Mondelez faces market uncertainty

Article Excerpt

MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC. $42 (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $63.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Divd. yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mondelezinternational.com) makes cookies and crackers (Oreo, Ritz), chocolate bars (Cadbury, Toblerone), gum and candy (Trident, Chiclets) and Halls cough drops. In the third quarter of 2017, Mondelez’s sales rose 2.1%, to $6.5 billion from $6.4 billion a year earlier. If you exclude currency rates and businesses that it has bought and sold, sales gained 2.8%. Earnings in the quarter improved 9.6%, to $868 million from $792 million. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 14.0%, to $0.57 from $0.50. The higher earnings are mainly because Mondelez continues to make progress with its plan to improve efficiency by closing older plants. However, sales will likely remain sluggish as consumers switch to healthier snacks. Mondelez International is still a hold. hold…