New York — Kroger Co., battered for months by intense grocery competition as Amazon.com muscles into the industry, has finally given investors cause for optimism.
The supermarket giant kicked off its biggest rally in more than two years after saying it might sell its convenience-store business, an attempt to capitalize on a merger wave in that field. The $1.4 billion operation, which spans 18 states, includes names such as Tom Thumb and QuickStop.
Kroger is evaluating operations at a time when Amazon.com is pushing into the supermarket business with its $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods. The outlook for groceries, already a low-margin business, has been further complicated by the recent arrival from Europe of low-cost competitors Aldi and Lidl.
