By Sam Boughedda
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:LW) reported first-quarter results before the open Wednesday, sending its shares 5% higher.
The company reported earnings of $0.75 per share, $0.26 better than the analyst estimate of $0.49, while revenue came in at $1.13 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion.
Looking ahead, the company said it sees fiscal 2023 earnings per share between $2.45 and $2.85, versus the consensus of $2.79, with revenue for the period expected to be between $4.7 billion and $4.8 billion, versus the consensus of $4.77 billion.
Following the report, Stifel analysts told investors in a note that "Lamb Weston's 1Q23 EBITDA was up 85% to $228 million which was significantly ahead of our estimate (more than double the growth we estimated)."
The analysts, who have a Buy rating and $82 price target on the stock, added: "Organic sales were up 14% driven by price/ mix growth (+19%), while volume was down 5% due to softer foodservice volumes and some shipment timing factors. The gross margin was the star performer of the quarter, up nearly 900bps to 24.3% and roughly 400bps ahead of our estimate."
"This performance was encouraging given the weak potato crop from last year, the success of the pricing, and the implications for recovering its gross margin starting in 2H23."