What happened Shares of United Natural Foods (NYSE: UNFI) were soaring today after the organic and natural food wholesaler smashed earnings estimates in its fourth-quarter earnings report. As of 2:22 p.m. EDT, the stock was up 22.8%. Image source: Getty Images. So what United Natural Foods, which is the biggest supplier to Whole Foods and serves 30,000 other organic grocery stores and conventional supermarkets, said revenue fell 0.5% to $6.74 billion as the company faced difficult comparisons with the year-ago quarter when Americans were avoiding restaurants. On a two-year stacked basis, however, revenue was up 7.5%. That number actually missed expectations at $6.85 billion, and sales in all four of segments except its "Supernatural" segment -- which only includes sales to Whole Foods -- were down. However, investors seemed more focused on the bottom line. Gross margin improved slightly from 14.84% to 14.91%, and adjusted earnings per rose 11% to $1.18, which was well ahead of the analyst consensus at $0.80. New CEO Sandy Douglas said in a statement, "I see significant opportunity to accelerate the value we create with and for our customers as well as the opportunity to make our operations more effective and efficient, both leading to continued profitable growth within our estimated $140 billion addressable market." Now what Investors were also likely impressed with the company's guidance for the current fiscal year. Management called for $27.8 billion to $28.3 billion in revenue, up 4% at the midpoint, and adjusted earnings per share of $3.90 to $4.20, also a 4% increase at the midpoint. Those numbers were better than analyst expectations at $27.81 billion in revenue and $3.38 in adjusted earnings per share. Based on that forecast, United Natural Foods has some appeal as a value stock, trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 12 based on that EPS guidance. 10 stocks we like better than United Natural FoodsWhen our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and United Natural Foods wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of September 17, 2021 John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Jeremy Bowman owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2022 $1,920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1,940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source