sales guide proves conservative once volume trends are visible in the first quarter.

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