Keurig Profit Falls as Brewer Sales Drop

Keurig Green Mountain Inc (NASDAQ:GMCR), maker of the K-Cup single-serve coffee pod, reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit as sales of its brewers fell in the all-important holiday season.

Shares of Keurig Green Mountain, whose adjusted profit forecast for the second quarter also missed the average analyst estimate, fell 6.5 percent in extended trading.

Keurig, whose machines use pods filled with coffee, tea or hot chocolate powder to brew drinks at home, has tried to expand beyond its core business of single-serve K-cup coffee packets, faced with rising competition.

But the company's 2.0 brewing system, launched last August, got bad reviews and were considered pricey. In December, Keurig recalled 7.2 million of its single-serve brewers.

The company said it expects adjusted profit of $1-$1.05 per share for the second quarter ending March.

Analysts on average were expecting $1.18 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Keurig forecast net sales for the full year to grow at a mid-to-high single-digit percentage. It also forecast a mid-single digit percentage growth in full-year adjusted profit.

Net income attributable to Keurig fell to $134.6 million, or 82 cents per share, in its first quarter ended Dec. 27 from $138.2 million, or 91 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 88 cents per share, just short of the 89 cents analysts expected.

Net sales at $1.39 billion missed analysts' expectations of $1.47 billion.

Keurig's share closed at $126.09 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Anjali Athavaley in New York and Nayan Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)