Campbell Soup forecasts up to 7% sales growth on pandemic boost

(Reuters) – Campbell Soup Co forecast current-quarter sales largely above market estimates after posting better-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday, boosted by higher demand for its Prego pasta sauces and Goldfish crackers.

Demand for packaged foods, including soups and spreadables, has remained high as people prefer eating at home to dining out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company forecast current-quarter net sales to rise between 5% and 7%, and adjusted profit to be between 88 cents and 92 cents per share.

Analysts on average expected Campbell to earn 90 cents per share and its net sales to rise 5.2%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Campbell said net sales rose to $2.11 billion in the fourth quarter ended on Aug. 2 from $1.78 billion a year earlier, beating expectations of $2.08 billion.

Excluding one-time items, Campbell earned 63 per share, compared with analysts’ expectation of 60 cents per share.

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)