On Thursday, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS), which spun off from Cadbury Schweppes (OTC: CSGWF) last month, and canned foods manufacturer Del Monte Foods Co. (NYSE: DLM) both reported double-digit profit growth for their fourth quarters, but still missed analysts' expectations. Smithfield Foods Corp. (NYSE: SFD), the U.S.'s largest hog producer and pork processor, said its first-quarter profits tumbled, hurt by rising grain costs and falling hog prices.

Plano, Texas-based Dr Pepper reported that its first-quarter earnings surged 38% from a year ago to $95 million, or 38 cents per share, as the company raised prices to offset lower volume and rising commodity costs. Adjusted for a restructuring charge, earnings were 36 cents per share. Sales for the three months ended March 31 grew 3% to $1.31 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 41 cents per share on revenue of $1.27 billion.

Dr Pepper shares rose more than a dollar, or 4%, in morning trading to $25.00, just shy of the price at which the stock began trading last month.

Continue reading Dr Pepper, Del Monte and Smithfield miss earnings estimates

Dr Pepper, Del Monte and Smithfield miss earnings estimates originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.