01:52 PM EDT, 08/04/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Freshpet ( FRPT ) said Monday it expects to deliver "outsized" growth ahead as the pet food company maintained its full-year core earnings outlook despite demand headwinds in the dog food category.

The company continues to expect 2025 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization between $190 million and $210 million. However, its reduced its net sales growth expectations to between 13% and 16% from its prior outlook range of 15% to 18%.

"We still believe we will deliver outsized growth for a long period of time, but we need to plan for the current economic realities," Chief Executive Billy Cyr said in a statement.

Freshpet's ( FRPT ) growth continues to "significantly outperform" the dog food category despite subdued demand, Cyr said on an earnings conference call, according to a FactSet transcript.

The company's shares were up 8.4% in Monday afternoon trade. The stock has lost about 52% in value so far this year.

"Looking back over the past six months, it is now apparent that the dog food category has faced a sizable headwind for the first time in years," Cyr told analysts. "We've seen economic uncertainty resulting (in) consumers hesitating to trade up their dog food, defer well visits to the vet, decline medical treatments for their pets, and defer getting a new dog or replacing a recently deceased dog."

Freshpet ( FRPT ) expects to defer at least $100 million in capital expenditures from 2025-2026 and still meet overall demand it is likely to generate for the "foreseeable future," Cyr said on the call. "This reduction in CapEx will have a direct impact on our cash flow to make the business much less capital-intensive for the next few years."

The company is presently seeing a "small impact" from tariffs on vegetables sourced from Europe and in spare parts, and it is mitigating them where possible, Chief Financial Officer Todd Cunfer told analysts. Some tariff impact, especially on the cost of steel for new construction and new equipment, is included in the latest capex outlook, Cunfer added.

Freshpet ( FRPT ) swung to second-quarter earnings of $0.33 a share from a $0.03 loss a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet were looking for EPS of $0.10. Net sales jumped nearly 13% to $264.7 million, mainly driven by volume gains and favorable price and mix. Wall Street was looking for $267.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $44.4 million from $35.1 million.

For 2027, Freshpet ( FRPT ) said it removed its $1.8 billion net sales target to adjust for the recent slower growth. "However, the company expects to continue to deliver growth significantly in excess of the dog food category," it said in the statement.

Price: 71.31, Change: +5.46, Percent Change: +8.29