Beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) announced its first-quarter 2019 earnings results on Wednesday, April 17, before the opening bell.
Net revenue inched just 3% higher to $12.9 billion, with operating profit jumping 11% to $2 billion. Net attributable income rose 6% to $1.4 billion or $1 per diluted share in the quarter.
Both top-line and bottom-line beat the market estimates. Analysts expected the Coke-rival to report earnings of $0.92 per share on revenue of $12.7 billion.
When dissected, revenue from Frito-Lay North America grew 5.5% to $3.8 billion, while that from Quaker Foods North America slipped 1% to just $594 million. PepsiCo Beverages North America revenue grew 2% to $4.5 billion. Revenue from Latin America inched 1% up to reach $1.2 billion, revenue from Europe Sub-Saharan Africa rose 1.5% to $1.7 billion, while that from Asia, Middle East and North Africa slipped 1% to $1 billion.
LOOKING AHEAD
For the full-year 2019, PepsiCo provided a non-GAAP outlook on selected metrics. The beverage giant now sees full-year organic revenue growth to be 4%, with a core effective tax rate of about 21%.
For the year, Pepsi expects a 1% decline in core constant currency EPS. However, it is estimated that the company will have approximately $9 billion in cash from operating activities and free cash flow of roughly $5
billion, which assumes net capital spending of about $4.5 billion.
Total cash returns to shareholders in the year is expected to touch $8 billion, comprised of dividends of approximately $5 billion and share repurchases of about $3 billion.
Looking at the first-quarter results, CEO Ramon Laguarta weighed in, “While adverse foreign exchange translation negatively impacted our reported net revenue performance, our underlying organic revenue growth accelerated to more than 5% in the quarter. Frito-Lay North America and each of our international divisions delivered particularly strong operating performance, and PepsiCo Beverages North America generated sequential quarterly net revenue acceleration.”
“We are equally pleased with the progress we are making on our ambitious agenda to invest to build capabilities, strengthen our brands, and add capacity to grow. With our strong start to the year and good momentum on our key priorities, we remain confident in achieving the 2019 financial targets we communicated earlier this year,” the PepsiCo chief added.