PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) is scheduled to report its second-quarter financial results before the markets open Thursday. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $1.24 in earnings per share (EPS) on $15.80 billion in revenue. In the same period of the previous year, it posted $1.32 in EPS on $16.89 billion in revenue.
As part of its newest promotion, Pepsi is introducing its new “Stubborn Soda” lineup, which is introducing more craft sodas and some off the wall flavors. These could include crazy carbonated soda flavors such as “black cherry with tarragon,” “pineapple cream” and “agave vanilla cream.” The new craft sodas will be include cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.
The company is making the move toward a more craft soda, hoping to capitalize on a similar trend. Craft beers have steadily gained in popularity over the years, and Pepsi is testing out this trend within the soft drink business.
Regardless of the alleged health benefits of the new craft sodas, PepsiCo understands that companies need to come up with new products to hold the interest of consumers. Its website is full of new product introductions designed to keep consumers intrigued enough to keep coming back and trying something new. No doubt, PepsiCo hopes that some of these new products will provide incremental growth as a whole.
As a show of confidence in PepsiCo’s future, its board decided to raise its quarterly dividend 7% in May to $0.7025 per share. This represents the 43rd year of consecutive dividend increases. PepsiCo investors currently enjoy a respectable 2.9% dividend yield, which is not bad considering the company’s potential coming from innovation.
In its most recent earnings report, Pepsi suffered from a strengthening U.S. dollar, however that will not be as prevalent this quarter. Despite those headwinds, the company still intends to continue to invest across its markets and brands to generate organic revenue growth, drive greater efficiency and productivity, and deliver attractive free cash flow growth and cash return to shareholders.
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Prior to earnings, a few analysts weighed in on Pepsi:
- Barclays reiterated an Overweight rating with a $111 price target.
- Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating.
- Susquehanna reiterated a Positive rating but lowered its price target to $116 from $123.
Shares of Pepsi were relatively flat at $94.53 on Monday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $106.15 and a 52-week trading range of $87.46 to $100.76.
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