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☆ Conagra CFO Doesn’t See Need for Big Price Increases in Near Term
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Jennifer Williams-Alvarez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Photo: Conagra Brands“We won’t have any more significant price increases unless our cost, our inflation estimate, starts to go back up,” Mr. Marberger said. The reading comes amid moderating price increases after a peak of 9.1% in June. I never, ever remember that kind of a price increase,” Mr. Marberger said. “They are now turning the corner and from here are going to need less rapid price increases, unless some other price shocks occur.”Conagra’s sales volumes fell 8.4% for the quarter ended Nov. 27 as customers responded to the price increases, the company said. “And that plays well for us.”Overall, Conagra’s customers—which include retailers Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co. —have accepted the price increases, Mr. Marberger said.

Known for its Birds Eye, Chef Boyardee and Slim Jim brands, Conagra is increasing some of its prices in its current fiscal 2023 third quarter. "We don't currently have any plans to take additional pricing beyond that," Connolly said, noting the plans could change if inflation persists. The price of groceries eaten at home rose an estimated 11%-12% in 2022, versus a 7%-8% increase in restaurant menu prices, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "If you're going to spend your day at home instead of in the office, odds are the breakfast and the lunch that you're going to have is going to be a product like a Healthy Choice Power Bowl," Connolly said. "We've now moved it to just about everything we sell in our frozen meals business," he said.

NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Conagra Brands Inc (CAG.N) Chief Executive Officer Sean Connolly said in a Reuters Newsmaker interview on Tuesday that he sees double-digit inflation in fiscal 2023, although protein costs are moderating. The company, known for its brands Birds Eye and Chef Boyardee, raised its full-year forecasts last week, after beating quarterly results, helped mainly by higher prices for its snacks and ready-to-eat meals. Its share price rose 12% in 2022 and shot up further after the improved forecasts. Packaged food makers have undergone several rounds of price increases in the past year to shield their profit margins from higher costs, which people have accepted as they find eating out far more expensive than cooking at home. Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli and Hilary Russ in New York Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Conagra Is Your Food Value Play for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Aaron Back | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

American food companies had a strong 2022. One relative laggard in the sector, Conagra Brands, looks positioned to break out this year. The company, which owns brands such as Birds Eye frozen vegetables, Hunt’s tomato products and Reddi Wip, reported strong results on Thursday. Organic sales, which strip out currency fluctuations and merger impacts, rose 8.6% from a year earlier in the company’s second fiscal quarter, which ended on Nov. 27. That was just ahead of analyst expectations for an 8.4% rise, according to Visible Alpha.

☆ Conagra Raises Outlook as Higher Prices Continue to Lift Sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Conagra, which makes Slim Jim meat snacks, said Thursday it was still working against inflated input costs. Conagra Brands Inc. expects higher sales and earnings for fiscal 2023 after the food company continued to raise prices to stave off inflation and supply-chain pressures. The Chicago-based maker of Healthy Choice frozen meals and Slim Jim meat sticks said revenue rose 8.3% to $3.31 billion in the quarter ended Nov. 27 thanks to price increases and a shift in the mix of products it sold.

☆ Conagra Brands raises 2023 forecast on price increases
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of the company, known for its brands Birds Eye and Chef Boyardee, rose about 4% in premarket trading. But people have accepted the higher prices with little push back, as they find eating out far more expensive than cooking at home. On Thursday, Conagra forecast a 7% and 8% rise in full-year 2023 organic sales, which excludes impact from foreign exchange, divested businesses and acquisitions, compared with the previous expectation of 4% to 5% growth. Conagra said its higher average selling prices boosted organic sales by 17%, offseting an 8.4% decline in sales volumes in the second quarter. Net sales rose to $3.31 billion, while analysts had expected $3.28 billion in sales.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Silvergate, Bed Bath & Beyond, Walgreens and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Silvergate — Shares of the crypto-focused bank tumbled more than 42% after Silvergate disclosed massive customer withdrawals during the fourth quarter. Bed Bath & Beyond — The home goods retailer plummeted 24% after reporting it's running out of cash and is considering bankruptcy, citing weaker-than-expected sales. Constellation Brands — The alcoholic beverage maker's shares fell 8.8% after quarterly earnings came in slightly lower than analysts expected, according to FactSet. The food company reported earnings of 81 cents per share on revenue of $3.31 billion in revenue. GE Healthcare Technologies — Shares of the new public company fell 3% on their second day of trading, after rallying 8% on Wednesday.

☆ Markets close out the year down, following light week of trading
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Markets closed out the week — and the year — in the red, as the so-called Santa Claus rally failed to materialize. Under the hood, financials closed out the week in the green followed by energy, while materials led to the downside followed by consumer staples and utilities. On Thursday, initial jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 24 came in at 225,000, the U.S. Labor Department said. ET: ISM manufacturing PMI 10:00 a.m. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ With Debt Coming Due, Investment-Grade Companies Are Paying Up, Too
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

What’s more, volatile markets have resulted in fewer opportunities for companies to sell their debt. Investment-grade U.S. companies have between $550 billion and $750 billion coming due per year from 2023 through 2027, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., with about $59 billion left to pay off or refinance in 2022. Of the $615.54 billion, $504.31 billion were new issuances, compared to $111.23 billion in refinancings, Dealogic said. But investor demand for bonds has been stronger in recent days, leading Amazon.com Inc. and others with near-term debt coming due to the market. Among the businesses that recently took out bond debt at a higher cost is retail giant Walmart Inc.

