PepsiCo (PEP) quarterly results showed that North American consumers remain under pressure as they focus on essentials and budget for higher gas prices.
The soda and snack giant beat Wall Street's expectations on both the top and bottom lines, but its North American results weighed on the quarter. Additionally, Americans didn't stock up on snacks following price cuts of roughly 15% in February on Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, and Tostitos.
"Results were tempered in the quarter as U.S. food and beverage category performance moderated with consumer budgets tightening due to rising inflationary pressures," chair and CEO Ramon Laguarta said in prepared remarks.
PepsiCo's stock fell nearly 5% in morning trading on Thursday.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.20 in the fiscal second quarter, more than the $2.19 Wall Street analysts expected. Pepsi also posted a revenue beat, driven by international results, with sales of $24.2 billion above the $23.9 billion expected.
Both revenue growth and pricing for PepsiCo's snack brands in North America fell by 2% in the quarter, while volume growth was flat in the region.
A bright spot in the quarter was portion-control multipacks, which increased in both volume and net revenue. PepsiCo shared that "permissible options" — more health-conscious products like Simply, SunChips, Siete, or Quaker Rice Cakes — did well too.
Zero-sugar options in PepsiCo's beverage business, such as Pepsi Zero Sugar and Mountain Dew Zero Sugar, were also strong.
Volume in the company's global food business increased by 3%, while its beverage business increased by 2%. Overall global organic volume increased at the highest rate since 2022.
The company reiterated its full-year outlook and said it expects the consumer landscape to improve in the second half of 2026. Organic revenue is expected to increase between 2% and 4%. Core constant currency earnings per share are expected to rise between 4% and 6%.
"We are encouraged by the trajectory of our international business and expect its resilient performance to continue," CFO Steve Schmitt said. "Our North America business was softer than we anticipated in the second quarter, and we now expect a more gradual improvement in performance trends for the balance of this year."
Brooke DiPalma is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at [email protected].
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