Wall Street High Post-Fed
- By Omar Venerio
U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday morning ahead of the Federal Reserve decision to raise the interest rate by a quarter point to 2% and 2.25% and projected another hike by December and three more next year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 0.41% to 26,493, the S&P 500 index rose 0.53% to 2,921, while the Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 0.59% to 8,055.
Shares of Conagra Brands Inc. (CAG) fell more than 6% on Thursday morning after the company posted first quarter earnings per share of 47 cents on $1.83 billion in revenue, reflecting 1.7% year-over-year growth. The company fell short of earnings estimates by 2 cents and revenue estimations by $20 million.
The gross profit and adjusted gross profit declined 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. Supply chain realized productivity, favorable price/mix and the profit contribution from recent acquisitions were lower than higher transportation and input costs.
By segments, net sales for the Grocery & Snacks segment rose 3.4% to $771 million, and organic net sales grew 0.1% as the acquisition of Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP added 330 basis points to the net sales growth rate. The operating profit for the segment increased 1.5% to $179 million, but the adjusted operating profit decreased 2.1% due to higher transportation and input costs and higher SG&A expenses.
Net sales for the Refrigerated & Frozen segment rose 3.2% to $635 million, and organic net sales grew 1.4% as the acquisition of Sandwich Bros. of Wisconsin added 180 basis points to the net sales growth rate. Operating profit decreased 6.4% and adjusted operating profit decreased 6.3% due to higher input costs and transportation expenses
Net sales for the International segment increased 1.5% to $194 millio, and organic net sales increased 6.3%. Volume increased 4.4% driven by snacks businesses in Canada and Mexico, and price-mix improved 1.9% behind improved pricing. Operating profit increased 97.4% to $37 million, driven by a gain on the sale of the Canadian Del Monte business.
Net sales for the Foodservice segment decreased 6.9% to $234 million, and organic net sales excluding Trenton increased 0.1%. Operating profit increased 18.7%.
Gainers
Losers
Carnival Corp. (CCL)
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX)
McCormick & Company Inc. (MKC)
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF)
Kellogg Co. (NYSE:K)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.45%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.56%, Germany's Dax jumped 0.52% and Spain's Ibex 35 gained 0.01%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.99%, India's BSE Sensex fell 0.60%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 0.36% and China's Shanghai Composite slid 0.54%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
