Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) is scheduled to discuss its fiscal third-quarter results tomorrow, May 22, in a conference call at 10:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website, or dial in at 1-866-219-5631.
For the quarter in which the world's largest soup maker expanded its sodium free offerings, declared a quarterly dividend, and announced an acquisition, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the Camden, N.J.-based food and beverage maker to report earnings of $0.42 per share, down a penny a share from the same period of the previous year. Revenue for the quarter is expected to have fallen 4.5% to $1.8 billion. Campbell's earnings have just beat estimates in the past three quarters.
For the full fiscal year, analysts expect to see a $2.12 per share profit, or two cents better than a year ago. But the estimated revenue of $7.7 billion is 3.3% lower. Concerns going forward include consumers' ongoing pull back on spending due to the lingering recession, as well as foreign currency issues.
Analysts, on average, expect Campbell's long-term EPS growth rate to be 6.6%, which is about that same as that of rival General Mills (NASDAQ: GIS). Campbell's forward P/E ratio estimate is 12.0. While the First Call consensus recommendation recently shifted to hold CPB, SmartMoney has called the stock "tasty." The share price is about 11.3% lower than at the beginning of the year, and it is 19.1% lower than it was a year ago.
See BloggingStocks' Campbell coverage for more information about the company.
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