Pepsi Investors Not Thirsty for Q3 Earnings

PepsiCo Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP) reported its fiscal third-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Tuesday. The beverage giant posted $1.59 in earnings per share (EPS) and $16.49 billion in revenue, while consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $1.57 in EPS and revenue of $16.36 billion. In the same period of last year, it posted EPS of $1.48 and $16.24 billion in revenue.

Looking ahead to the fiscal 2018 full year, the company expects to see core constant currency EPS growth in the range of 9% and full year organic growth to be at least 3%. Consensus estimates call for $5.69 in EPS and $64.8 billion in revenue for the year.

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In terms of its segments, Pepsi reported as follows:

• Frito-Lay North America operating profit increased 3.5%, primarily reflecting the net revenue growth and planned cost reductions.
• Quaker Foods North America operating profit decreased 1.5%, reflecting certain operating cost increases and unfavorable net pricing and mix.
• North America Beverages operating profit decreased 14%, reflecting certain operating cost increases, including increased transportation costs and higher commodity costs.
• Latin America operating profit increased slightly, reflecting planned cost reductions across a number of expense categories, the effective net pricing and the volume growth.
• Europe Sub-Saharan Africa operating profit increased 3%, reflecting the net revenue growth and planned cost reductions across a number of expense categories.
• Asia, Middle East and North Africa operating profit increased 17%, reflecting the effective net pricing, planned cost reductions across a number of expense categories and the volume growth.

Indra Nooyi, board chair and chief executive, commented:

We are pleased with our results for the third quarter. We continued to see very strong operating performance from our international divisions, propelled by developing and emerging markets; Frito-Lay North America generated solid net revenue and operating profit growth; and North America Beverages delivered another quarter of sequential improvement in top-line performance. On the strength of our year-to-date results, we have revised upward our full-year organic revenue growth target. Additionally, given the recent strengthening in the U.S. dollar we have revised our full-year core earnings per share target to reflect our updated expectation of an approximate 1 percentage point headwind from foreign exchange translation.

Shares of Pepsi traded down more than 2% early Tuesday at $108.02. The consensus analyst price target is $118.05, and a 52-week trading range is $95.94 to $122.51.

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