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Flowers Foods (FLO) Beats on Q2 Earnings, Raises 2020 View
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Flowers Foods, Inc. (FLO - Free Report) posted sturdy second-quarter 2020 results, wherein the top and the bottom line increased year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Management is impressed with the company’s quarterly performance, buoyed by robust demand for its major brands. Impressively, it raised earnings per share (“EPS”) and sales view for the year.
Adjusted EPS of 33 cents came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 31 cents. Moreover, the bottom line increased 32% year over year.
Sales increased 5.1% to $1,025.9 million, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,016 million. Notably, increased demand owing to the coronavirus pandemic contributed to this growth. Higher branded retail sales helped offset decline in store branded retail sales and non-retail and other sales. While pricing/mix increased 8.4%, volume dipped 3.3%.
Flowers Foods, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Materials, labor, supplies and other production expenses (net of depreciation and amortization), as a percentage of sales, contracted 280 basis points (bps) year over year to 49.3%. This can be attributed to favorable shifts in mix from non-retail and store-branded retail products to branded retail products, which were somewhat offset by start-up expenses in relation to the ongoing conversion of its Lynchburg, VA, facility to an organic bakery.
Adjusted selling, distribution and administrative expenses (as a percentage of sales) rose 110 bps, courtesy of increased distribution fees, escalated employee-incentive costs and consulting costs with respect to Project Centennial. These were partly offset by reduced logistics expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 21.4% to $128.5 million, whereas adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 170 bps to 12.5%.
Category Performance
Branded retail sales rose 17.7% to $689.5 million. The upside can be attributed to the favorable impact of COVID-19 along with product introductions, lower promotional activity and a fall in product returns.
Store-branded retail sales fell 10.9% to $145.2 million, thanks to lost breakfast-bread business as well as reduced volumes in other store-branded products owing to consumer shift to more branded retail products.
Non-retail and other sales dropped 15.8% to $191.2 million mainly due to adverse impact of COVID-19 on food-service customers.
More Financial Aspects
The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $299.6 million and long-term debt of $1,009.6 million. Further, stockholders’ equity amounted to $1,336.5 million.
Year to date through the second quarter, the company’s cash flow from operating activities amounted to $275.8 million, while it incurred capital expenditure of $46.6 million. Capital expenditure is now projected in the range of $85-$95 million for 2020.
Flowers Foods paid out dividends worth $82.6 million in the first half of 2020 and has 6.2 million shares remaining under the ongoing repurchase program.
To maintain financial liquidity amid the coronavirus crisis, total indebtedness rose $142.5 million through the second quarter.
Guidance
Notably, the company intends to stay committed toward enhancing its portfolio and supply chain that are anticipated to deliver nearly $10-$20 million in savings in 2020.
Management now projects sales of roughly $4.290-$4.330 billion for 2020, suggesting growth of about 4-5% year over year. Earlier, it expected sales in the band of $4.206 -$4.289 billion, which indicates 2-4% growth from the year-ago period’s reported figure.
Adjusted EPS is now envisioned to be $1.15-$1.25, indicating growth of about 19.8-30.2% from the year-ago period. This guidance is above the earlier-projected range of $1.00-$1.08 that suggested an improvement of 4.2-12.5% year over year. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 earnings is now pegged at the low end of the current guided range and is likely to witness upward revisions in the coming days.
Further, depreciation and amortization is estimated in the band of $145-$150 million. The company expects net interest expense of about $11 million and an effective tax rate of nearly 24-24.5% for the year.
Campbell Soup (CPB - Free Report) currently has a long-term earnings growth rate of 8.3% and a Zacks Rank #2.
Nomad Foods (NOMD - Free Report) , also a Zacks Rank #2 stock, which has a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 10.7%.
B&G Foods (BGS - Free Report) delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 6.9% and presently has a Zacks Rank #2.
Just Released: Zacks’ 7 Best Stocks for Today
Experts extracted 7 stocks from the list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys that has beaten the market more than 2X over with a stunning average gain of +24.3% per year.
These 7 were selected because of their superior potential for immediate breakout.
