Topic: Growth Stocks

PEPSICO INC. $95 – New York symbol PEP

PEPSICO INC. $95 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $142.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) earned $1.25 billion in the three months ended March 21, 2015, down 1.6% from $1.27 billion a year earlier. The company spent $1.1 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter. As a result, earnings per share were unchanged at $0.83.

Sales declined 3.2%, to $12.2 billion from $12.6 billion. If you exclude businesses PepsiCo bought and sold in the past year, as well as unfavourable currency exchange rates (overseas markets supply 40% of the company’s sales), revenue rose 4.4%.

PepsiCo is still seeing strong demand for its snack foods, particularly in developing countries. However, soft drink sales have suffered as increasingly health-conscious consumers drink less soda.

The company is now automating more of its bottling plants and closing less-efficient facilities as part of a multi-year restructuring plan. It expects these actions to save it $1 billion in 2015. However, the stock is expensive at 21.1 times PepsiCo’s likely 2015 earnings of $4.51 a share.

PepsiCo is still a hold.

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