RTTNews | Oct 1, 2020 07:51AM EDT

07:51 Thursday, October 1, 2020 (RTTNews.com) - While reporting financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 on Thursday, Conagra Brands, Inc. (CAG) provided only its adjusted earnings and organic net sales growth guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2021.

The company is still not initiating annual outlook, as is usual, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its full year fiscal 2021 consolidated results is uncertain. The Company continues to expect demand in retail to remain elevated and demand in foodservice to remain challenged versus historical norms. However, the degree and timing of changes in retail and foodservice demand levels are difficult to predict with enough certainty to provide a full-year outlook at this time.

For the second quarter, the company expects adjusted earnings in a range of $0.70 to $0.74 per share and organic net sales growth of 6 to 8 percent.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue growth of 4.0 percent to $2.93 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company said it continues to see a significant increase in demand in its retail segments and also continues to see reduced demand in its Foodservice segment when compared to pre-COVID-19 demand levels. COVID-19-related costs have also continued to impact the business.

Looking ahead to the long-term algorithm, the company continues to project adjusted earnings for fiscal 2022 in the range of $2.66 to $2.76 per share and organic net sales growth at a 3-year CAGR ending fiscal 2022 of 1 to 2 percent. It also remains committed to achieving its leverage target of 3.5x to 3.6x by the end of fiscal 2021.

Additionally, the Company's board of directors also approved a 29 percent higher quarterly dividend payment of $0.275 per share of Conagra common stock to be paid on December 2, 2020 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 2, 2020.

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