PepsiCo Beats Q2 Estimates, Raises Full-Year Earnings Forecast

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July 13 (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc raised its full-year earnings forecast on Tuesday, betting on accelerating demand for its sodas in theaters, restaurants and stadiums as they pull back crowds following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

The company's shares rose nearly 2% premarket.

The vaccine-aided reopening of public venues across the United States following a year of closures or strict capacity limits helped boost sales in PepsiCo's North America Beverage unit 24% in the second quarter.

The company said it expects fiscal 2021 core earnings per share to increase 11%, compared with its prior forecast of a high-single-digit increase.

Net revenue rose 20.5% to $19.22 billion in the quarter ended June 12, above expectations of $17.96 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

PepsiCo said it would also expand a program to automate more manufacturing processes and optimize its supply chain, resulting in expected pre-tax charges of about $3.15 billion. The program's prior cost estimate was about $2.5 billion.

Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel.

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Source: Reuters, CNBC Television