PepsiCo raises profit forecast as North America snack sales rise
(Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast, helped by strong sales of snacks such as Lays and Doritos chips in North America.
Shares of the maker of Pepsi-Cola, Frito-Lay snacks and Tropicana juice rose 2.3 percent to $91.25 (53.56 pounds) before the bell.
The company said organic revenue grew 5 percent in its global snacks business, partly due to price hikes.
Organic revenue rose 2 percent in beverages business.
Snack volumes in North America grew 2.5 percent, but soda volumes fell 2 percent, as health-conscious consumers favoured juices and health drinks.
Rival Coca-Cola Co reported on Tuesday flat soda volumes in North America for the second straight quarter.
PepsiCo raised its full-year earnings per share growth forecast to 8 percent from 7 percent. This translates to about $4.71 per share, above the average analyst estimate of $4.54, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
PepsiCo's net income fell 2 percent to $1.98 billion (1.16 billion pounds), or $1.29 per share, in the 12 weeks ended June 14 from $2.01 billion, or $1.28 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.32 per share.
Revenue rose 0.5 percent to $16.89 billion.
Analysts on average had expected PepsiCo to earn $1.23 per share on revenue of $16.81 billion.
The company's shares have risen 7.5 percent this year to Tuesday's close.
(Reporting by Anjali Athavaley in New York and Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)
