Lamb Weston Holdings Inc

Coors Light and Cheez-It are partnering to launch a beer cheese flavored cracker. The limited-time snack will hit shelves in August with a suggested retail price of $4.99. According to a news release from the Mars Inc owned brand, the new Cheez-It captures the flavor of classic beer cheese spread in cracker form. In other food news, Midwest Poultry Services has voluntarily recalled about 19 million total individual eggs, or about 1.6 million dozen eggs, due to potential salmonella contamination. The recalled eggs, sold under brand names like Kroger, Berkshire, Simple Truth and Country Morning, are white and brown cage-free eggs produced in Texas with sell-by or best-by dates between July 20th and August 17th of this year. Additionally, Lamb Weston, the potato supplier to restaurants like McDonald's, issued a light outlook as french fry sales slip, with the company now expecting sales to grow just 1% in fiscal 2027.

Lamb Weston guided fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings per share in a range of $2.95 to $3.25, with net sales expected to be flat to up 1% versus a 52-week adjusted base of $6.5 billion for fiscal 2026. Chief Financial Officer James Gray also projected adjusted operating income of $720 million to $800 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion, while warning that first-quarter EBITDA would decline in the low teens before growth resumes later in the year. The outlook follows a fourth quarter in which company net sales rose 6%, driven by a 7% increase in volume and a 2% favorable currency impact, partially offset by a 3% decline in price and mix. Management highlighted near-term pressure from edible oil and freight inflation, as well as carryover costs from the prior potato crop, and announced the planned closure of a facility in the Netherlands that represents about 10% of EMEA production capacity. Executive Chair Jan Eli B. Craps said the company is evaluating all options for its international footprint, including M&A, partnerships, and divestitures, with a fuller strategy update expected at an Investor Day in early calendar 2027.

Lamb Weston Holdings initiated its fiscal 2027 outlook, projecting adjusted earnings of $2.95 to $3.25 per share and net sales growth of 0.0 to 1.0 percent. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, payable on September 4, 2026 to shareholders of record as of August 7, 2026. The announcement accompanied the release of fourth-quarter financial results on Friday. In pre-market trading, shares were down 3.48 percent at $47.50.

StockStory identifies three profitable companies that may face headwinds. Kulicke and Soffa, with a trailing 12-month GAAP operating margin of 6.7%, has seen annual sales decline 3.9% over five years and a 20.2 percentage point drop in free cash flow margin. Lamb Weston, at a 9.3% margin, faces flat revenue expectations and a 9.8% annual EPS contraction over three years. American Express Global Business Travel, with a 2.7% margin, grew revenue 12.5% annually over two years but saw its operating margin fall 3.7 percentage points as expenses rose.

Three consumer stocks are flagged as falling short: Reynolds, Lamb Weston, and Vital Farms. Reynolds has struggled with flat unit sales and a gross margin of 25.4% below competitors, with flat projected sales. Lamb Weston saw no organic revenue growth and a 9.8% annual EPS decline over three years, with flat demand forecast. Vital Farms faces subscale operations with $784.4 million in revenue, flat expected revenue, and a 14-percentage-point drop in free cash flow margin.