Campbell Soup CEO 'not pleased' with fiscal Q4 results, below expectations

Campbell Soup Co. shares slumped 3.6% in premarket trade on Thursday after the company's earnings and sales came up short, which did not please Chief Executive Denise Morrison. Campbell reported a loss of $37 million, or 26 cents per share for its fiscal fourth quarter, after income of $43 million, or 5 cents per share during the same time period a year ago. On an adjusted basis, Campbell reported earnings of 46 cents per share, which was below the FactSet consensus of 50 cents. Sales for the quarter hit $1.687 billion below FactSet's $1.694 billion consensus and down from last year's $1.693 billion during the same quarter. "I am not pleased with the results of our fourth quarter," Morrison said. "While we have made progress, we recognize we need to deliver sales growth -- and it remains a top priority." Looking forward, Campbell expects sales to increase about 1% for 2017 and adjusted EPS to increase by 2% to 5%, reaching $3.00 to $3.09 per share for the year. Shares of Campbell Soup are up more than 15% in the year to date, outperforming the S&P 500 Index , which is up a little more than 6%.

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