PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) on Thursay reported that its second-quarter earnings of $1.89 billion, or $1.17 a share, from $1.6 billion, or 98 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. On an ajusted basis, the company earned $1.21 per share in the latest quarter. Revenue rose 14% to $16.83 billion. Analysts, on average, expected a profit of $1.21 a share on revenue of $16.4 billion. Gross margin dropped to 52.7% from 54.4%.
"Our global portfolio in both snacks and beverages is growing volume and net revenue, our global snacks portfolio, in particular, posted another strong quarter with balanced top- and bottom-line growth, and we continue to enjoy robust top-line growth in key emerging markets," said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. "While we are satisfied with the performance of our portfolio overall, the consumer in developed markets continues to be stressed, and the competitive environment in North America beverages has been particularly challenging. We are therefore implementing previously announced incremental pricing actions in the third quarter to more fully cover input costs while continuing to support our brand-building initiatives. We remain confident in our ability to continue to profitably grow our overall business, even in this uncertain economic environment."
Looking ahead, Pepsi said that it now expects high-single-digit earnings growth, which includes a benefit of about 2 percentage points from foreign currency impacts. Previously, the company expected core earnings to rise 7% to 8% in constant currency.
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