Campbell Soup Cuts FY15 Outlook Again

(RTTNews) - Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) said Thursday that it is lowering its fiscal year 2015 sales and earnings guidance, based on its expectation that results for the second quarter and the remainder of the year will be weaker than anticipated, including the negative impact of foreign currency translation.

For the full fiscal year, the company now expects that the year-over-year change in net sales will be in the range of -1% to +1% reflecting the negative impact of currency translation, which is currently estimated at 2 percentage points. Excluding the impact of currency translation, the company's sales guidance is unchanged. The company now expects adjusted earnings from continuing operations to be in the range of $2.32 to $2.38 per share. Previously, the company forecast adjusted earnings of $2.42 to $2.50 per share on sales growth of 0 to 2%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect the company to earn $2.45 per share on revenue decline of 0.90% for the fiscal year 2015.

The company also said it expects second quarter net sales to decline by about 2% reflecting the negative impact of currency translation. The company estimates second quarter earnings from continuing operations at $0.65 to $0.66 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.68 per share on revenue drop of 2% for the second quarter.

Campbell will report its second quarter results on Feb. 25.