PepsiCo CFO on Q4 results: ‘we have a winning formula’

Shares of PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) are trading down this morning even through the beverage giant issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the full year.

Why is PepsiCo stock up today?

The stock is keeping resilient on the back of a strong Q4.

Commodity prices remained high this quarter but PepsiCo was able to easily navigate with price hikes that resulted in a boost to operating profit in PepsiCo beverages North America and Frito-Lay. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, CFO Hugh Johnston said:

PepsiCo’s guidance for the future

For the full year, though, PepsiCo is calling for $7.20 of per-share earnings. In comparison, analysts were at a slightly higher $7.27.

PepsiCo also raised its annualised dividend by 10% to $5.06 a share on Thursday and revealed plans of buying back about $1.0 billion worth of its stock. The finance chief added:

Nonetheless, PepsiCo stock is currently down 3.0% year-to-date.

PepsiCo Q4 financial highlights

• Earned $518 million versus the year-ago $1.32 billion
• Per-share earnings also tanked from 95 cents to 37 cents
• Adjusted EPS printed at $1.67 as per the earnings press release
• Revenue went up about 11% year-on-year to $27.99 billion
• Consensus was $1.65 of adjusted EPS on $26.82 billion revenue

Wall Street currently recommends buying PepsiCo stock and sees upside in it to $190 – up about 10% from here.