: Kraft Heinz stock jumps after profit beat and raised outlook, while sales came up short

Shares of Kraft Heinz Co. KHC rallied 1.7% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the consumer food and beverage giant topped third-quarter profit expectations and lifted its full-year outlook, while sales came up a bit shy. Net income fell to $262 million, or 21 cents a share, from $432 million, or 35 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 66 cents. Sales grew 1% to $6.57 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $6.71 billion, as prices increased by 7.1 percentage points but volume and mix declined by 5.4 percentage points. “[W]e continue to improve productivity across the value chain, reinvesting gross efficiencies back into marketing, technology, and research & development,” said Chief Executive Miguel Patricio. For 2023, the company raised its guidance range for adjusted EPS to $2.91 to $2.99 from $2.83 to $2.91, but said organic sales growth will closer to the lower end of its guidance range of 4% to 6%. The stock has dropped 12.3% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has lost 8.4%.

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