Winn-Dixie Files for Bankruptcy

Supermarket giant Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., which has struggled to compete with Wal-Mart Supercenters and other grocery chains in the Southeast, said Tuesday it has filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors while it reorganizes its finances. [...] Winn-Dixie and 23 of its U.S. subsidiaries filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 late Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. [...] The Jacksonville-based company also announced Tuesday that it has secured $800 million in credit from Wachovia Bank to help pay for its reorganization, the release said. The new credit amount, subject to court approval, replaces the company's previous $600 million credit line. [...] Winn-Dixie's shares closed Friday at $1.47 on the NYSE and had not opened for trading Tuesday. Its 52-week high was $8.42 per share. [...] Winn-Dixie lost $399.7 million, or $2.84 per share, for the three months ending Jan. 12. That compared with a loss of $79.5 million, or 57 cents per share, for the same quarter last year. Second-quarter revenue was $3.08 billion, compared with $3.23 billion a year ago. Excluding $258 million in restructuring and income tax charges and $72.2 million in expenses related to discontinued operations, the company lost $69.4 million, or 50 cents per share. That exceeded the 11-cents-a-share loss forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Question: why was the loss almost 5 times what the analysts expected? Did they drop the ball? AGAIN?

The article does not mention this, but Winn-Dixie is the 13th largest grocery retailer, with approximately 1150 stores (920 with the Winn-Dixie name and 230 of subsidiaries such as SaveRite) and annual revenues in the $13 billion range.