Strong Dollar Hampers Pepsi Earnings

On a GAAP basis, first-quarter EPS totaled $0.81 and net revenue fell 3% as a result of currency translation effects.

For 2015 Pepsi continues to forecast EPS growth of 7% on a constant currency basis, which equates to an EPS total of around $4.95, based on the 2014 per share profit total of $4.63. The consensus estimate had called for 2015 EPS of $4.65. Pepsi expects a negative impact of around 11% on adjusted EPS due to currency exchange transactions.

The company also expects organic revenue to rise in the mid-single digits this year. Free cash flow is targeted at over $7 billion on operating cash flow of more than $10 billion and capital spending is forecast at $3 billion for the year.

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Pepsi has raised its annual dividend to $2.62 beginning last June, but has said nothing about an increase. The company also plans to repurchase $4.5 billion to $5 billion in common stock during 2015, returning a total of $8.5 to $9 billion to shareholders in a combination of buybacks and dividends.

The company’s CEO said:

[F]oreign exchange translation and transaction headwinds persist. We have and will continue to take actions to manage through the current volatile macroeconomic environment by taking responsible pricing actions, tightly controlling costs, and optimizing our global sourcing to minimize and mitigate the impacts of the current foreign exchange challenges. … At the same time, we will not let cyclical macroeconomic issues divert us from our focus to drive sustainable shareholder value creation. We intend to continue to invest across our markets and brands to generate organic revenue growth, drive greater efficiency and productivity, deliver attractive free cash flow growth and cash return to shareholders, and enhance our returns on invested capital.

PepsiCo’s shares were down about 0.3% in premarket trading Thursday to $97.00, in a 52-week range of $84.95 to $100.76. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $107.81 before the report.