03:25 PM EDT, 06/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We lift our 12-month target $1 to $47, 14x our FY 25 (Jul.) EPS of $3.35 (up from $3.25; FY 24 up to $3.11 from $3.05) vs. the 17x long-term mean, justified by weak organic sales trends and elevated leverage following the Sovos Brands acquisition (net debt/adj-EBITDA now 3.9x vs. 2.6x a year ago). FQ3 (Apr-Q) adj-EPS of $0.75 (+9% Y/Y) beat by $0.05. However, organic sales were flat, with flat growth in both volumes and pricing. CPB is seeing stabilization in its Meals/Beverage segment, but is now seeing some incremental softness in its Snacks segment due to weaker spending among lower and middle-income households. While we expect volume trends to improve over the next year, we see some risk to price/mix growth as CPB, as well as the broader industry, tries to keep price gaps competitive, especially against private label products. The Sovos Brands acquisition (includes Rao's) closed on March 12 and integration is off to a solid start; we note $50M of synergies is expected by year 2 of close. We remain at Hold.