PepsiCo Shares Rise as Company Reports Q3 Results (PEP)

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) shares have risen sharply at the start of trading today after the Purchase, New York-based beverage company reported its third-quarter financial results.

PepsiCo shares are currently trading 2.97% higher at $62.76.

PepsiCo, today, reported a 4.1% increase in third-quarter profit on the back of higher than anticipated sales. The company’s third-quarter earnings also beat estimates.

PepsiCo reported third-quarter earnings of $2 billion, or $1.25 per share, compared with $1.92 billion, or $1.19 per share reported for the same period in the previous year. Excluding one-time items, the company reported third-quarter earnings of $1.31 per share, beating analysts’ estimate of $1.30 per share.

PepsiCo’s third-quarter revenue jumped 13% to $17.58 billion, beating Street estimates of $17.18 billion. The company’s operating margins, however, slipped from 18% to 16.5%.

PepsiCo, which owns brands such as Quaker, Tropicana and Lay’s and Gatorade among others, saw its global beverage volume rise 4% in the third quarter. The company’s global snacks volume, meanwhile, jumped an impressive 8%. PepsiCo’s third-quarter results benefited from strong performance in the emerging markets, where sales rose 33%. The acquisition of Russian beverage company Will-Bill-Dann also boosted the company’s third-quarter results.

Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, said that the company is focused on growing its business by offering consumers around the globe with great tasting products at a good value. Nooyi said that the company believes its performance in the third quarter is a good indication that its efforts are working.

PepsiCo also provided guidance for the rest of the year. The company said that for 2011, it is targeting high-single digit earnings per share growth on a core, 52-week basis. The company said that its outlook for 2011 takes into account macroeconomic uncertainty and consumer trends. The company expects high global commodity cost inflation and ongoing support of strategic initiatives in emerging markets and brand building activities.

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.