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Flowers Foods (FLO) Beats on Q2 Earnings, Raises 2020 View
Flowers Foods, Inc. (FLO - Free Report) posted sturdy second-quarter 2020 results, wherein the top and the bottom line increased year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Management is impressed with the company’s quarterly performance, buoyed by robust demand for its major brands. Impressively, it raised earnings per share (“EPS”) and sales view for the year.
Adjusted EPS of 33 cents came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 31 cents. Moreover, the bottom line increased 32% year over year.
Sales increased 5.1% to $1,025.9 million, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,016 million. Notably, increased demand owing to the coronavirus pandemic contributed to this growth. Higher branded retail sales helped offset decline in store branded retail sales and non-retail and other sales. While pricing/mix increased 8.4%, volume dipped 3.3%.
Flowers Foods, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Flowers Foods, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Flowers Foods, Inc. Quote
Costs & Margins
Materials, labor, supplies and other production expenses (net of depreciation and amortization), as a percentage of sales, contracted 280 basis points (bps) year over year to 49.3%. This can be attributed to favorable shifts in mix from non-retail and store-branded retail products to branded retail products, which were somewhat offset by start-up expenses in relation to the ongoing conversion of its Lynchburg, VA, facility to an organic bakery.
Adjusted selling, distribution and administrative expenses (as a percentage of sales) rose 110 bps, courtesy of increased distribution fees, escalated employee-incentive costs and consulting costs with respect to Project Centennial. These were partly offset by reduced logistics expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 21.4% to $128.5 million, whereas adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 170 bps to 12.5%.
Category Performance
Branded retail sales rose 17.7% to $689.5 million. The upside can be attributed to the favorable impact of COVID-19 along with product introductions, lower promotional activity and a fall in product returns.
Store-branded retail sales fell 10.9% to $145.2 million, thanks to lost breakfast-bread business as well as reduced volumes in other store-branded products owing to consumer shift to more branded retail products.
Non-retail and other sales dropped 15.8% to $191.2 million mainly due to adverse impact of COVID-19 on food-service customers.
More Financial Aspects
The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $299.6 million and long-term debt of $1,009.6 million. Further, stockholders’ equity amounted to $1,336.5 million.
Year to date through the second quarter, the company’s cash flow from operating activities amounted to $275.8 million, while it incurred capital expenditure of $46.6 million. Capital expenditure is now projected in the range of $85-$95 million for 2020.
Flowers Foods paid out dividends worth $82.6 million in the first half of 2020 and has 6.2 million shares remaining under the ongoing repurchase program.
To maintain financial liquidity amid the coronavirus crisis, total indebtedness rose $142.5 million through the second quarter.
Guidance
Notably, the company intends to stay committed toward enhancing its portfolio and supply chain that are anticipated to deliver nearly $10-$20 million in savings in 2020.
Management now projects sales of roughly $4.290-$4.330 billion for 2020, suggesting growth of about 4-5% year over year. Earlier, it expected sales in the band of $4.206 -$4.289 billion, which indicates 2-4% growth from the year-ago period’s reported figure.
Adjusted EPS is now envisioned to be $1.15-$1.25, indicating growth of about 19.8-30.2% from the year-ago period. This guidance is above the earlier-projected range of $1.00-$1.08 that suggested an improvement of 4.2-12.5% year over year. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 earnings is now pegged at the low end of the current guided range and is likely to witness upward revisions in the coming days.
Further, depreciation and amortization is estimated in the band of $145-$150 million. The company expects net interest expense of about $11 million and an effective tax rate of nearly 24-24.5% for the year.
Price Performance
Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have gained 4.5% in the past six months against the industry’s decline of 2.3%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Other Solid Food Stocks
Campbell Soup (CPB - Free Report) currently has a long-term earnings growth rate of 8.3% and a Zacks Rank #2.
Nomad Foods (NOMD - Free Report) , also a Zacks Rank #2 stock, which has a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 10.7%.
B&G Foods (BGS - Free Report) delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 6.9% and presently has a Zacks Rank #2.
Just Released: Zacks’ 7 Best Stocks for Today
Experts extracted 7 stocks from the list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys that has beaten the market more than 2X over with a stunning average gain of +24.3% per year.
These 7 were selected because of their superior potential for immediate breakout.
See these time-sensitive tickers now >>