Albertsons (ACI) issued a full-year earnings outlook below Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, even though the grocery chain's fiscal fourth-quarter results topped estimates.

Adjusted earnings are anticipated to be in a range of $2.03 to $2.16 a share for fiscal 2025, the company said. The current FactSet consensus is for $2.29. In the previous fiscal year, adjusted EPS fell to $2.34 from $2.88 on an annual basis.

Identical sales are pegged to rise between 1.5% and 2.5% for the ongoing fiscal year, while the Street is looking for an increase of 1.8%. Albertsons recorded identical sales growth of 2% in fiscal 2024.

The stock declined 7.2% in Tuesday trade.

"While fiscal 2025 will be an investment year, beginning in fiscal 2026 we expect to drive growth consistent with our long-term algorithm of (2% plus) identical sales and adjusted (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) growth higher than identical sales growth," incoming Chief Executive Susan Morris said in a statement.

Morris is set to succeed Vivek Sankaran as CEO when he retires from the post, effective May 1. The company expects adjusted EBITDA of $3.8 billion to $3.9 billion for fiscal 2025.

For the three-month period ended Feb. 22, the grocery chain's adjusted EPS declined to $0.46 from $0.54 the year before, but surpassed the average analyst estimate of $0.40. Sales improved to nearly $18.8 billion from $18.34 billion last year, ahead of the Street's view for $18.64 billion.

Identical store sales inclined 2.3% amid strong growth in pharmacy sales, while analysts were expecting a 1.8% increase. Digital sales jumped 24%, according to Albertsons.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on US imports, though he later announced a 90-day pause on certain tariffs for non-retaliating countries. China responded with its own retaliatory duties, and Washington and Beijing have since raised import tariffs on each other's goods.

Investor sentiment on pure play grocers has been "more positive" amid robust grocery trends and lower tariff risks, Oppenheimer said before reciprocal tariffs were announced on April 2.