Consumer Staples

PepsiCo, Inc.(NASDAQ:PEP) shares are trading lower on Friday in the premarket session following the fourth quarter and full-year 2023 results. The company reported fourth-quarter FY23 sales of $27.85 billion, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $28.40 billion. Sales declined 0.5% on a year-over-year basis. Operating profits at Quaker Foods North America and PepsiCo Beverages North America fell 79% and 27%, respectively, weighing on quarterly performance. The company reported adjusted EPS of $1.78 in the fourth quarter, beating the street view of $1.72. “Moving forward, we will further sharpen our focus on providing consumers great-tasting products that offer convenience and compelling value,” said Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta. Gross profit increased 1.2% year over year to $14.75 billion, while operating profit almost doubled on year to $1.68 billion. “We will also aggressively manage our costs to accelerate productivity, and invest more in our brands, innovation, channel expansion and pep+ transformation,” Laguarta added. As

PepsiCo Sees 2024 Core Constant Currency EPS Up 8% at Least.

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: We lower our 12-month target by $10 to $200, based on a 2025 P/E of 22.5x, a discount to its 5-year mean forward P/E of 24.4x. We raise our adjusted EPS estimates by $0.05 to $8.15 for ’24 and by $0.15 to $8.90 for ’25. PEP posts Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.78 vs. $1.67 (+9%), six cents ahead of consensus. The beat was driven by a lower-than-expected tax rate, as net revenue fell 0.5% to $27.85B ($520M short of consensus) as volumes fell across both the Convenient Foods (-3%) and Beverages (-2%) categories. Gross margin expanded 90 bps to 53.0% (20 bps below consensus). PEP introduced full year EPS guidance of approximately $8.15, in line with consensus and implying 7% growth from the $7.62 earned in ’23.

PepsiCo’s (PEP) current earnings per share guidance of at least $8.15 for 2024 “has room for upside” as commodity costs normalize and productivity increases, Wedbush said in a note Monday. The firm said it increased its EPS forecast for the food and beverage company to $8.15 from $8.13 and cut its reported revenue estimate to $94.45 billion from $96.40 billion for 2024 to take into account PepsiCo’s updated outlook. For 2025, the firm expects the company to have EPS of $8.87 on revenue of $99.03 billion. “The company should have a path to deliver on their long-term targets coming off three consecutive years of robust top and bottom line growth,” Wedbush said. Wedbush maintained its outperform rating and $195 price target on PepsiCo stock.