What’s Going On Here?PepsiCo reported on Wednesday that its quarterly results beat expectations. What Does This Mean?Few of us can splurge on slap-up meals now that rising prices are thinning out the contents of our wallets, and companies like PepsiCo – which makes everything from snacks to sodas to sports drinks – are happily pocketing the proceeds of our quiet nights in. No wonder, then, that revenue across all of PepsiCo’s segments grew last quarter. But what’s even more impressive is that profit jumped too, with price hikes defending the company’s margins against the rising cost of ingredients. That could be why PepsiCo’s overall predictions were pretty tasty, even as the company warned that the strong US dollar could sap international profit: the firm upped its outlook for both revenue and profit this year, and satisfied investors duly sent the stock up 3%. Why Should I Care?For markets: Nobody skimps on chips.
PepsiCo’s results are a lesson in the value of consumer staples companies – firms that people tend to buy from no matter what state the economy’s in. See, the average price across PepsiCo’s delectable offerings – which include Gatorade, Lay’s chips, and Quaker Oats – was up 17% last quarter versus the same time the year before, but there was essentially no drop in the volume of goods the firm sold. That unshakable demand might explain the success of an index tracking some of the world’s biggest consumer staples companies, which has beaten the S&P 500 by a scrumptious 12% so far this year.
The bigger picture: Snacks that don’t make the world gassy.
Making snacks in humongous quantities isn’t a zero-carbon endeavor, but PepsiCo’s trying its best. It announced last month that it’s teaming up with agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland to bring eco-friendly “regenerative” farming practices to two million acres of farmland. Together the companies reckon they could eliminate 1.4 million metric tons – a helluva lot – of greenhouse gasses, and make strides toward hitting their carbon reduction goals. | 