News

Shares of Conagra Brands dropped roughly 3% on Wednesday following the release of the company's third-quarter financial results. The manufacturer of Hunt’s ketchup indicated that annual profits would likely settle at the bottom of its projected range, citing sustained high costs within a turbulent macroeconomic landscape.

The ongoing conflict in Iran has intensified these economic pressures, inflating expenses for food producers who were already struggling with rising input prices and shifting consumer dietary habits. To counter the increased costs of ingredients like palm oil, cocoa, and olive oil — alongside tin-plate steel tariffs — Conagra had implemented price hikes. During the third quarter, prices saw an uptick of 1.9%.

At 1:26 p.m. EDT, Conagra Brands stock was trading at $15.55, down by $0.18, or 1.11%. It was around 3% lower in early trading.

So far this year, the stock is down more than 10%.

The firm anticipates an annual adjusted profit of $1.70 per share, representing the lowest end of its earlier $1.70 to $1.85 guidance. Furthermore, Conagra expects costs to remain high through fiscal 2026, projecting inflation of approximately 7% (including tariffs) prior to any mitigation efforts. Annual net sales are expected to hit the midpoint of its previous forecast, which ranged from a 1% decrease to a 1% increase.

"This is not an easy operating environment," CEO Sean Connolly said in a statement.

Conagra’s quarterly revenue fell 1.9% to $2.79 billion, slightly exceeding analyst expectations of $2.76 billion.

However, adjusted earnings of 39 cents per share fell just one cent short of estimates. Despite this, the company achieved organic sales growth of 2.4%, which Jefferies analysts attributed to a rebound from previous supply-chain issues and retailer inventory shifts.

"Given the challenging industry backdrop, the return to organic growth is a notable win," CFRA analyst Arun Sundaram said.

"That said, sustaining this momentum will likely require continued reinvestment, which could keep margins under pressure."

While competitor General Mills recently maintained its annual targets, Campbell Soup Co. has lowered its sales and profit outlooks.For about a decade, Livemint—News Desk has been a credible source for authentic and timely news, and well-researched analysis on national news, business, personal finance, corporates, politics and geopolitics. We bring the latest updates on all the listed companies on BSE and NSE, startups, mutual funds, Union ministries, geopolitics, and untapped human interest stories from around the world, helping our readers to stay informed on the latest developments around the globe. Our Coverage Areas 1. Companies: Comprehensive news and analysis on listed and unlisted companies, corporate announcements, corporate chatter, C-suite, business trends, hiring alerts, layoffs, work-life balance, world's top billionaires and richest and more. 2. Personal finance: Insights into mutual funds, small savings schemes like - PPF, SSY, post office savings scheme, stock to watch, personal loans, credit cards, top bank FDs, real estate, income tax and more. 3. Politics: Comprehensive coverage of general elections, state elections and bypolls, Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Parliament, PMO, PIB, finance ministry, home ministry, among other union ministries and government departments. 4. National News: From metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and e to untapped stories from rural India, we cover human interest, health, education, crime and courts, and law and order, among other areas of public interest. 5. Economy: In-depth analysis of India's macro and micro-economic indicators like- GDP, inflation, forex, fiscal deficit, current account deficit, interest rate cycle, economic recovery, RBI circulars, indirect taxes, GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy imports, exports and everything that impacts Indian economy. 6. Geopolitics: Well-rounded and deeply researched coverage on US News, Oval Office European Union, Ukraine Russia War, middle-east crisis, royal families and global leaders like - Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping and premiers of other leading economies in the world. Meet the Team 1. Gulam Jeelani, Political Affairs Editor 2. Sugam Singhal, Senior Assistant Editor 3. Chanchal, Assistant Editor 4. Sanchari Ghosh, Chief Content Producer 5. Pratik Prashant Mukane, Chief Content Producer 6. Sayantani Biswas, Chief Content Producer 7. Ravi Hari, Deputy Chief Content Producer 8. Garvit Bhirani, Deputy Chief Content Producer 9. Akriti Anand, Senior Content Producer 10. Jocelyn Felix Fernandes, Senior Content Producer 11. Swastika Das Sharma, Content Producer 12. Mausam Jha, Content Producer 13. Riya R Alex, Trainee Content Producer

Catch all the Business News , Market News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

Download the Mint app and read premium stories