Kroger Co.: Grow or Expire; Thoughts on the Giant Eagle Deal

Research evidence excerpt

Kroger Co.: Grow or Expire; Thoughts on the Giant Eagle Deal

Equity Research

U.S. Broadlines, Hardlines & Food Retail

1 July 2026

Kroger Co.

Grow or Expire; Thoughts on the

Giant Eagle Deal

KR announced the acquisition of Giant Eagle, bringing $9bn KR EQUAL WEIGHT

NEUTRALof mostly incremental revenue, and consistent with its focus U.S.FoodBroadlines,Retail Hardlines &

on getting back to growth. On paper it makes sense, but we Price Target USD 61.00

don't see it as a needle mover, and our focus remains on a Price (30-Jun-26) USD 55.53 Potential Upside/Downside +9.9%

Source: Bloomberg, Barclays Researchbigger turnaround ahead.

Our message: Strategically we believe that this deal has its merits as we discuss; there is a value U.S. Broadlines, Hardlines & Food

creation story on paper for the acquired business, and it helps KR expand its TAM incl. into new Retail

Seth Sigmanmarkets. That said KR is still early in its own turnaround, which we believe matters more. In our

+1 212 526 7417

view, the deal is neutral to 2027 with more synergy work in 2028+ but also requires investments.

seth.sigman@barclays.com

KR has maintained its confidence around offsets to the many investments it's making and BCI, US

confirmed that with this deal as well, but we believe that is among the key debates in the

Oliver Humarket.

+1 212 526 6180

1. Low store overlap (just around 10%) means this is likely more about strategic growth than oliver.hu@barclays.com

BCI, USmarket consolidation, which should also make it cleaner from a regulatory perspective.

Serena E Shalam

2. We believe KR could look to do other similar deals opportunistically focused on new market +1 212 526 3492

expansion. serena.shalam@barclays.com

BCI, US

3.