Pepsico Cuts Prices on Snacks. It's not Enough to Drive Growth in North America.

Dow Jones
Jul 09

Beverage and snack giant's stock fell as an earnings beat didn't prompt an increase in the full-year outlook

PepsiCo's stock was set to fall as the company's North America business lagged, but strength in international business led to an earnings beat.

Shares of PepsiCo fell in early Thursday trading after the beverage and snack giant's fiscal second-quarter profit and revenue beat expectations - but didn't prompt an increase in the full-year outlook.

And while the international business showed strong growth, the North America volume in the snacks business was flat despite a second consecutive quarter of price cuts - and the beverages business remained a problem.

The stock $(PEP)$ fell 1.1% in premarket trading. That put it on track to snap a four-quarter streak of post-earnings gains.

Revenue for the PepsiCo Foods North America business in the quarter to June 13 declined 2% from a year ago, as volume was flat and prices fell 2% - prices had declined 1% in the previous quarter.

For PepsiCo Beverages North America, revenue grew 7%, but the acquisition of businesses in 2025 provided a boost. Prices increased 3% - they rose 6% the previous quarter - but volume fell 4% to extend a streak of quarterly volume declines going back to the fiscal third quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, overall revenue grew 6.4% to $24.18 billion, above the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of $23.95 billion. That was helped by double-digit percentage growth in each of its international regions. That pushed overall volume growth to 3%, while pricing rose 2%.

Gross margin, a measure of profitability on sales, narrowed to 54.2% from 54.7%.

Core earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, rose to $2.20 from $2.12 a year ago and topped the FactSet EPS consensus of $2.19.

Despite the beats, the company said it still expects 2026 organic revenue, which excludes acquisitions, to increase between 2% and 4% and core EPS to rise between 4% and 6%.

PepsiCo's stock has lost 0.7% in 2026 through Wednesday, while shares of rival Coca-Cola $(KO)$ have rallied 19.3% and the S&P 500 index SPX has gained 9.3%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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July 09, 2026 07:57 ET (11:57 GMT)

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