What happened
Shares of B&G Foods (BGS +2.69%) popped 11.6% on Friday after the shelf-stable and frozen foods specialist announced better-than-expected second-quarter 2019 results.
Quarterly net sales declined 4.4% year over year to $371.2 million, translating to a slight decline in adjusted earnings to $24.5 million. Adjusted earnings per share remained essentially flat at $0.38. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $0.35 per share on slightly lower revenue.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
B&G's revenue decline was primarily due to its divesting of Pirate Brands late last year, which more than offset contributions from its recent acquisitions of McCann's and Clabber Girl.
CEO Kenneth Romanzi called it a "solid second quarter" that was ahead of the company's internal targets: "Our 2019 plan and our longer-term strategic plan are based on a stable base business complemented by new product innovation and accretive acquisitions, with pricing and cost-of-goods savings initiatives to offset inflation. All of these initiatives gained traction throughout the second quarter, and we expect to continue to gain momentum throughout the remainder of the year."
Now what
As such, B&G now expects full-year sales of $1.665 billion to $1.7 billion (up from $1.635 billion to $1.665 billion before), while reiterating its outlook for 2019 adjusted EPS of $1.85 to $2.
Coupled with B&G's relative outperformance in the second quarter, and with shares down more than 40% over the past year leading into this report, it's no surprise to see the stock rebounding today.
