PepsiCo Beats Profit Expectations, Matches Sales Estimates

PepsiCo Inc.'s stock was little changed in premarket trade Thursday, after the snack and beverage giant reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit and in line sales. For the quarter ended March 21, net earnings came in at $1.221 billion, or 81 cents a share, compared with $1.216 billion, or 79 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share were 83 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of 80 cents. Revenue fell 3% to $12.22 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $12.18 billion, with foreign currency translation having an 8-percentage-point negative impact on revenue. PepsiCo affirmed its full-year 2015 revenue and EPS growth forecast, and said the strong dollar will reduce revenue growth by 10 percentage points and adjusted EPS growth by 11 percentage points. The stock has gained 2.9% year to date through Wednesday, ahead of the S&P 500's 2.4% rise.