Campbell Soup's CEO Retires, Q3 Sales Fall Short Of Estimates

Campbell Soup CPB CEO Denise Morrison announced unexpectedly her decision to retire on Friday. Board Member Keith McLoughlin, former CEO of Electrolux AB, was named interim replacement.

The company also reported earnings for the third quarter. EPS beat consensus estimates, coming in at 70 cents, but sales fell short at $2.125 billion. Management lowered its fiscal 2018 guidance from $3.10-$3.17 to $2.85-$2.90, below Wall Street’s expectations.

Shares of Campbell were trading 12.1 percent lower at $34.49 at time of publication.

Why It’s Important

Morrison worked to steer Campbell Soup toward rapidly growing snack and health categories over the course of her seven-year tenure as CEO.

As part of this repositioning the company acquired a number of other food brands, most notably Snyder’s-Lance. Campbell sold $5.3 billion in bonds to fund the takeover, a move that concerned many skeptics.

However, Campbell has suffered from four years of declining sales in its namesake soup business and the stock has fallen almost 50 percent from it all-time high of $67.89 in July 2016.

Morrison is the latest in a string of female CEOs resigning over the past year. There are now only 23 women who hold the title of CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

What’s Next

The company will soon undertake a broad review of its brands and strategy. “Everything is on the table, there are no sacred cows,” said CFO Anthony DiSilvestro on a conference call following the earnings report. The review is expected to take several months.

In the meantime, recently appointed COO Luca Mignini will focus on integrating Snyder’s-Lance and the company’s other acquisitions, and working to improve the core soup business’ performance.

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