PepsiCo (PEP) stock lost some of its fizz today after the beverage and snack company posted mixed results in its Q4 2024 earnings report. Adjusted earnings per share and revenue came in at $1.96 and $27.78 billion. While EPS beat Wall Street’s estimate of $1.94, the company’s revenue failed to reach analysts’ estimate of $27.89 billion. That makes sense as EPS jumped 10.1% and revenue declined 0.25% year-over-year.
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Digging deeper into the Pepsi Q4 earnings report, poor operating profit in North America held the business back. That includes a 4% drop for Frito-Lay, a 38% fall for Quaker Foods, and an 11% decrease for PepsiCo Beverages during the quarter.
PEP stock investors weren’t happy about these results, sending shares 2.59% lower during pre-market trading. That extends a 1.18% drop year-to-date and continues the shares’ 9.27% fall over the past 52 weeks.
What’s Next for PEP Stock?
Investors likely weren’t impressed by Pepsi’s expectations for 2025. The company’s new guidance for 2025 includes a low-single-digit increase in organic revenue and a mid-single-digit increase in adjusted EPS.
Pepsi also provided plans to return profits to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases. The company expects $7.6 billion in dividends and $1 billion in share repurchases, bringing its total return to shareholders to $8.6 billion.
Is PEP Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for PepsiCo is Moderate Buy based on four Buy and six Hold ratings over the past three months. With that comes an average price target of $167.90, a high of $185, and a low of $155. This represents a potential 11.73% upside for PEP stock. These ratings and price targets will likely change as analysts update their coverage after today’s earnings report.
