ORRVILLE: J.M. Smucker Co. said today its fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 25 percent as profitability improvements more than offset a slight sales decline.
The earnings beat Wall Street predictions, while revenue, hurt by price cutting, fell slightly short. Its shares rose modestly in early morning trading.
For the quarter ended April 30, the company with the Folgers coffee, Jif peanut butter and Hungry Jack pancake mix brands earned $130.3 million, or $1.22 per share, up from $104.1 million, or 93 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding costs related to special projects, the company said it posted an adjusted profit of $1.29 per share in the latest quarter.
Revenue edged down 1 percent to $1.34 billion from $1.36 billion.
Analysts, on average, expected a profit of $1.16 per share on $1.35 billion in revenue, according to research firm FactSet.
Smucker attributed the sales decline to price cuts that went into effect earlier in the fiscal year. Sales volumes rose 2 percent on higher sales at the company’s U.S. retail coffee and U.S. retail consumer foods businesses.
Meanwhile, profitability got a boost from a favorable sales mix, lower manufacturing costs and higher production volumes, the company said.
For the full fiscal year, Smucker earned $544.2 million, or $5 per share, up from $459.7 million, or $4.06 per share, in fiscal 2012.
Revenue rose to $5.9 billion from $5.53 billion.
For fiscal 2014, Smucker projected an adjusted profit of $5.65 to $5.75 per share.
Sales are expected to be flat compared with 2013 levels. Analysts expect a profit of $5.73 per share on $5.96 billion in revenue.
Shares rose 54 cents to $102.91 in morning trading. That is near the high end of their 52-week range of a low of $73.20 last June and high of $105.18 set in late April.