Conagra Brands Inc

Bull points

• As for what comes next, our plan at this point is to stay agile. If inflation is benign, you'll see us likely continue to focus on continued volume momentum. If for some reason inflation was to go the other way, we'll keep our options open. After all, we are a company that is intensely focused on maximizing cash flow. And we've already proven that we can move the volume needle to growth in frozen and snacks when we need to. So, you know, net will be agile. But right now, I would say it's too early to speculate on a particular course of action. There's three and a half months to go before we guide for fiscal 27. And obviously, a lot can unfold by the hour these days. And certainly a lot can unfold in the next three and a half months. One thing we can be sure of is that we will drive a lot of productivity while we optimize all our other levers to mitigate any inflation that might come our way. And remember, we did take pricing this year on a bunch of products, our canned foods and our cocoa-oriented products, and the elasticities have been quite encouraging. So let's see how the dust settles, and then we'll take the smartest course of action to deal with whatever we're seeing at the time. But as I sit here today... I see a lot of positives. The business has strong momentum, especially in frozen snacks. Shares are excellent. Cash flow is strong. Productivity is robust. And people are highly engaged in delivering some of the most exciting innovations we've had.
• we do expect positive organic net sales growth in Q4. That's obviously implied with our full-year guide to kind of the midpoint of the range for organic consumption and shipment should be more in line in Q4, talking to what Sean just explained.
• I feel really good that we're actually now going to guide to the higher end of that range.

Bear points

• But that means we had to eat some of that higher cost. And As a result, that business in particular, because it's so strategic to us, we got volumes moving. They're moving extremely well again this quarter, but we've had to eat some cost. And a lot of that cost has been in animal protein because, as you know, animal proteins have been up. So that is exactly what has driven the margin compression in the frozen business, and it was a choice we made to protect our leading market shares and protect our our sales.
• But that means we had to eat some of that higher cost. And As a result, that business in particular, because it's so strategic to us, we got volumes moving. They're moving extremely well again this quarter, but we've had to eat some cost. And a lot of that cost has been in animal protein because, as you know, animal proteins have been up. So that is exactly what has driven the margin compression in the frozen business, and it was a choice we made to protect our leading market shares and protect our our sales.
• But that means we had to eat some of that higher cost. And As a result, that business in particular, because it's so strategic to us, we got volumes moving. They're moving extremely well again this quarter, but we've had to eat some cost. And a lot of that cost has been in animal protein because, as you know, animal proteins have been up. So that is exactly what has driven the margin compression in the frozen business, and it was a choice we made to protect our leading market shares and protect our our sales.