Company Reports

United Natural Foods (UNFI) is a leading grocery wholesaler with $31 billion in sales, up from $10 billion in 2018. Its 2019 SuperValu deal expanded its natural and organic focus into conventional grocery, but thin margins and stiff competition are pushing management to improve efficiency.

We see little evidence that United Natural Foods (UNFI) has built a durable edge in the operationally challenging wholesale grocery distribution sector. Indeed, competitors offer similar, largely commoditized or nationally branded products, while UNFI’s scaled customers wield enormous bargaining power by threat of in-house distribution. This leaves the company pinned against a difficult backdrop, with little differentiation and limited ability to capitalize on its scale, despite growing sales through acquisitions to $31.2 billion in fiscal 2026 from just over $9 billion in fiscal 2017. Even so, we believe the firm’s emphasis on on-trend natural and organic products (53% of sales), combined with sound operational and service investments, should drive near-term growth, with our five-year sales growth estimate of 3% in line with our 3% estimate for the broader grocery industry.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFM, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

We are placing United Natural Foods UNFI under review as we reassess our operating assumptions for the firm.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFM, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFM, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFM, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFM, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFMI, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFMI, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFMI, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFMI, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFMI, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods' UNFI second-quarter earnings results confirm our expectation that the firm will gain new customers at the expense of margins. Our fair value estimate is unchanged.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFMI, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.

United Natural Foods' UNFI first-quarter results confirm our view that the firm can expand by increasing its presence in specialty foods and with conventional grocers. Our fair value estimate is unchanged.

United Natural Foods is the largest nationwide distributor of natural and organic products. Given its strength over the competition, we believe that the firm is well-positioned to continue to benefit from consumers' increasing desire for natural and organic products. UNFI's prospects are tempered, in our view, by the increasing power wielded by large retailers in the industry, especially Whole Foods WFMI, and operational hiccups that have led to inconsistent performance.