Kraft Heinz Co (KHC) · Nov 4, 2026 · Earnings
Beat — Adjusted EPS $0.53 vs ~$0.42 consensus
Kraft Heinz earnings beat Q3 EPS and revenue expectations, while raising the low end of sales guidance despite continued U.S. volume pressure.
Kraft Heinz is executing a U.S. turnaround and international-growth plan after pausing its planned breakup and redirecting resources toward brands, capabilities, and growth investments. The quarter cleared a low bar. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.53 versus a published consensus of roughly $0.42, while net sales of $6.115 billion were modestly above the roughly $6.09 billion expectation. The filing says, “Adjusted EPS(1) was $0.53, down 13.1 percent versus the prior year period,” which confirms the beat but also shows the year-on-year deterioration. 〔0〕
| Metric | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Consensus / prior guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales (Financial Highlights) | $6,115 (-2.0%) | $6,237 | ~$6,090 |
| Adjusted EPS (Financial Highlights) | $0.53 (-13.1%) | $0.61 | ~$0.42 |
| Adjusted operating income (Financial Highlights) | $939 (-15.2%) | $1,106 | |
| Organic net sales outlook (Current Outlook) | (1.25)% to (0.5)% | (2)% to (0.5)% prior | |
| Adjusted EPS outlook (Current Outlook) | $2.07 to $2.13 | $2.03 to $2.09 prior |
The underlying U.S. recovery is still incomplete. Company-wide organic sales declined 1.1%, with volume/mix down 1.1 percentage points; North America organic sales fell 3.2% and volume/mix fell 2.4 points. The filing attributes the weakness to declines across meats, sauces, and refreshment beverages, partly reflecting inventory pulled forward into the second quarter. 〔1〕 Adjusted operating income also fell 15.2%, as inflation, compensation, advertising, and weak volume more than offset efficiency efforts. 〔2〕
International growth is doing the heavy lifting. Emerging Markets delivered 15.6% organic growth and 8.4 points of volume/mix growth, but that smaller region is not yet large enough to offset declines in North America and developed international markets. This makes the result better than feared without proving that Kraft Heinz has restored broad-based growth.
The guidance increase is real but limited. Management raised only the low end of the organic sales outlook, from a 2.0% decline to a 1.25% decline, and lifted the adjusted EPS range by $0.04 at both ends. Constant-currency adjusted operating income remains guided down 16% to 18%, while gross-margin and free-cash-flow conversion expectations were not improved. The EPS lift is therefore partly a tax benefit rather than evidence of stronger operating profit.
Cash generation remains a support, not a growth signal. Nine-month free cash flow was $2.361 billion, down 5.2%, while the company repaid $3.982 billion of long-term debt and continued paying its dividend. That preserves financial flexibility for the turnaround, but the cash result itself weakened alongside operating income.
Bottom line: Kraft Heinz beat depressed quarterly expectations and nudged up its outlook, making this a modest step forward. The business story is better than feared, but the central U.S. volume problem remains unresolved, limiting the size of the improvement.
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