Investors Punish Campbell Soup After Q4 Earnings Miss, Outlook

Campbell Soup Company CPB delivered mixed results for the fourth quarter. While its revenue was in-line with the predictions, adjusted earnings fell shy of the estimates.

On a GAAP basis, the company suffered a net loss of $81 million, or a loss of $0.26 a share, compared to net income of $17 million, or $0.05 a share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, EPS fell 6 percent from $0.49 to $0.46 and missed the Street estimates of $0.50 a share.

Campbell net sales remained flat at $1.69 billion and came in line with the analysts' predictions.

President and CEO Denise Morrison said, "While we have made progress, we recognize we need to deliver sales growth – and it remains a top priority. Reflecting its confidence in our long-term growth prospects and strong profit performance this year, the Board declared a 12 percent increase in our quarterly dividend today."

Moving ahead, the company expects adjusted EPS to be $3.00-$3.09 on sales growth of zero to 1 percent. Street is looking for an EPS of $3.14 on one percent growth in revenue.

The stock dropped $2.22, or 3.66 percent, to $58.50 in the pre-market trading on Thursday.