PepsiCo Beats Q1 Revenue Forecasts

23 Apr

PepsiCo (PEP), a multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, exceeded revenue expectations in the first quarter of the year, driven by strong international demand for its snacks and beverages.

During the January-April period, the company reported a 2% increase in revenue to $18.3 billion, surpassing Wall Street's $18 billion forecast as per the analysts polled by FactSet.

Frito-Lay's revenue rose by 2% in North America, while Pepsi beverage sales increased by 1%. However, sales were impacted by the recall of Quaker Oats cereal, bars, and snacks early in the quarter due to potential salmonella contamination, which caused Quaker Foods sales to plummet by 24% during the quarter.

Despite fewer products on grocery shelves in some countries, PepsiCo (PEP) experienced 11% sales growth in Asia Pacific and 10% sales growth in Europe. Carrefour, one of Europe's largest supermarket chains, withdrew PepsiCo products from its shelves in France, Belgium, Spain, and Italy in January due to unacceptable price hikes, but the two companies resolved their pricing dispute, and Carrefour resumed restocking PepsiCo products in early April.

To tackle rising ingredient costs, PepsiCo (PEP) has relied heavily on price increases over the last two years. The fourth quarter of 2023 marked the company's eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit percentage price hikes. However, these increases moderated in the first quarter, with PepsiCo reporting a 5% global net pricing increase and a 2% decline in volumes. The company attributed some of the volume decline to a strategic move to shrink package sizes to meet consumer demand for convenience and portion control.

Despite all that In premarket trading on Tuesday, PepsiCo's (PEP) shares remained unchanged.

PepsiCo's (PEP) net earnings increased by 5.6% to $2 billion in the first quarter. Excluding special items, the company earned $1.61 per share, beating Wall Street's forecast of $1.52.

PepsiCo (PEP) stock closed at 68.58 Relative Strength Index (RSI) Monday's trading session above its respective Moving Averages (MA's)