☆ What Cramer is watching Friday — Fed plays good cop, bad cop and off-price retailers shine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Rival Ross Stores (ROST) gets multiple price target increases. Citi raises BJ's Wholesale (BJ) price target to $83 per share from $81 after earnings beat. Multiple price target raises on Club Bullpen name Palo Alto Networks (PANW). Barclays raises Applied Materials (AMAT) price target to $90 per share $80 but keeps neutral rating. Piper Sandler starts DraftKings (DKNG) with an overweight (buy) rating and a $21-per-share price target, which implies about 40% upside from Thursday's close.

☆ Coupa Software Weighs Right Time to Refinance Low-Rate Debt Amid High Rates
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Coupa Software Inc. is searching for the right time to refinance over $2 billion in convertible debt that it holds at nearly evanescent rates—despite rising financing costs and the fact that its maturities are more than two years away. Tony Tiscornia, chief financial officer at Coupa Software. “For a young software company, we would really like to see a lot of the focus on just growth at this time, over profitability,” she said, speaking generally. The company will likely refinance with convertible debt because the interest rate tends to be lower than that of straight debt, he said, adding that more equity would dilute shareholdings. Conagra said it had $8.98 billion in net debt as of Aug. 28, down from $9.19 billion a year earlier.

☆ Rising Rates Boost Companies’ Focus on Working Capital Management
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Nina Trentmann | Kristin Broughton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Higher interest rates are putting more pressure on companies to free up cash from their operations, a cheaper option than relying on credit. PREVIEWRising financing costs are one of several factors pushing companies to improve how they manage working capital, alongside high inventory levels and persistent inflation. “The only difference now is that with your cost of capital being higher, sometimes the economics change, but we’re always looking at working capital,” he said. “Working capital management comes more in focus,” Mr. Fracassa said, as it costs more for companies to draw on their revolving lines of credit with today’s higher rates. “It was kind of the unique rebuild period for working capital,” Mr. Wells said.

☆ Rising Rates Boosts Companies’ Focus on Working Capital Management
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Nina Trentmann | Kristin Broughton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Ford, Las Vegas Sands, Nvidia, Kraft Heinz and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ford Motor , General Motors — Shares of Ford and GM fell 7% and 5% respectively, after UBS downgraded both stocks. The firm lowered Ford to a sell rating from neutral and cut GM to a neutral from a buy. Casino stocks — Shares of hotel and casino companies were the top decliners in the S&P 500, with Wynn Resorts down 11.6% and Las Vegas Sands losing 8.5%. Kraft Heinz — The food maker's shares rose 2% after Goldman Sachs upgraded them to buy from neutral, noting that higher profit margins haven't been fully priced into the stock. Merck — Shares of the pharmaceutical giant rose 2.8% after Guggenheim upgraded Merck to buy from neutral.

☆ The top stock performers this week make recession-proof stuff like cereal and soup
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Investors this week turned to companies that make recession-proof stuff like cereal and soup, as fears of a potential economic recession mounted. General Mills was the top performing stock this week. Hershey advanced 1.7% this week and is forecasted to have roughly 5% upside to its price target, according to FactSet. Campbell Soup was the third best-performing stock this week, up 2.8%. Still, the food company is recommended by just 5.3% of analysts on FactSet, and is expected to have 2.2% downside to its price target.

☆ Activist investor Jana Partners discloses nearly 10% stake in Freshpet
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The New York-based investor said in a regulatory filing that Freshpet's shares, down nearly 60% so far this year, are undervalued. Jana Partners has a history of pushing for change in the food and beverage industry. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterJana Partners has also been pushing for changes at packaged food maker TreeHouse Foods Inc (THS.N) since last year. Freshpet has not yet spoken to Jana, but will "look forward to hearing their perspectives", the company said in an emailed statement. The news of Jana's stake was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

☆ Loans Are Cheaper Than Bonds for Some Highly Rated Companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Some highly rated companies are turning to term loans instead of bonds for their financing needs, taking advantage of cheaper pricing as banks have been slower to adjust to rising interest rates than the credit markets. Highly rated companies raised $998.8 billion in bonds in the U.S. this year through Monday, compared with $177.9 billion in term loans, according to Refinitiv, a data provider. For all of last year, fundraising through bonds amounted to $1.46 trillion versus $236.7 billion for term loans for investment-grade-rated companies. Term loans often have a shorter duration than bonds, with many of them ranging from three to five years. Term loans tend to be secured,” Mr. Holtz said, pointing to the mixture of bonds and term loans that make up the company’s capital structure.

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