Stock Alert: Utz Brands Drops As Earnings Miss

(RTTNews) - Shares of branded salty snacks maker Utz Brands, Inc. (UTZ) are down more than 5% Thursday morning after the company's first-quarter results missed estimates.

In the first quarter, the company reported net loss of $22.53 million or $0.30 per share compared with net income of $1.7 million in the prior year period.

The net loss during the quarter was primarily driven by the loss on remeasurement of warrant liabilities.

Excluding items, earnings of $0.13 per share missed the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters at $0.14 per share.

Net sales in the quarter increased 18% to $269.18 million from $228.03 last year.

Pro Forma Net Sales decreased 2.2% to $269.2 million compared with $275.2 million a year ago, as the company lapped the impact from Covid-19 on its first quarter 2020 results. The consensus estimate was for $274.87 million.

Looking forward the company reaffirmed its full-year outlook.

It expects net sales consistent with 2020 Pro Forma Net Sales of $1.16 billion with modest organic sales growth year over year and adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.70 - $0.75. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $0.67 per share on revenue of $1.16 billion for the period. UTZ, currently at $23.93, has been trading in the range of $10.53- $30.09 in the last one year.