Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM): Today's Featured Retail Winner

Whole Foods Market (WFM) pushed the Retail industry higher today making it today's featured retail winner. The industry as a whole closed the day up 0.3%. By the end of trading, Whole Foods Market rose 95 cents (1%) to $94.66 on light volume. Throughout the day, 944,565 shares of Whole Foods Market exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of two million shares. The stock ranged in a price between $93.43-$94.82 after having opened the day at $93.78 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $93.71. Other companies within the Retail industry that increased today were: QKL Stores (QKLS), up 24.9%, dELiA*s (DLIA), up 9.2%, BioScrip (BIOS), up 8.7%, and Pacific Sunwear (PSUN), up 7.6%.

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Whole Foods Market, Inc. engages in the ownership and operation of natural and organic food supermarkets. The company offers produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, coffee and tea, nutritional supplements, and vitamins. Whole Foods Market has a market cap of $17.34 billion and is part of the services sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 40.1, equal to the average retail industry P/E ratio and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 35% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 15 analysts that rate Whole Foods Market a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and eight rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Whole Foods Market as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company is trading at a premium valuation based on our review of its current price compared to such things as earnings and book value.

• You can view the full Whole Foods Market Ratings Report.

On the negative front, Vitacost.com (VITC), down 6.1%, Christopher & Banks Corporation (CBK), down 5.3%, Advance Auto Parts (AAP), down 3.8%, and Citi Trends (CTRN), down 3.7%, were all laggards within the retail industry with Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR) being today's retail industry laggard.

• Use our retail section to find industry-relevant news.
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For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the retail industry could consider SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) while those bearish on the retail industry could consider ProShares Ultra Sht Consumer Goods (SZK).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on Whole Foods Market Inc. click any of the following:

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Stock Price

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Earnings

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Growth Rates

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Balance Sheet

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Cash Flow

• Whole Foods Market Inc. Income Statement