Investors Not Impressed with Ralcorp Earnings

By Trey Thoelcke Published Aug 8, 10:37AM EDT

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Investors do not seem impressed after Ralcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RAH) said this morning that acquisitions helped boost its fiscal third-quarter profit. Shares are down slightly in early trading.

The St. Louis maker of cereal, snacks, sauces and bakery goods reported that its quarterly net earnings rose to $29.8 million from $28.3 million in the same period of last year. Adjusted EPS came to $0.60, which fell short of the consensus forecast. Third-quarter sales rose 11% year over year to $1.03 billion. That was in line with analysts’ expectations.

Acquisitions completed during fiscal 2012 include the North American private-brand refrigerated dough business of Sara Lee Corp., Pastificio Annoni SpA, Petri Baking Products Inc. and Gelit Srl. Acquisitions contributed approximately $0.03 to adjusted EPS for the third quarter.

The net sales increase was largely due to the acquisitions of refrigerated dough business and Petri. Base-business net sales increased 2% as a result of higher overall net pricing in response to significant growth in raw material (ingredients and packaging) and freight costs. This increase was offset partially by an overall 6% volume decline driven by weakness in the Snacks, Sauces & Spreads segment, as well as the voluntary resignation of a co-manufacturing contract in the Cereal Products segment.

Mostly, shares were down less than 1% in early trading. At the open, the share price was $64.24, in a 52-week trading range of $59.28 to $89.86. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $74.86 before this the report.

About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.