Written by StockNews.com

Kellogg Company (NYSE:K) posted better than expected fourth quarter earnings results on Thursday (Feb 9, 2017 | 8:10am), but offered a tepid outlook for 2017 that could miss Wall Street estimates.

The Battle Creek, MI-based cereal maker reported Q4 EPS of $0.92, which was $0.07 better than the Wall Street consensus view of $0.85.

Revenues fell 1.4% from last year to $3.1 billion, also topping analyst estimates for $3.08 billion.

Kellogg noted that the increase in quarterly profit was due to a combination of lower mark-to-market charges, as well as higher margins on its products across all the geographic regions the company serves.

Looking ahead, K forecast full-year 2017 EPS of $3.91 to $3.97, which could miss Wall Street expectations of $3.97.

Kellogg also said it still expects currency-neutral comparable operating profits to grow 7% to 9% year-over-year, and operating profit margins rising by one percentage point. Cash flow for 2017 is seen at $1.6 to $1.7 billion, or $1.1 to $1.2 billion after accounting for capital expenditures.

The company commented via press release:

“Our fourth quarter earnings exceeded our expectations, as operating-profit margins continued to improve, and as we again showed sequential improvement in our sales performance,” said John Bryant, Kellogg Company’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We also have announced that we are exiting our direct store delivery system in U.S. Snacks, in order to redirect our resources in a way that can better market our brands to today’s evolving shopper and retail channels. This will keep us firmly on our path to our 2018 operating profit margin expansion target and lead to better top-line performance.”

...Year-to-date, K has declined -0.30%, versus a 2.55% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

K currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of C (Neutral), and is ranked #34 of 62 stocks in the Food Makers category.