Kraft Heinz (KHC) Q4 2022 earnings

Kraft Heinz on Wednesday beat Wall Street earnings and sales expectations, but offered soft profit guidance for the year, a sign of mounting pressure from higher costs.

Shares of the Pittsburgh-based company, which owns brands including Oscar Meyer, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Lunchables, were little changed in premarket trading.

Here’s how the company did, compared to analyst estimates, according to Refinitiv:

• Revenue: $7.38 billion vs. $7.27 billion expected
• Adjusted earnings per share: 85 cents vs. 78 cents expected

Fourth-quarter net sales increased 10% to $7.38 billion year over year. The company also made a profit for the period, reporting net income of $887 million, or 72 cents of earnings per share, compared with a loss of $255 million, or 21 cents a share, a previous year. Excluding items, earnings per share for the most recent quarter were 85 cents.

However, the company expects adjusted earnings of $2.67 and $2.75 per share for the year, well below analyst estimates of $2.77. per share, according to Refinitiv.

Although packaged food companies have raised prices over the past two years, they are still grappling with rising commodity costs and supply chain issues. Kraft Heinz rose 15.2% on volume down 4.8%. The company cited price pressures and supply constraints to explain why volumes fell.

Despite beating revenue and EPS, Kraft Heinz’s earnings contrast with companies like Oreo maker Mondelz Internationalthis saw less demand push back despite the price increase.

The company expects organic net sales growth of 4% to 6% in 2023, slightly above its estimate of 4.8%.

Kraft Heinz launched a campaign called “LVII Meanz 57,” protesting the use of Roman numerals, ahead of Super Bowl 57. The brand launched a website where consumers could vote on whether or not roman numerals should be dropped, according to the press release.