Robust Margin Boosted The Kroger Company (KR) Performance

Robust Margin Boosted The Kroger Company (KR) Performance Soumya Eswaran Tue, May 12, 2026 at 7:57 PM GMT+7 3 min read KR Jensen Investment Management, an asset management company based in the US, released its first-quarter 2025 investor letter for the “Jensen Quality Mid Cap Fund”. A copy of the letter is available to download here. The Jensen Quality Mid Cap Fund aims for long-term growth. The Fund returned -2.53% in Q1 2026, lagging the 0.60% return for the MSCI US Mid Cap 450 Index. Mid-cap stocks were flat in the quarter due to inflation, war, high energy prices, and cautious consumer spending. Rapid AI investment growth impacted the Index, boosting some stocks but hurting others, especially software and business services stocks facing AI disruption concerns. Energy stocks surged after the Iran War, challenging performance. The fund s process focuses on high-quality companies with a 15%+ ROE for ten years, indicating sustained advantages. Quarterly performance benefited from underweights in the Financials and Communications Services and higher exposure to the Industrials sector, while underweight exposure in the Energy and Utilities sectors and overweight in Consumer Discretionary hurt performance. Please review the Fund’s top five holdings to gain insights into their key selections for 2026.

In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Jensen Quality Mid Cap Fund highlighted The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) as a leading contributor. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is one of the leading supermarket operators in the United States. On May 11, 2026, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) closed at $64.80 per share. One-month return of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) was -3.56%, and its shares lost 3.99% over the past 52 weeks. The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) has a market capitalization of $41.01 billion.

Jensen Quality Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in its Q1 2026 investor letter: