Pepsi Hits Quarter

Pepsi PEP beat Wall Street targets in CEO Indra Nooyi's first quarter at the helm.

The Purchase, N.Y., drinks and snacks giant also modestly boosted full-year guidance, though it said rising costs in its PepsiCo Beverages North America unit weighed on margins.

For the third quarter ended Sept. 9, Pepsi made $1.48 billion, or 88 cents a share, up from the year-ago $864 million, or 51 cents a share. Revenue rose to $8.95 billion from $8.18 billion a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Finanical were looking for an 86-cent profit on sales of $8.8 billion.

"We are very confident in our outlook for the balance of the year as all our businesses are performing well," said Nooyi, who was named to replace Steve Reinemund as CEO in August. "Given the strength of the company's performance through the first three quarters of 2006 and our outlook for the fourth quarter, we are increasing our full-year 2006 earnings guidance to at least $2.98 per share, which represents a double-digit increase to both our reported and core 2005 earnings, and exceeds by $0.05 per share the earnings target we set at the beginning of 2006."

The new outlook is in line with the $2.99 Thomson view.

At Frito-Lay, revenue growth was driven by double-digit gains in trademark Tostitos, SunChips and Quaker snacks; mid-single-digit growth in trademark Lay's and Cheetos; and low-single-digit growth in trademark Doritos.

At Pepsi Beverages North America, volume growth was driven by a 13% increase in non-carbonated beverages, partially offset by a 2% decline in carbonated soft drinks. The non-carbonated portfolio performance was driven by double-digit gains in trademark Aquafina, Lipton ready-to-drink teas and Propel fitness water, and high-single-digit growth in Gatorade sports drinks.

The carbonated decline reflects a low-single-digit decline in trademark Pepsi, offset slightly by positive performance for trademarks Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist. Diet drinks across all trademarks posted a slight gain, while regular ones declined by low single digits.

Operating profit declined 4%, as the division faced its most difficult comparison from the prior year, when operating profit increased 16%. The operating profit results reflect the higher trade incentives, higher orange costs associated with the division's Tropicana Pure Premium business, higher supply chain costs in Gatorade to meet increased peak seasonal demand, and higher energy costs. These increases were offset somewhat by lower advertising and marketing expense.