That was above the $784 billion that analysts had expected Excluding one time items, Macy's earned $140 a share, 3 cents more than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected Some analysts, however, said even that might not have been enough "After what we've seen, where companies were blowing through consensus numbers and offering guidance that was dimes, not pennies, above" forecasts, said Matt Arnold, an analyst at Edward Jones, "it has the implication that there's not as much potential for these big earnings surprises to the upside" 
Share:  That was above the $784 billion that analysts had expected Excluding one time items, <span class="company">Macy</span>'s earned $140 a share, 3 cents more than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected Some analysts, however, said even that might not have been enough<span class="sent"> "After what we've seen, where companies were blowing through consensus numbers and offering guidance that was dimes, not pennies, above" forecasts, said <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span>, an analyst at Edward Jones, "it has the implication that there's not as much potential for these big earnings surprises to the upside"</span> Tweet this 

"After what we've seen, where companies were blowing through consensus numbers and offering guidance that was dimes not pennies above (expectations), it has the implication that there's not as much potential for these big earnings surprises to the upside," said Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold , who has a "hold" rating on Macy's shares 
Share:  <span class="sent">"After what we've seen, where companies were blowing through consensus numbers and offering guidance that was dimes not pennies above (expectations), it has the implication that there's not as much potential for these big earnings surprises to the upside," said Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span> , who has a "hold" rating on <span class="company">Macy</span>'s shares</span> Tweet this 

"After what we've seen, where companies were blowing through consensus numbers and offering guidance that was dimes not pennies above (expectations), it has the implication that there's not as much potential for these big earnings surprises to the upside," said Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold, who has a "hold" rating on Macy's shares 
Share:  <span class="sent">"After what we've seen, where companies were blowing through consensus numbers and offering guidance that was dimes not pennies above (expectations), it has the implication that there's not as much potential for these big earnings surprises to the upside," said Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span>, who has a "hold" rating on <span class="company">Macy</span>'s shares</span> Tweet this 

Shares of Hormel Foods Corp., the maker of Spam luncheon meat, climbed to their highest price in almost two years after first quarter profit beat analysts' estimates by 14 cents a share. Net income increased to $1112 million, or 82 cents a share, in the 13 weeks ended Jan 24, from $814 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier, Austin, Minn based Hormel said Thursday Profit topped the 68 cent average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg "The earnings beat was pretty sizable, and it was broad based," Matt Arnold, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co in St Louis who recommends buying the shares, said in a telephone interview 
Share:  Shares of <span class="company">Hormel Foods</span> Corp., the maker of Spam luncheon meat, climbed to their highest price in almost two years after first quarter profit beat analysts' estimates by 14 cents a share. Net income increased to $1112 million, or 82 cents a share, in the 13 weeks ended Jan 24, from $814 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier, Austin, Minn based Hormel said Thursday Profit topped the 68 cent average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg<span class="sent"> "The earnings beat was pretty sizable, and it was broad based," <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span>, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co in St Louis who recommends buying the shares, said in a telephone interview</span>...Shares of <span class="company">Hormel</span> Foods Corp., the maker of Spam luncheon meat, climbed to their highest price in almost two years after first quarter profit beat analysts' estimates by 14 cents a share. Net income increased to $1112 million, or 82 cents a share, in the 13 weeks ended Jan 24, from $814 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier, Austin, Minn based <span class="company">Hormel</span> said Thursday Profit topped the 68 cent average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg<span class="sent"> "The earnings beat was pretty sizable, and it was broad based," <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span>, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co in St Louis who recommends buying the shares, said in a telephone interview</span> "In some quarters they have one division that outshines the others, but this time all Tweet this 

CEO Ken Powell chirpily told a conference of Wall Street food analysts in Boca Raton on Tuesday: " We just see this middle class growing and growing around the world " While food companies aren't exactly giving up on US consumers — Pepsi (PEP), for instance, hopes to drive more beverage sales from their acquisition of two big bottlers[[can we get a link here?]] — Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold summed it up best: " The US consumer is all grown up ," he said Unfortunately that's true in more ways than one Maybe by the time other countries develop major obesity problems, we'll have figured out how to fix ours and can add that to our list of exports 
Share:  CEO Ken Powell chirpily told a conference of Wall Street food analysts in Boca Raton on Tuesday: " We just see this middle class growing and growing around the world "<span class="sent"> While food companies aren't exactly giving up on US consumers — Pepsi (<span class="company">PEP</span>), for instance, hopes to drive more beverage sales from their acquisition of two big bottlers[[can we get a link here?]] — Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span> summed it up best: " The US consumer is all grown up ," he said</span> Unfortunately that's true in more ways than one Maybe by the time other countries develop major obesity problems, we'll have figured out how to fix ours and can add that to our list of exports Tweet this 

