Shares of Kellanova K, formerly known as Kellogg, rose 2.1% toward a five-week high in premarket trading Wednesday, after the snacks and frozen foods company beat third-quarter profit expectations, but missed on revenue and provided a downbeat outlook. Net income fell to $269 million, or 78 cents a share, from $310 million, or 90 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.03 was well above the FactSet consensus of 89 cents. Sales slipped 0.2% to $3.94 billion from $3.95 billion, while the FactSet consensus called for a rise to $4.04 billion, as higher prices had an increased negative impact on demand. Overall pricing and mix increased 11.3% while volume fell 7.4%; in North America, the volume decline of 10.25 outpaced the increase in price/mix of 9.9%. For the fourth quarter, the company expects adjusted EPS of 73 cents to 76 cents and revenue of approximately $3.1 billion, which are below the current FactSet consensus for EPS of 79 cents and revenue of $3.16 billion. The stock has dropped 14.5% over the past three months through Tuesday while the S&P 500 SPX has declined 2.7%.
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