Key Takeaways

Conagra Brands ( CAG ) shares slid Thursday after the food giant lowered its profit outlook, citing a "challenging consumer environment."

CEO Sean Connolly said higher-than-expected inflation and "unfavorable" foreign exchange rates would negatively affect earnings in the second half of its fiscal year.

To account for those headwinds, Conagra updated its full-year outlook, expecting organic net sales to come in near the midpoint of its previous range of flat to down 1.5% and lowering its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) range to $2.45 to $2.50, down from $2.60 to $2.65 previously.

Conagra has noted the challenging environment and hesitant consumers in several of its recent quarters , and also has looked to cut costs to compensate.

The owner of dozens of brands like Duncan Hines, Chef Boyardee, Slim Jim, and Reddi-wip reported second-quarter revenue of $3.2 billion, down about 0.4% year-over-year but above the $3.15 billion analysts had expected, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Conagra's net income fell short, as it also decreased from last year to $284.5 million, while analysts had expected growth to $317.7 million.

After the food maker adjusted for one-time costs like restructuring charges , Conagra reported $337 million in adjusted net income , better than the $323.1 million that analysts had projected .

Conagra shares were down close to 2% Thursday afternoon, and have lost about 6% so far this year.

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