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PepsiCo tops 3Q estimates
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October 10, 2001: 8:20 a.m. ET
Soft drink company says it is on track for '01 and '02 EPS estimates.
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NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - PepsiCo Inc. posted improved third quarter earnings that topped Wall Street expectations Wednesday as the soft drink and snack company said it is on track to hit full-year earnings forecasts for this year and next.
The company earned $866 million, or 48 cents a share, during the 12-week period ended Sept. 8, excluding charges from its recently completed purchase of Quaker Oaks. That's better than the 46 cents a share consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by the research firm First Call, and up from the $759 million, or 42 cents a share, it earned on the same basis a year earlier.
Including acquisition-related costs and other one-time items, the company earned net income of $627 million, or 34 cents a share, down from $755 million, or 42 cents a share, a year earlier. All earnings results are stated as if Quaker Oaks was part of the company in the year-earlier period and during the entire third quarter.
The company said it expects to earn $1.66 a share this year, which would be in line with First Call's consensus forecast, and that it is still on target for the 13 to 14 percent growth in EPS in 2002, which would also be in line with the consensus estimate.
Revenue from the company's Frito-Lay snack division rose to $3.5 billion, up from $3.3 billion a year earlier. Its new Quaker Foods division saw sales rise to $510 million from $489 million the year before. Revenue from its worldwide beverage business, which includes Pepsi brand soft drinks, Gatorade sports drinks and Tropicana juices, rose to $2.9 billion from $2.7 billion.
Most of the revenue from the sale of Pepsi products comes from the company's bottlers, such as the Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (PBG: Research, Estimates), which reported better than forecast results Tuesday. PepsiCo sells soft drink concentrate to the bottlers.
PepsiCo said its drink sales were helped by the introduction of new products, including Mountain Dew Code Red, Sierra Mist, single-serving Dole juices as well as continued strong sales growth in its Aquafina bottled water.
Shares of PepsiCo (PEP: Research, Estimates) gained 31 cents to $48.93 in Tuesday trading. 
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