Albertsons Companies (ACI) upcoming Q2 earnings - Revised take on their expected performance.

It's fairly obvious that Albertsons Companies has gone mostly unnoticed since their IPO in June. As luck would have it EV mania was in full stride and if you weren't a tech company, or working on the next electric-powered anything then you were at best barely noticed. As America's second largest retail grocery chain, ACI has quietly sat in the shadows and has raked in cash, literally.

Not only have they done extremely well as their Q1 earnings prove they were recently awarded Grocery retailer of the year by Supermarket News on July 09 and again on October 16 by Store Brand Magazine. 

In addition to their recent awards Albertsons bought an entire group of stores from a bankrupt east coast chain, and then declared a dividend. All within a week. Albertsons said its "strong and consistent levels of free cash flow" allows it to pay out the dividend. Albertsons 2020 has been adding consistent growth and investor value at a record breaking pace.

For those that haven't already done their Due Diligence on Albertsons Companies, they have increased same-store sales for 10 straight quarters. Yes, even before covid-19. If anything, they have only benefited from the national safety protocols that were put in place along with non-essential business closures, as they were seen as an essential business. Even work from home implementation by thousands of businesses has donated quite heavily to Albertsons Companies bottom line, and as of today it appears they will continue to do so well into 2021.

Forbes has recently stated that Coronavirus has permanently disrupted grocery retail, but in a positive way. The United States Census Bureau just released their Advanced Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services report report which shows and verifies sales just continue to rise. FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EDT, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020

Not only are grocery store chains preparing for a 2nd wave of pandemic shopping now, but according to new data from Lendingtree American consumers’ average weekly grocery spending has increased by 17% since pre-pandemic times, up from $163 to $190. 

Some Grocers report they're starting to see round two of panic shopping reported October 16.

“As of now what we are seeing is the start of the second wave of panic,” said Chris Mentzer, the director of operations for Rastelli Market Fresh in New Jersey. “Our customers keep telling me how they are looking for any type of freezer to purchase so they can start stocking up their homes now. Their main concern is meat." He explained that customers are mainly looking to buy and freeze beef and poultry — ground beef, steaks, roasts and all varieties of chicken.

"They're also starting to buy a lot of frozen meals and frozen pizzas," said Mentzer. "We are seeing anything that can be microwaved quickly or easily made in the oven for kids, fly off the shelves, as people are preparing for schools and colleges to be closed this winter — along with a run on dried goods and paper goods, as well.” Grocers are all too familiar with the increased sales of the upcoming holiday seasons, but when coupled with panic pandemic buying the demand on Grocers to keep adequate supply will be immense.

ACI seems to be prepared to benefit and prosper from the insane demands well into 2021. Remember, Albertsons 2020 is not the same company as they were in 2015 or even 2018. Under their new CEO debt has been reduced by Billions of dollars, that's with a (B), and by restructuring their long term debts while federal interest was at /near zero percent they have become a much leaner, and even more efficient company.

The current PEG ratio that is very popular and most referred to when measuring a company's growth tells a story of huge potential for ACI 2020 investors. With a PEG at 0.40 it's clear that the unnoticed stock is extremely undervalued. For perspective sake, if a company's PEG ratio is 1.0 that would indicate that the price of the stock accurately reflects its growth. So a PEG of 0.50 would indicate an extreme undervalue on share price. Yet, as stated above, ACI has a PEG of 0.40. As Seeking Alpha reports that Albertsons is called an undervalued sleeper by BofA.

Couple all the recent positive catalysts with the fact that Albertsons Companies has seen sales rise over 20% in Q1 and a 275% jump in digital sales since Covid-19 and one can only assume that their earnings report scheduled for October 20, 2020 will be positive. Many investors have either completely overlooked ACI in their chase for the next EV stock to pop or have not done any due diligence on Albertsons Companies of 2020. However, Attentive Investors and Insiders seem to be certain that the path upwards for ACI is coming fast and the potential for $20 plus share price is not only obvious but long overdue.

Reports are indicating that there were more than several insider trading activities at ACI including Sankaran Vivek, who purchased 25,000 shares at the price of $14.74 back on Aug 14 two weeks after the Q1 results on July 27. He seems to be very confident in the fact that shares are still heavily undervalued and will move upwards to a fair value soon. Sankaran Vivek now owns 1,961,782 shares of Albertsons Companies Inc.

The consensus price target by 18 Analysts is $19.38. The high price target is $26.00. From today's entry price of $14.26 a share, this could be a very lucrative opportunity for the increasingly attentive investors that have done their homework on the Albertsons of 2020.