SpartanNash (SPTN) ranked fifth among U.S. food distributors has issued warrants to an Amazon subsidiary, NV Investment Holdings covering 5.4 million shares valued at $96.4 million. This potentially makes Amazon the largest single investor in SpartanNash. The Company has signed a long-term agreement with Amazon for distribution and logistics.
The Company operates twelve grocery and seven military DCs in addition to 155 supermarkets in nine states. The SpartanNash distribution network includes 2,100 independent grocers.
SpartanNash (SPTN) has a market capitalization of $737million and trades with a forward P/E of 9.9. The company has traded over the past 52-weeks from $9.00 to $23.94 with a 50-day moving average of $17.95. The company has recorded a trailing 12-month operating margin of 1.1 percent and a profit margin of 0.5 percent. Return on assets attained 2.6 percent and on equity 7.0 percent. Announcement of the Amazon warrant resulted in $4.25 increase in share price at the opening on Friday October 9th. This must have stung short speculators since 10.5 percent of the float was short as of September 30th. At close of trading on October 14th SPTN traded at $20.36.