What happened
Shares of food and beverage manufacturer TreeHouse Foods (THS 0.63%) were slammed on Thursday, following the company's third-quarter earnings report. The stock fell as much as 30%. Shares are down 29.6% at the time of this writing.
The stock's decline comes as management missed both analysts' and management's own forecasts for third-quarter profitability. TreeHouse management had said it expected third-quarter adjusted earnings per share to be between $0.75 and $0.83. But adjusted EPS was $0.67, down from $0.70 in the year-ago quarter. On average, analysts were expecting adjusted EPS of $0.77.
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Bearish sentiment toward the stock on Thursday likely also reflects TreeHouse President Robert Aiken's sudden decision to resign, leaving TreeHouse Chairman Sam Reed to fill his shoes as the company initiates a CEO search.
So what
"We are disappointed that third quarter results came in below our expectations," said Reed. The company said operations struggled as it "faced further unanticipated volume pressure, increased manufacturing complexity, and retail bid pricing compression in several segments."
Regarding Aiken's resignation, TreeHouse simply said it was "disappointed by Bob's decision and his resulting departure and wish him well in his future endeavors."
Now what
Adding to the negative news from the quarter, TreeHouse said it is lowering its full-year guidance for adjusted per-share profitability. Management now expects full-year adjusted EPS to be between $2.70 and $2.80, down significantly from a previous forecast for $3.15 to $3.30.
To address its operational headwinds, management said it has "a great deal of work to do internally in order to improve our margin structure and cost to serve."
