Kraft Foods Posts Higher Profit, Affirms 2012 Goals

Kraft Foodsreported higher quarterly profit and stood by its full-year goals on Thursday, helped by price increases.

Kraft Foods
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Kraft Foods

After the announcement, shares of the company edged up in after-hours trading.Get the latest quote for Kraft here.

The food company delivered second-quarter earnings excluding items of 68 cents per share, up from 62 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue was $13.29 billion, a decrease from $13.88 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of 66 cents per share on revenue of $13.96 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company, which plans to split into two separate companies on Oct. 1, reported net income of $1.03 billion, or 58 cents per share, compared to $976 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier.

Easter came earlier this year compared to last year, so Kraft, which sells Cadbury chocolates, shipped more candy in the first quarter — hurting sales in the second quarter relative to last year.

The company stood by its full-year targets, which call for growth of about 5 percent for revenue and at least 9 percent for operating earnings.

Thomson Reuters contributed to this report.