Dean Foods Company‘s (DF) adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter fiscal 2011 came in at 14 cents, well behind 23 cents recorded in the year-ago quarter but beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 6 cents a share.

Quarterly Discussion

Dean Foods’ quarterly net sales grew 2.9% year over year to $3,049.9 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,058.0 million. The growth was primarily a pass-through of increased commodity costs at Fresh Dairy Direct-Morningstar to consumers in the form of higher prices and record top-line performance at WhiteWave-Alpro that were partially offset by weedy volume at Fresh Dairy Direct-Morningstar.

Segment-wise, during the first quarter, Dean Foods’ Fresh Dairy Direct-Morningstar sales increased 2.0% to $2.54 billion while its WhiteWave-Alpro’s sales climbed 7% to $507.0 million.

Adjusted operating income for the first quarter declined 13.0% to $107 million from the prior-year quarter’s $123 million. The decline resulted primarily from a $15.0 million drop in operating profit at Fresh Dairy Direct-Morningstar and $5 million higher corporate expense. This was partially countered by a $3 million operating income growth at WhiteWave-Alpro.

Operating margin contracted to 3.5% from 4.2% in the prior-year quarter. Dean Foods’ adjusted operating expenses for the quarter rose 3.1% to $643.5 million compared with $624.3 million in the prior-year quarter.

Dean Foods ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $108.6 million, long-term debt of $3,988.9 million, shareholders’ equity of $1,582.9 million and non-controlling interest of $15.6 million. During the quarter, the company generated $37 million of cash from operations and a free cash flow of ($3.0) million while it utilized $40.0 million toward capital expenditure and $95.0 million in net debt repayment.

Outlook

For the second quarter of fiscal 2011, Dean Foods expects to earn in the range of 15 cents to 20 cents a share. The company now forecasts full-year 2011 adjusted earnings in the range of 67 cents to 75 cents a share, an increase from 55 cents to 65 cents a share guided earlier.

Zacks Rank

Dean Foods, which competes with Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT), currently has a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a short-term Hold rating on the stock. This corresponds with our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.

 
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