(Photo courtesy of Sprouts Farmers Market)

The produce section of a Sprouts store.

Phoenix-based Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. took a beating on Wall Street on Friday following the release of its second-quarter earnings and announcement of a new CEO.

During after-hours trading Thursday, the natural food grocer disclosed a 21 percent year-over-year jump in revenue to $902.2 million, a figure that exceeded analyst expectations.

The company also disclosed that Chief Financial Officer Amid Maredia had been promoted to president and CEO, replacing Doug Sanders, who transitioned to executive chairman of the board after a 13-year tenure.

That, however, was overshadowed by Sprouts executives’ discussion about rising competition in the natural food industry, and decision to therefore lower the outlook for its earnings-per-share performance this year.

That drove stock prices down by 11.62 percent by the end of trading day on Friday to $20.77 per share, only $.02 above the new 52-week low that was reached earlier that day. Some analysts also cut their price outlooks for the company while others downgraded their stock ratings.

Jim Nielsen, Sprouts’ chief operating officer, said during an earnings call with analysts that competition isn’t necessarily coming from its specialty-store competitors.

“It's primarily coming from our conventional competitors,” Nielsen said.