PepsiCo Inc.

NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC., $29.32, New York symbol NWL, fell 6% this week after the company warned that its earnings for the first quarter of 2014 would miss the consensus forecast. Harsh winter weather has prompted many shoppers to stay home. That has hurt sales of Newell’s household products, like trash cans, pens and food-storage containers. As well, the company had to recall 3.8 million infant car seats to fix a defective seat belt. These factors will cut Newell’s first-quarter earnings by $0.03 to $0.04 a share. As a result, it will probably earn $0.33 a share, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.35....

WAL-MART STORES INC., $73.12, New York symbol WMT, reported better-than-expected earnings this week. However, the company’s U.S. big box stores are facing strong competition from online retailers, particularly for clothing and electronics. Harsh winter weather has also slowed customer traffic. In the fourth quarter of its 2014 fiscal year, which ended January 31, 2014, Wal-Mart’s earnings fell 22.2%, to $4.35 billion from $5.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share declined 18.6%, to $1.34 from $1.67, on fewer shares outstanding. Without several unusual items, such as costs to close stores in Brazil and China and restructure its Sam’s Club warehouse outlets, Wal-Mart earned $1.60 a share in the latest quarter. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.59....

GANNETT CO. INC. $27 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 227.9 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) plans to include USAToday, its flagship newspaper, in 35 of its local daily papers’ print and electronic editions....

PEPSICO INC. $81 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $121.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) has won a contract to supply soft drinks to 975 Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.

The two companies will also take advantage of PepsiCo’s alliances with the National Football League and Major League Baseball to develop sports-related marketing campaigns.

In addition, Buffalo Wild Wings will develop new menu items that use PepsiCo’s snack foods, including Frito-Lay and Doritos chips. PepsiCo didn’t say how much the deal is worth or how long it will last.
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CISCO SYSTEMS INC., $21.53, Nasdaq symbol CSCO, reported higher-than-expected earnings in its latest quarter. However, it expects weaker sales in the current quarter. That caused the stock to drop 8% this week. The company is a leading maker of hardware and software that links and manages computer networks. Its hardware includes routers, local area network (LAN) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches, and dial-up access servers. In Cisco’s 2014 first quarter, which ended October 26, 2013, its earnings rose 11.6%, to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 10.4%, to $0.53 from $0.48, on more shares outstanding....

PEPSICO INC. $79 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $118.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) earned $2.05 billion in the three months ended June 15, 2013, up 16.1% from $1.8 billion a year earlier....

PEPSICO INC. $79 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $118.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) earned $2.05 billion in the three months ended June 15, 2013, up 16.1% from $1.8 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 17.0%, to $1.31 from $1.12, on fewer shares outstanding. The latest earnings included a $0.09-a-share gain on a deal to refranchise PepsiCo’s bottling operations in Vietnam. Revenue rose 2.1%, to $16.8 billion from $16.5 billion.

The company expects to save $900 million this year, mainly by closing plants and cutting jobs. PepsiCo will use some of these savings to develop and promote new products, particularly healthier snack foods. The savings will also help the company offset higher ingredient costs. However, soft drink sales continue to decline, particularly in North America.

PepsiCo is a hold....

MONSANTO CO., $105.63, New York symbol MON, sells technology-based agricultural products, such as genetically modified seeds, to farmers, grain processors and food companies. The company also sells weed- and pest-control products. The stock rose 4% this week after the company agreed to settle several lawsuits with DuPont Co. (New York symbol DD). Monsanto had sued DuPont for violating its patents. In response, DuPont launched an anti-trust lawsuit against Monsanto. Under the terms of the deal, Monsanto will license some of its genetically modified soybean seeds to DuPont. In return, DuPont will make four annual fixed royalty payments from 2014 to 2017 totalling $802 million. From 2018 to 2023, DuPont will pay royalties on a per-unit basis, subject to annual minimum amounts. These per-unit payments will total $950 million....

H.J. HEINZ CO., $72.28, New York symbol HNZ, jumped 19% this week after the company agreed to a friendly takeover from a consortium led by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (New York symbol BRK.B), the holding company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Heinz shareholders will receive $72.50 a share when the deal closes in the third quarter of 2013. The stock is trading slightly below that price, which indicates that investors do not expect a higher bid. Heinz is now a hold....

ALCOA INC., $8.42, New York symbol AA, reported better-than-expected revenue and earnings this week. Even so, the aluminum producer’s shares fell 4%. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, Alcoa earned $61 million, or $0.06 a share. These figures exclude several unusual items, such as costs related to a fire at one of its smelters and a $45-million offer to settle a lawsuit from an aluminum producer in Bahrain. Alcoa warned that it might have to pay an extra $75 million to settle this suit, which accuses the company of overcharging for raw materials. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.05 a share. A year earlier, Alcoa earned $326 million, or $0.28 a share....