Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, April 5, 2013

Article Excerpt

CONAGRA FOODS INC., $34.42, New York symbol CAG, recently completed its $4.75-billion acquisition of Ralcorp Holdings Inc., the largest maker of private label food in the U.S. The purchase helped push up ConAgra’s sales by 13.4% in its 2013 third quarter, which ended February 24, 2013, to $3.85 billion from $3.4 billion a year earlier. Ralcorp contributed $291.8 million to the latest sales. In addition, ConAgra raised its prices on its branded products, such as Peter Pan peanut butter and Hunt’s tomato sauce, to offset higher ingredient costs. Earnings fell 57.2%, to $120.0 million, or $0.29 a share, from $280.1 million, or $0.68. If you disregard costs to integrate Ralcorp and other unusual items, earnings per share would have risen 3.8%, to $0.55 from $0.53. On that basis, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $0.56 a share. Excluding unusual items, ConAgra now expects its earnings to rise 17% for all of fiscal 2013, to $2.15 a share. That includes $0.05…