Smuckers hits a five-year high following its second-quarter earnings

J.M. Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM) is trading near a six-year high on Monday after the food and beverage company reported market-beating results for its second financial quarter.

Highlights from CEO’s interview with CNBC

Investors are also responding positively to the raised guidance. Smuckers is now calling for a 6.5% annualised increase in sales this year on $8.35 to $8.75 of adjusted per-share earnings. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, CEO Mark Smucker said:

Versus its June low, Smuckers stock is now up more than 20%. According to the Chief Executive, much of the second-quarter strength was related to strong demand and prices increases that helped offset the higher input costs.

Smuckers’ second-quarter financial highlights

• Net income printed at $191.1 million versus the year-ago $206 million
• Per-share earnings also slipped a little bit from $1.90 to $1.79
• Adjusted for one-time items, EPS was $2.40 as per the press release
• Sales went up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis to $2.21 billion
• FactSet consensus was $2.18 of adjusted EPS on $2.17 billion in sales

Cost of sales was 12.4% higher than the same quarter last year, resulting in a 290 basis points hit to gross margin.

Despite strong year-to-date performance amidst a challenging macro environment, Wall Street still rates Smuckers at “underweight” – something to consider if you want to invest in this stock.