Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, October 14, 2022

Article Excerpt

PEPSICO INC., $170.19, Nasdaq symbol PEP, is still a hold. The company is the world’s second-largest soft-drink maker after Coca-Cola. Its other brands include Frito-Lay snack foods, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana fruit juices and Quaker Oats cereals. PepsiCo continues to benefit from higher selling prices to offset rising costs for food ingredients, packaging and shipping. In the quarter ended September 3, 2022, the company’s sales rose 8.8%, to $21.97 billion from $20.19 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $20.83 billion. If you factor out acquisitions and exchange rates, sales rose 16.0% in the quarter. That was entirely due to a 17% hike in prices as volumes fell 1%. Earnings per share (before one-time items) in the quarter gained 10.1%, to $1.97 from $1.79. That also beat the consensus estimate of $1.84. PepsiCo now expects its sales for all of 2022 to improve 12% compared to its earlier forecast of 10% growth. It also expects earnings for all of 2022 to improve 7.5%, to…