Should I Buy ACI? ACI 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Albertsons Companies Inc (ACI) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Hold

Latest Price

18.090

1 Day change

1.69%

52 Week Range

23.040

Analysis Updated At

2026/02/04

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Not a good buy right now for an impatient entry: the broader trend is still bearish (SMA_200 > SMA_20 > SMA_5) and price is sitting near resistance after a strong up day.
Options positioning is call-heavy on open interest (bullish), but near-term options volume is muted, suggesting limited urgency/conviction today.
Fundamentals show slowing profitability (EPS, net income, and gross margin down YoY), which caps upside despite modest revenue growth.
Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals
- AI Stock Picker: No signal on given stock today.
- SwingMax: No signal on given stock today.

Technical Analysis

Trend/MAs: Bearish moving-average stack (SMA_200 > SMA_20 > SMA_5) indicates the primary trend is still down despite the latest bounce.
Momentum: MACD histogram is positive and expanding (0.0233), implying improving short-term momentum.
RSI: RSI_6 at 68.75 is near the high end of neutral (close to overbought), suggesting upside may be harder immediately after the recent pop.
Levels: Price 17.45 is above Pivot 16.963 and slightly above R1 17.402, but below R2 17.673—i.e., trading in a near-term resistance zone where pullbacks often occur.
Pattern-based forward look (given): ~40% chance of -0.87% next day, but +2.31% next week and +2.51% next month (mildly constructive beyond the very near term).

Options Data

Bullish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Positioning (OI): Put/Call OI ratio of 0.23 is strongly call-skewed, typically a bullish sentiment signal.
Activity (Volume): Put/Call volume ratio of 0.82 is closer to balanced and not strongly bullish; overall volume is light versus average (today ~20% of 30-day avg), implying no big crowding into a new directional bet today.
Volatility: 30D IV ~31.5 vs HV ~43.0 suggests options are not pricing extreme movement relative to realized; IV percentile ~68.8 indicates IV is elevated versus its recent distribution (options are not “cheap”).

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

- Defensive category (food retail) can attract flows when the broader market is weak (S&P 500 down -0.85% today).
- Business drivers cited by analysts: continued growth in digital and pharmacy and sequential improvement in core grocery units.
- Potential macro tailwind flagged by Deutsche Bank: possible stimulus effects in 1H 2026 could support consumer spending.
- Most Street ratings remain constructive (multiple Buy/Outperform) with targets generally above the current price (~$20–$23 vs $17.45).

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Profitability is trending down YoY (net income, EPS, and gross margin all declined), increasing the risk that the stock struggles to sustain rallies.
- Industry setup: sluggish volumes and food disinflation pressures (noted by BMO/Deutsche) can weigh on comps and margins.
- Analyst price targets were broadly cut on 2026-01-08 (even among bulls), signaling tempered upside expectations.
- Technical backdrop remains bearish on longer moving averages; current price is near resistance (R2 ~17.67), raising near-term pullback risk.

Financial Performance

Latest quarter: 2026/Q3.
Revenue: $19.12B, +1.86% YoY (low growth, but positive).
Net income: $293.3M, -26.78% YoY (meaningful deterioration).
EPS: $0.55, -20.29% YoY (earnings pressure).
Gross margin: 27.45%, down 1.75% YoY (margin compression is the key negative trend).

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent trend: a cluster of firms lowered price targets on 2026-01-08 (BMO $23 from $25, UBS $23 from $25, Telsey $22 from $24, BofA $20 from $22, Barclays $17 from $19) — sentiment is still mostly constructive, but expectations have been reset downward.
Ratings mix: Bulls remain (BMO/UBS/Telsey Buy/Outperform), but there is notable caution (BofA Neutral, Deutsche Hold, Barclays Underweight).
Wall Street “pros” view: improving initiatives (digital/pharmacy, productivity, customer engagement) and mostly higher targets than spot.
Wall Street “cons” view: sluggish volumes, disinflation/value-focused consumer, and profitability/margin pressure; the PT cuts reinforce these concerns.
Influential trading check: Hedge funds and insiders show Neutral trend; no recent Congress trading data available.

16 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast ACI stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ACI is 22.27 USD with a low forecast of 17 USD and a high forecast of 29 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

10 Buy

5 Hold

1 Sell

Moderate Buy

Current: 17.790

Low

Averages

22.27

High

Current: 17.790

Low

Averages

22.27

High

BMO Capital

Outperform

NULL

downgrade

$25 -> $23

AI Analysis

2026-01-08

Reason

BMO Capital

Price Target

$25 -> $23

AI Analysis

2026-01-08

downgrade

Outperform

NULL

Reason

BMO Capital lowered the firm's price target on Albertsons to $23 from $25 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. Sluggish industry volumes overshadowed an otherwise solid Q3 for Albertsons, marked by a modest improvement in grocery market share trends, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

UBS

Mark Carden

Buy

downgrade

$25 -> $23

2026-01-08

Reason

UBS

Mark Carden

Price Target

$25 -> $23

2026-01-08

downgrade

Buy

Reason

UBS analyst Mark Carden lowered the firm's price target on Albertsons to $23 from $25 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares.

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ACI Should I Buy

ACI Should I Buy

Should You Buy Albertsons Companies Inc (ACI) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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