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Campbell Soup 4Q Earnings
The world's largest soup maker, Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) announced before the opening bell that the company's profits during the 4Q slipped more than 20%, including one-time charges. Campbell's results were greatly affected by the increased strength of the U.S. Dollar, as well as the aforementioned charges.
For the quarter, Campbell reported net earnings of $69M, or $0.20 per share, in contrast to the previous year's profits during the 4Q of $89M, or $0.24 per share, a decrease in net income of more than 22% year-over-year.
Excluding the company's one-time charges, which related to losses in commodity hedging and impairments involving European trademarks, Campbell Soup would have posted a quarterly profit of $107M, or $0.30 per share, an 11% increase over last year's adjusted income of $96M.
Quarterly sales faltered over the past three months as well, falling from $1.7B a year ago to $1.53B, a drop in revenues of 10% year-over-year.
On average, analysts within the industry were looking for the maker of condensed soups and Prego pasta sauces to record quarterly earnings of $0.26 per share on total revenues of $1.52B.
Working as a manufacturer and marketer of branded food products, Campbell Soup operates in four distinct business segments, U.S. Soup, Sauces, and Beverages, Baking and Snacking, International Soup, Sauces, and Beverages and North America Foodservice.
Sales within these segments all contracted during the 4Q, as U.S. Soup, Sauces and Beverages' revenues dipped to $650M from $673M, a 3.4% decline. Baking and Snacking sales were at $466M, down from $533M a year ago, a 12.6% plunge.
Meanwhile, International Soup, Sauces and Beverages posted sales of $289M versus $362M last year, a 20.2% retreat. Lastly, at the North America Foodservice division, overall sales decreased to $123M, a 16.3% drop from $147M in the previous year.
Results for the fiscal year 2009, Campbell Soup booked net profits of $736M, or $2.06 per share, compared to 2008 fiscal earnings of $1.17B, or $3.06 per share. Sales year-over-year fell from $8B in 2008 to $7.59B in 2009, a 5% decline.
Analysts were looking for an annual profit of $2.17 per share on $7.59B in overall sales from CPB.
On an adjusted basis, the company's yearly comparisons were much more comparable, as 2009 results showed net profits of $794M, or $2.22 per share, versus 2008 results of $797M, or $2.09 per share.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2010, CPB is expecting earnings on an adjusted basis to increase between 5% and 7% from the company's yearly earnings of $2.22 per share as reported for fiscal 2009. Those forecasts would equate to earnings coming in between a range of $2.33 to $2.38 per share.
Annual revenues, on the other hand, are projected to increase on a yearly basis between 3% and 4% on 2008 sales totals of $7.59B. In the meantime, analysts are looking for 2010 fiscal earnings from Campbell Soup to come in at $2.31 per share with overall revenues coming in at $7.88B.
By the sound of the closing bell on September 11, shares of CPB advanced marginally, adding $0.01 to end the week at $33.13 per share. During the past year, the company's stock has reached a high of $40.85 per share, while hitting a low of $24.63 per share.
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