Keurig Dr Pepper Profit Jumps Despite Coffee Woes Limiting Sales Growth

By Dean Seal

Keurig Dr Pepper's earnings jumped more than 50% in the fourth quarter although challenges in its coffee business limited overall growth to about 1%.

The beverage company posted a profit of $693 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $453 million, or 32 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Earnings were boosted by the company lapping a $166 million impairment in the year-ago quarter.

Stripping out one-time items, adjusted earnings were 55 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting 54 cents a share.

Quarterly revenue increased to $3.87 billion from $3.8 billion last year, missing analysts' forecasts for $3.92 billion, according to FactSet.

The growth was driven by prices rising 4.8%, which offset a 3.7% drop in volumes. Sales in its U.S. refreshment beverages segment were up 6.8% at $2.2 billion thanks to higher prices, with just a modest decline in volumes.

Sales at the company's U.S. coffee business fell by nearly 10% to $1.2 billion, with just a small boost in prices being more than offset by declining volumes.

Keurig Dr Pepper is guiding for sales to rise in the mid-single-digit percentage range in 2024 and for adjusted earnings to rise in the high-single-digit percentage range.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 22, 2024 07:39 ET (12:39 GMT)

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