Kroger's deal for Albertsons has major implications across the grocery store sector
jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

The grocery store sector was rocked by Kroger's (NYSE:KR) deal to acquire Albertsons Companies (ACI) in a deal valued at $24.6B.
The combined company will have close to 5K grocery stores and rank only behind Walmart (WMT) in size. Significant synergies and accretion benefits from the deal are anticipated within a few years. 
The deal is one of the biggest in the history of the grocery store industry, but could face a regulatory challenge from a Biden administration that has challenged some mergers.
The initial breakdown from analysts is that the mega-merger could support pricing across the industry, including for Target (TGT) and Costco (COST) without posing a serious threat to market share for many of the major players.
Investors have been looking at other grocery store stocks as well following the deal news. Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) gained 1.16% in premarket trading on Friday to add to Thursday's 4.43% gain.
Other grocery-related stocks that gained on Thursday and could keep pushing higher on Friday include Ingles Markets (IMKTA) +4.41%, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (NGVC) +4.40%, and Grocery Outlet Holding (GO) +3.28%. Notably, food suppliers US Foods (USFD) and Sysco (SYY) also added more than 2%.
Read more details on the Kroger-Albertsons merger.