Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS), the bottler and distributor whose brands also include A&W, Clamato, Country Time, Hawaiian Punch and Motts, is scheduled to discuss its second quarter 2009 results tomorrow morning in a conference call at 9:00 AM ET, featuring CEO Larry Young and CFO John Stewart. You can catch the live webcast on the company's website.
For the quarter in which Dr Pepper entered a marketing agreement with Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and expanded its product offerings to McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) and Jack in the Box (NASDAQ: JACK), analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the Plano, Tex.-based beverage giant to report that earnings fell 18.3% from a year ago to $0.49 per share, though that's up from better-than-expected $0.37 per share in the first quarter. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to be 3.4% lower to $1.5 billion. Earnings beat estimates in three of the past four quarters, by as much as 8 cents per share.
For the full year, analysts are so far looking for $1.77 per share (-3.8%) on sales of $5.6 billion (-2.2%).
Dr Pepper's earnings multiple is 13x and its long-term EPS growth forecast is 5%, both of which are lower than those of rivals The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) and Pepsico (NYSE: PEP). Short interest has fallen since May, but the company had much more long-term debt than cash on hand in the previous quarter. Yet the First Call consensus recommendation remains to buy DPS; iStockAnalyst thinks it is well-positioned for future growth.
Shares have risen 12% in the past three months and are creeping up on the 52-week high of $26.82 from nearly a year ago. Could a positive surprise and/or raised guidance send them to a new high?
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