Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Q4 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) Wednesday reported a 38 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter, as sales of Keurig single cup brewers and packs continued to drive top line growth. Both earnings and revenues for the quarter came in well ahead of Wall Street estimates.

Green Mountain, known for its Keurig coffee brewers, said sales from portion packs grew 11 percent to $777.9 million, while sales for brewers and accessories grew 27 percent to $190.4 million. The company generated about 92 percent of its total revenues from sales of Keurig single cup brewers, portion packs, and Keurig-related accessories.

Meanwhile, other products sales declined 17.5 percent to $78.9 million from last year.

Green Mountain's sales for the quarter grew 11 percent to $1.05 billion from $946.7 million last year. Fourteen analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $964.56 million for the quarter.

Gross margin for the period improved to 36 percent from 33.6 percent in the prior year period.

Waterbury, Vermon-based Green Mountain's fourth-quarter profit rose to $127.0 million or $0.83 per share from $91.9 million or $0.58 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $0.89 per share from $0.64 per share a year ago. On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.75 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking ahead to the first quarter, Green Mountain expect adjusted earnings in the range of $0.85 to $0.90 per share and sales growth of low-to-mid single digits due to difficult brewer and portion pack sales comparisons, the impact of unlicensed packs, and the currency headwind in Canada. Analysts currently expect first-quarter earnings of $0.96 per share on sales growth of 7.30 percent.

For the fiscal year 2014, the company expects adjusted earnings of $3.75 to $3.85 per share with sales growth in the high single digits. Analysts currently expect full-year 2014 earnings of $3.78 per share on revenues of 4.69 billion.

Separately, the company said its board approved a new share buyback authorization of up to $1 billion. The new program will take effect upon completion of the current buyback program, which has $138 million authorization remaining.

GMCR closed Wednesday's trading at $61.83, up $0.40 or 0.65%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $2.17 or 3.51% in the extended trading hours.