Dean Foods Q1 Adjusted Earnings Top Estimations

Dean Foods Company DF reported net income of $39.2 million or $0.43 a share for the first quarter compared to a net loss of $73.74 million or a loss of $0.78 a share in the previous year quarter.

On an adjusted basis, Dean Foods would have reported an 87.6 percent jump in net income to $41.84 million from $22.31 million while earnings climbed 91.7 percent to $0.46 a share from $0.24 a share in the comparable period. This was $0.08 a share more than the Street analysts' predictions of $0.38 a share. It also boosted its dividend rate by 29 percent to $0.09 a share.

However, the company's top line fell 8.4 percent to $1.88 billion from $2.05 billion in the year-ago quarter. Street estimated the food firm to generate revenue of $1.89 billion.

Dean Foods CEO Gregg Tanner said, "Our Q1 performance marks a strong start to 2016. Solid execution across all functions led to continued improvement in our financial and operational performance from Q4 to Q1. We continue to execute our agenda at high levels across the entire team."

Similarly, CFO Chris Bellairs said, "We delivered a solid start to 2016 across our key financial measures. We delivered $29 million of free cash flow and $122 million of adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. On an all cash netted basis, our total leverage improved to 1.72 times net debt to bank EBITDA, representing our fifth sequential quarterly improvement."

Going forward, the company expects adjusted earnings between $0.32 and $0.40 a share for the second quarter. Street analysts predict the company to deliver earnings of $0.35 a share.

On Monday, the stock closed with a gain of 0.75 percent.