Here's How Kraft Heinz (KHC) Looks Ahead Of Q4 Earnings

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) is scheduled to release fourth-quarter 2019 results on Feb 13. This packaged food and beverage company has trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 8.2%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter 2019 earnings is pegged at 68 cents per share, which suggests a decline of 19.1% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure. Moreover, the projection has moved down by a penny in the past 30 days. The consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $6,579 million, which indicates a fall of 4.5% from the prior-year quarter’s figure.

Factors at Play

Kraft Heinz has been battling input cost inflation. In the last earnings call, management stated that it expects fourth-quarter bottom line to get impacted by escalated key commodity costs as well as volatile meats and cheese prices. Additionally, the divestiture of Canadian natural cheese business in July, 2019 is likely to have had a negative impact on the company’s performance in the to-be-reported quarter. Further, volatile currency movement is a concern. In fact, management expects the top and the bottom line to have declined in the fourth quarter.

Nevertheless, Kraft Heinz has been benefiting from focus on innovation and product development to enhance the performance of its brands. Also, marketing and distribution initiatives along with efficient pricing strategies have been aiding the company. Additionally, Kraft Heinz’ focus on transformational projects to strengthen some of the core areas of the business bodes well.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Kraft Heinz this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Kraft Heinz carries a Zacks Rank #3 and has an Earnings ESP of +1.33%.

Other Stocks With Favorable Combinations

Here are other companies you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

e.l.f. Beauty Inc. (NYSE:ELF) presently has an Earnings ESP of +20.00% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFM) currently has an Earnings ESP of +64.29% and a Zacks Rank #3.

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) has an Earnings ESP of +0.39% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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