Conagra Brands hikes to a year-to-date high of $35.00 following the Q2 performance results

The U.S packaged foods company, Conagra Brands, announced its quarterly performance results on Thursday. Having beaten the analysts’ estimate for profit and sales, share prices were seen surging higher toward the end of last week.

Conagra Brands Acquired Pinnacle Foods For $8 Billion

The company cited higher sales in frozen foods and other snacks by Slim Jim to have contributed the most to the upbeat quarterly results. Conagra Brands also highlighted its increased investments in brands like Duncan Hines and Birds Eye in line with its Pinnacle Foods acquisition that was valued at $8 billion.

In the second quarter, the company added, it also increased investments in its older brands. In order to pose a serious competition to a range of private labels, Conagra Brands also introduced an all-new Randy Save-themed meat stick by Slim Jim. Randy Savage was an American professional wrestler who made his pay-per-view debut in 1985 at “The Wrestling Classic”. A range of other products was also introduced by the American packaged food company in the second quarter.

According to the Q2 earnings report, the company forecasts that following the Pinnacle acquisition, it will be able to reduce expenses in the next three years by $305 million. In a previous estimate, the company had expected savings to amount to $285 million by the end of 2022. The company further expressed its plans of investing the savings into strategies that will help boost sales further.

Conagra Brands printed a massive growth of 14.2% in the grocery and snacks segment in the second quarter. Refrigerated and frozen foods business, on the other hand, noted an even better 28.8% growth in the second quarter.

Conagra Brands Beat Analysts’ Estimate For EPS And Net Sales In Q2

Based on Refinitiv’s data, analysts had anticipated the company to record 57 cents of earnings per share (EPS) excluding items in the fiscal second quarter. As per the earnings report, however, the company posted a much higher 63 cents of earnings per share in the quarter that ended on 24^th November.

Net income for Conagra Brands nearly doubled in terms of year over year growth. It was recorded at $260.5 million in the second quarter. Following the acquisition of Pinnacle, net sales hiked to $2.82 billion for Conagra Brands in Q2 that marks an 18% growth as compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts’ had estimated the U.S packaged foods company to note $2.82 billion in net sales in Q2.

After the release of the performance results, the stock was seen trading 8% higher. The company posted a year to date high of around $35 on Thursday. Share prices have surged around 70% in 2019 so far.