What happened
Shares of canned soup company Campbell Soup (CPB -0.37%) fell as much as 8.5% on Tuesday following the company's release of its first-quarter results. The stock is down 6.8% at the time of this writing.
Investors' clear disappointment in the company likely reflects Campbell's lower-than-expected revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share. The company reported non-GAAP EPS of $0.92 on sales of $2.16 billion. These results are down from non-GAAP EPS of $1.00 on sales of $2.20 billion in the year-ago quarter, representing 8% and 2% declines, respectively. On average, analysts were expecting non-GAAP EPS of $0.97 on sales of $2.17 billion.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Campbell CEO Denise Morrison admitted Q1 was "a difficult quarter, particularly for our U.S. soup business." To explain the company's worse-than-expected performance, Morrison cited a volatile retail environment, a rapidly evolving retailer landscape, higher costs, and heightened competition. In addition, Morrison said the quarter was negatively impacted by lower sales at a major customer due to a disagreement about promotional approaches for soups in fiscal 2018.
Now what
Looking ahead, Morrison said, "In this challenging climate, we are focused on sharpening our plans for the remainder of the year while continuing to position Campbell for growth through investments to differentiate our brands, drive innovation and accelerate our e-commerce capabilities."
Notably, however, Campbell did lower its outlook for fiscal 2018 -- highlighting another reason the stock is likely trading lower. Campbell now expects adjusted EPS to decline between 3% and 1% year over year. Previously, the soup maker expected adjusted EPS to be between flat and up 2% year over year.
