-Skippy peanut butter maker Hormel Foods forecast lower-than-expected profit for the ongoing quarter on Thursday, after missing third-quarter earnings estimates on higher commodity costs, sending its shares down about 7% in premarket trading.
A surge in commodity input expenses have prompted packaged food companies such as Hormel to raise products prices.
“We expect profit recovery to lag into next year, with the near-term pressures we experienced in the third quarter persisting through the fourth quarter,” CEO Jeff Ettinger said in a statement, adding that Hormel plans to hike prices further.
The company expects its adjusted profit per share to be between 38 cents and 40 cents in the fourth quarter, below analysts’ average estimate of 49 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Hormel posted profit of 35 cents per share for the third quarter ended July 27, missing estimates of 41 cents.
However, the company reported a 5% increase in quarterly retail volumes for its protein-rich products such as turkey and bacon, as more consumers opted to cook affordable and healthy meals at home.
The segment saw a 7% fall in retail volume in the preceding three-month period.
Hormel’s third-quarter sales of $3.03 billion beat estimates of $2.98 billion, helped by higher prices of its Jennie-O turkey products. The price hikes were implemented to offset avian flu-related costs, which had impacted production and supply.
(Reporting by Anshi Sancheti in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
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