VITL - Conagra Q4 Earnings Top Despite Soft Consumption Trends | Benzinga
Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) delivered fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 results, wherein the bottom and top lines declined year over year and the latter missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company continued to witness challenging industry trends, including a slowdown in consumption. Shares of the company lost more than 2% in the pre-market trading session on Jul 11.
However, Conagra's strategic investments in brands have proven effective, leading to volume improvements in its Domestic Retail business, especially in the key Frozen and Snacks categories. Furthermore, the company's supply chain productivity efforts supported the expansion of adjusted gross margins. Management anticipates a gradual easing of the difficult industry trends as consumers adapt and set new reference prices.
Quarter in Detail
Conagra's quarterly adjusted earnings per share came in at 61 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 56 cents. The bottom line declined 1.6% year over year.
Conagra Brands Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Conagra Brands price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Conagra Brands Quote
The company generated net sales of $2,905.9 million, which declined 2.3% year over year and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,939 million. The top line included a 0.1% positive impact of currency movements.
Organic net sales decreased 2.4% year over year due to a 1.8% drop in volumes, which stemmed from the continuation of the slowdown in consumption. Also, the price/mix had a 0.6% adverse impact on organic sales as a result of elevated strategic investments. Our model suggested an organic sales decline of 1.4% and a volume decline of 1.2% for the fourth quarter.
The adjusted gross profit remained flat year over year at $803 million. The adjusted gross margin improved 62 basis points (bps) to ...