By Senad Karaahmetovic
Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) delivered better-than-expected results to send its shares higher in pre-market Wednesday.
The company reported EPS of $0.80 on revenue of $2.49 billion, beating the consensus for earnings of $0.74 per share on sales of $2.44B. Organic net sales rose 13% year-over-year.
“The momentum of our business continued as we delivered double-digit sales and earnings per share growth for a second consecutive quarter. While the top line benefited from favorable net price realization, we also continued to see strong brand health,” said Campbell's President and CEO, Mark Clouse.
Campbell Soup raised its full-year guidance. It now expects FY EPS to come in the range of $2.95-$3.00, in-line with the consensus of $2.99 per share. Net sales are seen rising 8.5-10%.
“We are confident in our ability to deliver strong performance for the full year as reflected in our updated fiscal 2023 guidance.”
Goldman Sachs analysts believe the magnitude of today’s beat may not be enough for the market.
“Beats have been common in Food this earnings season and we believe it was expected here. As such, we believe results were no better than expected while we view the guidance as somewhat disappointing given the 2H implications. We would expect the stock to fade any strength on the back of the headline beat,” they wrote in a note.
Stifel analysts are more positive on CPB stock.
“We expect shares to trade modestly higher today reflecting the stronger quarter and raised outlook, however, we note that our FY23 EPS estimate stands above the company’s guidance range and consensus is currently at the high end of the range suggesting estimates are likely to remain mostly unchanged,” they said.