Gary Rodkin

ConAgra FYQ3 Net Up, Cautious On Near-Term View

ConAgra Foods Inc.

(CAG) remains cautious about near-term results, especially as it now raises prices on bargain Banquet frozen meals and other value-oriented products targeted toward still-struggling low- and middle-income consumers.The maker of Healthy Choice meals, Hunt's ketchup and Slim Jim meat sticks on Thursday reported a 26% increase in fiscal third-quarter earnings that was helped by a lower tax rate. But ConAgra expects only modest earnings growth in the current quarter, which for the full-year should put ConAgra's per-share earnings growth likely at the low-end of its low- to mid-single digit projections.ConAgra is preaching caution as its core low- and middle-income consumers aren't experiencing the economic recovery seen in the upper-income brackets. "Consumers, other than maybe those in the top quintile of income, are still struggling and having to adjust to higher everyday costs like food and fuel," ConAgra Chief Executive Gary Rodkin said on an earnings call.The dichot...

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