Campbell's Quarter Was Less Than Souper
It's not a great day to be a Campbell Soup investor. The 144-year-old food conglomerate announced rather grim first-quarter earnings results this morning, and further depressed investors by lowering guidance for the 2014 fiscal year.
Campbell reported a stunning 30% plunge in earnings, with earnings per share coming in at $0.54. The Street had expected EPS of $0.86. Campbell's revenue also landed below expectations, declining 2% to $2.17 billion. Analysts were looking for revenue of $2.29 billion. Campbell's was dinged by higher marketing costs, as well as a continuing decline in its core soup business.
Motley Fool analyst Taylor Muckerman believes it was a terrible quarter for Campbell Soup, though he sees a small bright spot in the report: snack foods. Campbell's sales in its international baking and snack segment actually increased 6%. But the negatives in the report easily outweigh that one hint of good news, and Campbell's sapped momentum makes it an unattractive stock.
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The article Campbell's Quarter Was Less Than Souper originally appeared on Fool.com.
Erin Kennedy has no position in any stocks mentioned. Taylor Muckerman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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