PepsiCo profit gets a bump as charges fade, though revenue slips in fourth quarter

PepsiCo's profit rose in the fourth quarter thanks in part to lower charges, though revenue declined slightly.

The food and beverage company also said Friday that it is boosting its annual dividend by 7% and plans to buy back about $1 billion of its shares.

For the three months ended Dec. 30, PepsiCo earned $1.3 billion, or 94 cents per share. That compares with $518 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding an impairment charge and other items, earnings were $1.78 per share. The performance topped the $1.72 per share analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research expected.

Revenue slipped to $27.86 billion from $28 billion, missing Wall Street's estimate of $28.24 billion.

Pepsi has wrestled with higher prices and how to pass those costs along. It has raised prices by double-digit percentages for several quarters.

Global supermarket chain Carrefour said last month that it will stop selling PepsiCo products in its stores in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy due to price increases for popular items like Lay’s potato chips, Quaker Oats, Lipton Iced Tea and its namesake soda.

PepsiCo said at the time that it would continue to engage in good faith with Carrefour to try to ensure that it products remained available.

Its profits are up, though higher prices have dragged down sales as people trade down to cheaper brands. PepsiCo has been shrinking package sizes of some products in that environment.

PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, New York, has said price increases should ease and largely align with inflation, which has fallen considerably.

PepsiCo has pointed to higher costs for grain and cooking oil as it has raised prices. Costs for those food commodities surged following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine but have since retreated on global markets from record highs in 2022.

The company's stock fell more than 2% before the market open.