PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) bids for bottlers as earnings edge lower

Posted Apr 20th 2009 12:40PM by Beth Gaston Moon
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Deals, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP)

PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) Truck We're in the heat of earnings season, with many of the top 100 S&P 500 companies reporting this week. One name that slightly fizzled at its earnings report today was PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), which announced first-quarter net results of $1.14 billion, or 72 cents per share, a 0.9% decline from previous year's levels.

On the plus side, the per-share result was a nickel better than analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue, on the other hand, slipped 0.8% lower to $8.26 billion, falling shy of expectations for $8.28 billion.

While the numbers didn't exactly wow the Street (PEP shares are slightly lower in early trading), they also didn't illustrate a significant fall-off from the previous year, despite company warnings that the first half of 2009 would face challenging year-over-year comparisons amid rising commodity costs and shifting foreign exchange rates.

In the second half of today's one-two news punch from Pepsi, the world's number-two soft drink company announced a $6 billion takeover offer for its two largest independent bottling companies, Pepsi Bottling Group Inc . (NYSE: PBG) and PepsiAmerica Inc. (NYSE: PAS). The offer values both companies at about 17% over their respective Friday closes, with the PBG offer at $29.50 (cash and stock) and the PAS bid at $23.37 (cash and stock).
This buyout offer wasn't a huge leap for PEP, which already owns one-third of PBG and more than 40% of PAS.

Pepsi's long-time rival, Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), will report earnings tomorrow before the open. Analysts are expecting per-share results of 65 cents, two cents shy of last year's figure.

Beth Gaston Moon works for WeSeed.com, "The stock market for the rest of us." The above comments are not intended as trading or investment advice.

Tags: earnings, earnings reports, EarningsReports, inthenews, mergers, pas, pbg, pep, pepsi bottling group, pepsiamericas, PepsiBottlingGroup, pepsico, takeover