One of my earliest childhood memories is eating a nice hot bowl of soup whenever I got sick or it was cold outside.

This soup, in particular, was a staple in my family’s kitchen, and I bet it was in yours, too.

Now this company’s been around since 1869. However, its latest earnings report suggests that America could be falling out of love.

But contrary to what investors are thinking, there’s never been a better time to put your money on it.

And this is why…

Why Campbell’s Earnings Miss Is a Win for Your Wallet

For the first time in over two years, Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) neither met nor beat its earnings expectations, reporting earnings of $0.46 (down from the $0.51 estimate). Although its reported revenue of $1.69 billion actually met estimates, Campbell’s adjusted gross margin came in lower at 32.4%, breaking its five-quarter streak of posting adjusted gross margin expansion.

Campbell has been trying to make a push into the fresh-foods market for some time now and created its own fresh-food unit (accounting for 13% of its total sales). But according to the last earnings report, it attributed its declining quarterly sales specifically to the fresh-food unit, citing:

  • The recall of 3.8 million bottles of its Bolthouse Farm Protein PLUS drinks due to a manufacturing issue that created some spoilage
  • A premature harvest of carrots that led them to be so puny in size, customers simply didn’t want them
  • Now Zachs Investment Research reported that Campbell is prone to currency fluctuations, saying these adverse currency translations affected its fourth-quarter results.

    But even though it had an underwhelming earnings report and has faced a couple of issues with its fresh-food unit, CPB announced a hike in its quarterly dividend (payable on Oct. 3, 2016), from $0.31 to $0.35. And that makes the prospect of buying CPB within the next month far more attractive to investors.

    And CEO Denise Morrison doesn’t seem overly concerned that the future of Campbell is in real trouble, stating that these recent hiccups were execution problems that will be fixed, although it may take a little time to return back to normal.

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