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MOUNT LAUREL — Campbell Soup Co. reports the results for its fiscal fourth quarter on Friday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
OVERVIEW: The summer period reflected in the fourth-quarter earnings report is the slow sales season for the world's largest soup maker. This time of year, most of the company's focus is on the coming soup season.
Campbell has made a few big changes. Its tomato soup has been retooled with less sodium. The new product started showing up on supermarket shelves last month.
It also has updated its male-oriented Chunky Soup line with more vegetables and lean meat and a new marketing campaign after sputtering out following a surge that lasted several years. For the first time in more than a decade, ads for the ready-to-eat soups do not feature active NFL stars.
Friday's report is the first since a July car crash that landed CEO and President Douglas Conant in a hospital and kept him out of the office for more than a month.
BY THE NUMBERS: Analysts predict the company earned 26 cents per share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $1.52 billion, for the quarter that ended in July. The company forecast in July that its full-year profit would grow more than 5 percent to 7 percent, excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange.
ANALYST TAKE: Given that the fourth quarter produces just 10 percent to 15 percent of Campbell's annual profit, analyst Eric Katzman with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. said the focus Friday will be on the outlook for new products.
Katzman wrote in a note to analysts that Campbell is performing above the industry average, and it is still seeing volume and sales growth in condensed soups, where he said it has 80 percent of the market, though he said revenue could suffer from the quarter being one week short and from other branded bakers offering promotions.
Katzman maintained a "buy" rating on Campbell shares with a price target of $34.
WHAT'S AHEAD: Besides the new products, Wall Street will also be watching how the company's fledgling operations fare in the major soup-eating nations of China and Russia, how managers see the food industry overall and for information on pricing and Conant's recovery.
STOCK PERFORMANCE: Campbell's shares closed Tuesday at $32.38, near the midpoint in their 52-week range of $24.87 to $40.15. They ended the fourth quarter at $31.03.
