Kellogg stock was hit hard on Wednesday following the release of its earnings report for the third quarter of 2018.
The most recent earnings report from Kellogg (NYSE:K) has the company updating its guidance for the full year of 2018. This includes lowering its earnings per share growth outlook for the quarter to between 7% and 8%. This represents an earnings per share range of roughly $4.34 to $4.38, based on 2017’s earnings per share of $4.06. That’s bad news for Kellogg stock as Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $4.52 in 2018.
Kellogg says that the reason for the decrease in its earnings per share outlook for 2018 has to do with it lowering its operating profit outlook for the year. The company says this is due to it expecting negative impacts from increasing investments, continuing mix shifts and costs as it expands its co-packed pack formats.
The blow to Kellogg stock comes despite the company reporting an earnings per share of $1.06 for the third quarter of 2018. This is up from its earnings per share of $1.05 reported in the third quarter of 2017. It also matches Wall Street’s earnings per share estimate of $1.06 for the period.
Kellogg also reported revenue of $3.47 billion for the third quarter of the year. This is an increase over its revenue of $3.25 billion reported in the same period of the year prior. It also comes in above analysts’ revenue estimate of $3.42 billion for the quarter, but wasn’t enough to save Kellogg stock today.
K stock was down 8% as of noon Wednesday, but is up 5% year-to-date.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
