NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Kroger Co. (KR) - Get Report is scheduled to release its 2014 fourth quarter earnings results before the market open on Thursday morning.

Analysts are expecting the retail food and drug stores company to post a year-over-year increase in earnings and total sales for the most recent quarter.

Kroger has been forecast to report earnings of 90 cents per share on revenue of $25.13 billion for the fiscal 2014 fourth quarter.

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Last year Kroger said its fiscal 2013 fourth quarter adjusted earnings were 78 cents per share and total sales were $23.2 billion.

Shares of Kroger are lower by 1.20% to $69.14 at the start of trading on Wednesday morning.

In addition to its food and drug store business Kroger also operates multi-department stores, jewelry stores, and convenience stores across the U.S.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates KROGER CO as a Buy with a ratings score of A+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate KROGER CO (KR) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• KR's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 2.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 11.2%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• Powered by its strong earnings growth of 28.07% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 80.08% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, KR should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
• KROGER CO has improved earnings per share by 28.1% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, KROGER CO increased its bottom line by earning $2.90 versus $2.77 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($3.39 versus $2.90).
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Food & Staples Retailing industry average. The net income increased by 21.1% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $299.00 million to $362.00 million.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly increased by 136.51% to $719.00 million when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, KROGER CO has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 37.87%.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: KR Ratings Report