Kroger Co. (KR) lifted its full-year same-store-sales and earnings outlook after posting second-quarter results that sailed past views. The giant grocer's Q2 earnings soared 25.7% to 44 cents a share, beating estimates by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for 39 cents and marking an acceleration in growth from Q1's 15% gain. Sales rose 0.9% to $25.54 billion, ahead of views for $25.5 billion. Excluding fuel, sales were up 5.7%. Identical supermarket sales, without fuel, jumped 5.3% vs. a year earlier, exceeding the 4.7% gain expected by analysts polled by Consensus Metrix. Based on its strong year-to-date results, Kroger (KR) now sees fiscal 2015 earnings of... More