PepsiCo Inc.‘s PEP second-quarter earnings call showcased a robust strategy to capitalize on evolving consumer preferences, with its $2 billion permissible snack portfolio leading the charge.
Check out the current price of PEP stock here.
What Happened: Brands like SunChips, Popcorners, Siete, and Simply are gaining traction, driven by a focus on natural ingredients and no artificial additives.
"Permissible snacks… it's over a $2,000,000,000 business already," said Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta, emphasizing the company's leadership in healthier snacking.
The relaunch of Lay's and Tostitos, set for the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year and the first quarter of the next one, aims to elevate their "real food credentials" by eliminating artificial ingredients, aligning with consumer demand for cleaner options.
On the beverage front, PepsiCo is strengthening its no-sugar and energy drink segments. Laguarta highlighted success in no-sugar colas has “driven positive share performance," while Gatorade and Propel are gaining share in hydration.
The energy drink category, bolstered by Sting and partnerships like Celsius and Starbucks, remains a priority.
Laguarta teased a significant protein beverage launch, stating, "We will be participating in the liquid protein space with… superior propositions," targeting the growing consumer trend toward protein-rich diets.
PepsiCo's away-from-home channel is another bright spot, delivering high single-digit growth in beverages. "It's a higher margin business… very incremental," Laguarta noted, with investments in physical availability and mini-meal innovations driving expansion.
The company is also leveraging AI and data to enhance affordability and precision in pricing, with CFO Jamie Caulfield adding, "Our analytics are getting much sharper."
Why It Matters: PepsiCo reported better-than-expected second quarter adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share and revenue rising 1% to $22.73 billion.
It raised its full-year 2025 adjusted EPS guidance from $7.92 to $8.04, exceeding the Street estimate of $7.88. The firm expects a foreign exchange translation headwind of approximately 1.5% to negatively impact its reported net revenue and core EPS growth. This is an improvement from its earlier forecast of an approximate 3% headwind.
Price Action: PepsiCo shares advanced 7.45% on Thursday. It was down 3.18% on a year-to-date basis and 14.63% lower over the past year.
Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings shows that PEP had a weaker price trend over the medium and long term but a stronger trend over the short term. Its momentum ranking was poor, and its value ranking was subpar at the 29.20th percentile. The details of other metrics are available here.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, ended higher on Thursday. The SPY was up 0.61% at $628.04, while the QQQ advanced 0.81% to $561.80, according to Benzinga Pro data.
On Friday, the futures of the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow Jones indices were higher.
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