The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Jason English: Okay. That’s helpful. Thank you. And then, turning back to some of the segments. Looking at coffee, the price was weaker than we expected, and it sounds like it’s going to get even a little more — and it sounds like it’s going to turn deflationary based on the comments you made around the investment just this month. A, is that right? B, do you expect the segment to still post organic growth if price is deflating? Given there’s really no volume growth in the industry, it actually looks like it’s contracting. And sorry, three-part question. In light of the price investment, should we view a return to low-30s EBIT margins as out of reach for this year?

Tucker Marshall: So Jason, maybe breaking this down, we — on a year-over-year basis, coffee should be flat to slightly down just due to deflation in the underlying green coffee. We are expecting a level of volume momentum for the portfolio on a year-over-year basis. We do see gross profit margin improvement year-over-year, as you have noted. And from a segment profit standpoint, we are spending back some of that gross profit improvement in the form of marketing and investments in liquid coffee and sustainability. And so, we would expect the segment profit margin to sort of be in the high-20s.

Operator: Next question today is coming from Max Gumport from BNP Paribas.

Max Gumport: With regard to gross margin, you took up your full year guidance. It sounds like it was due to incremental cost favorability. I was wondering if you could give us any color on some of the drivers of that favorability you’re seeing and what the sources of the change were and how that might impact your assumptions around cadence for the next three quarters as well. Thank you.

Tucker Marshall: Max, good morning. As you noted, we came into our fiscal year with a gross profit margin guidance of 36.5% to 37%. We have now guided to a 37% outlook for the balance of the year. So on average, we’ve come up about 25 basis points. What gave us conviction in doing that was just seeing some cost favorability within total cost of goods sold. In areas where you have a level of commodities, you have a level of transportation, you may have some in the manufacturing and distribution environment. But it’s not significant. It’s just some level of cost improvement. As we think about the outlook for the balance of the year, that gross profit margin will improve in each of the next three quarters in order to get you to the 37% outlook for the full year, and it will be pretty consistent over Q2, Q3 and Q4.

Max Gumport: Thanks. And turning back to the commentary on trade-down in pet. We’ve also been hearing some chatter about this dynamic and seeing it in the data as well. I’m curious what you think is driving this increased value-seeking behavior and how long you think it can persist. Thank you.

Mark Smucker: Matt, it’s Mark. I won’t speculate on how long. I do think as we have refined our portfolio to fit our strategy, obviously, pet snacks is really our crown jewel there. And I answered a little bit of that question earlier. Keep in mind that — we all as pet owners feed our pets, obviously, pet food. Pet snacks are a little bit more discretionary. But nonetheless, keep in mind that consumers oftentimes treat their pets better than their children. And so, we do believe that the pet snacks and our — particularly our dog snacks portfolio, will continue to perform as we continue to meet the needs of consumers wherever they may be at from value to premium. So, we really feel good about where our portfolio is positioned there.

Operator: Next question is coming from Steve Powers from Deutsche Bank.