Conagra Slides 4% as Weak Earnings and Bleak Outlook Rattle Investors

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) took a hit Thursday, with shares falling around 4% after the company posted disappointing fourth-quarter results and laid out a cautious outlook for fiscal 2026 that missed Wall Street expectations by a wide margin.

For the fiscal fourth quarter, adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.56, short of the $0.59 consensus. Revenue also fell short, declining 4.3% year-over-year to $2.78 billion—well below analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. The top-line miss was driven by a 3.5% drop in organic sales, with both lower volumes and modest pricing pressure weighing on results.

Looking ahead, the packaged food maker offered guidance that significantly underwhelmed investors. For fiscal 2026, the company expects adjusted EPS between $1.70 and $1.85—well below the $2.19 analysts had been forecasting. Organic sales are projected to be flat at best, and operating margins are expected to range between 11.0% and 11.5%.

Conagra cited ongoing inflation and the newly introduced U.S. tariffs as key challenges. Core inflation is projected at around 4%, while tariffs could raise the company’s annual cost of goods sold by approximately 3% before any cost-offsetting measures are applied.

For fiscal 2025, the company reported a 3.6% decline in net sales to $11.6 billion and a 13.9% drop in adjusted EPS to $2.30. Despite the weak results, Conagra did manage to reduce net debt by 4.4% to $8.0 billion and generated $1.7 billion in operating cash flow—offering some stability in an otherwise uncertain environment.