Dean Foods' Stock Rallies After Better-than-expected Results, Outlook

Dean Foods' stock rallied 5.4% in premarket trade Monday, after the food and dairy company reported better-than-expected third-quarter results and provided an upbeat outlook. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company swung to a net loss of $16 million, or 17 cents a share, from a profit of $415 million, or 11 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, the adjusted loss was 3 cents a share, beating the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of a loss of 13 cents a share. Sales rose to $2.37 billion from $2.2 billion, above analyst forecasts of $2.35 billion. The company despite all the challenges facing the dairy industry, it now expects fourth-quarter earnings per share of 5 cents to 15 cents, while analysts were projecting a loss of 2 cents. "Against the backdrop of this difficult environment, we are seeing positive signs of progress resulting from the focused efforts of our employees to drive improvement throughout all aspects of our operations," said Chief Financial Officer Chris Bellairs. The stock has lost 16% so far this year, while the S&P 500 has gained 9.9%.