Investors were dumping Campbell Soup shares Friday morning on the back of disappointing quarterly sales.
The canned soup company reported third quarter earnings of 65 cents a share ex-items on revenues of $1.87 billion, edging past expectations for 64 cents per share on $1.91 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
However, Campbell said that U.S. soup sales cooled off 5 percent in the quarter, attributable to weakness in ready-to-serve products and condensed soups. Still, the company said that it saw gains in broth products.
The stock closed down more than 6 percent on Friday.
Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell, attributed the company's sales decline to a "very challenging consumer environment."
"We're unsatisfied with our third-quarter organic sales growth, which was largely due to a weaker U.S. soup season, some challenges in V8 beverages and a weather-related disruption to our fresh carrot supply," Morrison said in a statement.
She also said that the company sees organic sales growth, which excludes impacts from currency headwinds and acquisitions, in the fourth quarter and fiscal 2017 on "more robust innovation and marketing."
Campbell also raised is full-year outlook and expects to see adjusted earnings of $2.93 to $3 a share for the year. In February, the company previously gave guidance of $2.88 to $2.96 a share for fiscal 2016.
The stock is up 28 percent in the past year and has gained nearly 14 percent this year.
CPB in the last 12 months
Source:FactSet
CORRECTION: Campbell Soup's CEO says she expects to see organic sales growth, which excludes impacts from currency headwinds and acquisitions, in the fourth quarter and fiscal 2017. An earlier version of this article misstated the source of growth.