Courtesy of Benzinga.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR), the controversial maker of K-cups and the Keurig coffee brewers, forecast fiscal fourth-quarter earnings per share of 45-50 cents on sales of $889.9-$925.5 million. Those forecasts were well below the EPS of 62 cents on sales of $952.17 million Wall Street analysts had been expecting.
The Vermont-based company also slashed its full-year guidance to $2.21-$2.26 a share from $2.40-$2.50. Green Mountain forecast full-year revenue of $3.79-$3.84 billion, down from the company’s previous forecast of $3.8-$4 billion. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $3.87 billion. The company also pared its capital expenditures guidance to $475-$525 million from $525-$575 million.
In its fiscal third quarter, Green Mountain earned 52 cents on sales of $869.2 million. Analysts expected a profit of 50 cents a share on revenue of $873.83 million.
“Our third quarter results demonstrate continued business strength and solid fundamentals, particularly in light of the robust comparable quarter we reported in the year ago period,” said CEO Lawrence J. Blanford in a statement.. Blanford went on to caution investors that “As we become larger, however, our sales growth trajectory will understandably moderate from hyper-growth to a level more in-line with other successful growth businesses.”
Green Mountain also authorized a $500 million share repurchase program.
