Campbell Soup Co has beaten analyst estimates for quarterly revenue, as supermarkets bulk-purchased its soups in preparation for winter sales and an extended coronavirus-led home confinement saw more people dining at home.
Consumers are looking for healthy snacks and quick fixes as they cook more at home, reaching out for cans of soups at supermarkets or ordering them online in more numbers.
Chief executive officer Mark Clouse said retailers were stocking up for the holidays and "the heart of soup season", leading to a 21% surge in sales of soups alone in the United States.
Divisional Performance
Sales at the meals and beverages unit, which makes Pacific Foods soups and Prego pasta sauces, rose 12%.
However, snack sales were up just 1% on muted demand for Lance sandwiches and Goldfish crackers.
For the current quarter, the company forecast sales to grow between 5% and 7%, compared with analysts' average expectation of a 6.5% rise, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Quarterly Results
Adjusted profit is expected to be between 81 cents and 83 cents, just short of the estimate of 84 cents.
Net sales rose 7.2% to $2.34 billion in the first quarter ended 1 November, beating analysts' average estimate of $2.32 billion.
Net earnings attributable to the company rose to $309 million, or $1.02 per share, from $166 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts were expecting earnings of 91 cents on a per share basis.
Shares of the company were down about 1% before the bell.
