02:25 PM EDT, 05/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We lift our 12-month target by $1 to $41, 13.2x our 2024 EPS of $3.10 (up from $3.06; 2025 up to $3.27 from $3.17) and in line with its five-year average forward P/E. Q1 adj-EPS of $0.69 (+1% Y/Y) was in line with consensus on revenues of $6,411M (-1.2% Y/Y), $22M below consensus. Organic sales fell 0.5% Y/Y (+2.7% price; -3.2% volume/mix). Volumes improved from Q4 (-3.2% vs. -4.4% in Q4), but will likely be negative for another quarter before inflecting positive in 2H 2024. KHC notes softening U.S. restaurant traffic, which will likely remain a headwind for the remainder of the year. However, its larger retail business is poised to bounce back as it will now be lapping the reduction in SNAP benefits from last year. KHC raised its gross margin expectations for the year, but left its EPS outlook unchanged. KHC repurchased $329M of shares in Q1, with $150M repurchased under its $3.0B share repurchase program from November 2023 ($2.6B remaining). Leverage is manageable at 3.0x. We maintain our Buy rating.