Boosting Kashi's sales would add a second $1 billion brand to Kellogg's Special K Kashi has expanded from cereals , granola bars and cookies into frozen pizza, waffles and entrees While some of the growth eventually will come from new products, for now Kellogg will try to expand its penetration within the household, from moms age 40 and older to kids, DeSouza said "Kashi just seized the opportunity to become ubiquitous in the grocery store," Matt Arnold , an analyst with Edward Jones & Co in Des Peres, Missouri, said in a telephone interview "Over time, they can actually earn themselves more shelf space 
Share:  Boosting Kashi's sales would add a second $1 billion brand to <span class="company">Kellogg's</span> Special K Kashi has expanded from cereals , granola bars and cookies into frozen pizza, waffles and entrees While some of the growth eventually will come from new products, for now Kellogg will try to expand its penetration within the household, from moms age 40 and older to kids, DeSouza said<span class="sent"> "Kashi just seized the opportunity to become ubiquitous in the grocery store," <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span> , an analyst with Edward Jones & Co in Des Peres, Missouri, said in a telephone interview</span> "Over time, they can actually earn themselves more shelf space...Boosting Kashi's sales would add a second $1 billion brand to <span class="company">Kellogg</span>'s Special K Kashi has expanded from cereals , granola bars and cookies into frozen pizza, waffles and entrees While some of the growth eventually will come from new products, for now <span class="company">Kellogg</span> will try to expand its penetration within the household, from moms age 40 and older to kids, DeSouza said<span class="sent"> "Kashi just seized the opportunity to become ubiquitous in the grocery store," <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span> , an analyst with Edward Jones & Co in Des Peres, Missouri, said in a telephone interview</span> "Over time, they can actually earn themselves more shelf space These brands will keep taking share and become more relevant" Tweet this 

In the US, organic net revenue fell 27% to $59 billion Those results highlight the importance of emerging markets to Kraft's future and that growth is unlikely to come from its home territory As Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold told Reuters , "The US consumer is all grown up and future growth in consumer spending will be outside the US" Kraft has already made inroads in the developing world Sales of Oreo, for example, have grown to $200 million in Asia Pacific during the past two years, according to a recent UBS note 
Share:  In the US, organic net revenue fell 27% to $59 billion Those results highlight the importance of emerging markets to <span class="company">Kraft</span>'s future and that growth is unlikely to come from its home territory<span class="sent"> As Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span> told Reuters , "The US consumer is all grown up and future growth in consumer spending will be outside the US"</span> <span class="company">Kraft</span> has already made inroads in the developing world Sales of Oreo, for example, have grown to $200 million in Asia Pacific during the past two years, according to a recent UBS note Tweet this 

Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold said Whole Foods is doing a good job of managing expenses and pushing effective promotions "It seems their core consumer is in the mood to spend some more," said Arnold, who rates Whole Foods shares a "hold" Supermarkets have been dealing with thriftier consumers and price deflation for produce, milk, meat and some dry grocery items This combination has cut into sales growth over the past year and made investors more cautious on grocery chains 
Share:  <span class="sent">Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span> said <span class="company">Whole Foods</span> is doing a good job of managing expenses and pushing effective promotions "It seems their core consumer is in the mood to spend some more," said Arnold, who rates <span class="company">Whole Foods</span> shares a "hold"</span> Supermarkets have been dealing with thriftier consumers and price deflation for produce, milk, meat and some dry grocery items This combination has cut into sales growth over the past year and made investors more cautious on grocery chains...<span class="sent">Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span> said <span class="company">Whole Foods</span> is doing a good job of managing expenses and pushing effective promotions "It seems their core consumer is in the mood to spend some more," said Arnold, who rates <span class="company">Whole Foods</span> shares a "hold"</span> Supermarkets have been dealing with thriftier consumers and price deflation for produce, milk, meat and some dry grocery items This combination has cut into sales growth over the past year and made investors more cautious on grocery chains Tweet this 

Investors are waiting to see how the deal boosts Kraft's growth, especially since top Kraft investor Warren Buffett had opposed the transaction "There's still plenty of uncertainty in terms of whether Kraft will able to effectively integrate this new business well enough to justify the price they paid," said Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold 
Share:  Investors are waiting to see how the deal boosts <span class="company">Kraft</span>'s growth, especially since top <span class="company">Kraft</span> investor Warren Buffett had opposed the transaction<span class="sent"> "There's still plenty of uncertainty in terms of whether <span class="company">Kraft</span> will able to effectively integrate this new business well enough to justify the price they paid," said Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span></span>...<span class="sent">"There's still plenty of uncertainty in terms of whether <span class="company">Kraft</span> will able to effectively integrate this new business well enough to justify the price they paid," said Edward Jones analyst <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span></span> <span class="company">Kraft</span> expects costs of $13 billion through the end of 2012 to integrate Cadbury's operations and would achieve annual pretax savings of at least $675 million in that time frame It stood by forecasts for long term earnings per share growth of 9 percent to 11 percent and organic revenue growth of at least 5 percent for the combined company Organic revenue excludes currency moves and recent asset purchases and sales Tweet this 

Gum is the opposite: It's a business driven by innovation, analysts say "Whatever the hot flavor, pomegranate or whatever, it's easy to quickly respond to consumer trends with a gum," said Matt Arnold, a stock analyst at Edward Jones Innovation at Cadbury has helped it chip away at Wrigley in the US market in recent years, Arnold said With Stride, which debuted in 2006, Cadbury was ahead with a gum marketed to a more youthful audience 
Share:  Gum is the opposite: It's a business driven by innovation, analysts say<span class="sent"> "Whatever the hot flavor, pomegranate or whatever, it's easy to quickly respond to consumer trends with a gum," said <span class="analyst">Matt Arnold</span>, a stock analyst at Edward Jones Innovation at <span class="company">Cadbury</span> has helped it chip away at Wrigley in the US market in recent years, Arnold said</span> With Stride, which debuted in 2006, <span class="company">Cadbury</span> was ahead with a gum marketed to a more youthful audience Tweet this