It's not a great day to be a Campbell Soup (CPB +1.66%) investor. The 144-year-old food conglomerate announced rather grim first-quarter earnings results this morning, and further depressed investors by lowering guidance for the 2014 fiscal year.
Campbell reported a stunning 30% plunge in earnings, with earnings per share coming in at $0.54. The Street had expected EPS of $0.86. Campbell's revenue also landed below expectations, declining 2% to $2.17 billion. Analysts were looking for revenue of $2.29 billion. Campbell's was dinged by higher marketing costs, as well as a continuing decline in its core soup business.
Motley Fool analyst Taylor Muckerman believes it was a terrible quarter for Campbell Soup, though he sees a small bright spot in the report: snack foods. Campbell's sales in its international baking and snack segment actually increased 6%. But the negatives in the report easily outweigh that one hint of good news, and Campbell's sapped momentum makes it an unattractive stock.
