PepsiCo said Tuesday that high prices and changing consumer tastes have weakened U.S. demand for its snacks and drinks but it's confident it can turn that around in the coming year.
The Purchase, New York-based company said its revenue fell slightly to $27.78 billion in the fourth quarter. That was short of Wall Street’s forecast of $27.89 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
U.S. demand flagged last year after two years of outsized, double-digit price increases. The average price of a 16-ounce bag of potato chips peaked at $6.68 in October 2023, according to government data.
PepsiCo hit the brakes on prices, which rose 4% globally in 2024. The company focused on making its snacks more affordable, adding product promotions, more chips per bag and value packs. It also invested more heavily in its Chester’s and Santitas value brands, which saw strong revenue growth last year.
In a conference call Tuesday, CEO Ramon Laguarta said those efforts are paying off and consumers have begun buying salty snacks again. Still, North American sales volumes for both Frito-Lay snacks and beverages fell 3% in the October-December period.
PepsiCo is also closely watching a longer-term trend toward healthier snacking, Laguarta said. The company isn’t seeing much impact from the growing use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Wegovy, he said. But people are looking for smaller, portion-controlled snacks, healthier ingredients like whole grains and lower sodium and fat.
“There’s a higher level of awareness in general of American consumers toward health and wellness,” he said.
PepsiCo is well-positioned to meet that need with products like Pepsi Zero Sugar, SunChips and its Simply line of chips, which have no artificial colors or flavors, Laguarta said. And more healthy, “permissible” snacks are coming, he said.
“We’re very confident that our North American business will accelerate this year," Laguarta said.
PepsiCo is also trying to amp up its away-from-home offerings, like its Doritos Locos Tacos collaboration with Taco Bell and its Tostitos Cantina food trucks.
PepsiCo's snack food and beverage volumes both climbed 1% globally in the fourth quarter, with strong growth in Africa and Asia.
Net income rose 17% to $1.5 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, PepsiCo earned $1.96, or two cents better than analysts had forecast.
PepsiCo expects organic revenue growth in the low single digits in 2025. Organic revenue is adjusted for foreign currency exchanges and the impact of product acquisitions or divestments. The company reported organic revenue growth of 2% in 2024.
The company, which closed four U.S. bottling plants in October, also plans to continue a multi-year push to enhance productivity, including adding more automation in its plants and warehouses.
PepsiCo shares fell 2% Tuesday.
FILE - Pepsi soda bottles are on display for sale Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
President Donald Trump on Thursday visits a U.S. base installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East as he uses his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region.
In other parts of the Middle East violence flared in the West Bank and Gaza, A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.
with a pregnant Israeli woman killed even as the international rights group ,Human Rights Watch ,said that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza, remain in the territory and displace hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination.”
Trump plans to address troops at Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base, which was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and supported the recent U.S. air campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. The president has held up Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict as he works to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program.
The President also meets business leaders in Qatar and heads to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Trump sat with GE Aerospace’s Larry Culp and Boeing Co.’s Kelly Ortberg on either side of him on Thursday. Both praised Trump for his support for the Qatar Airways order for Boeing aircraft. Ortberg called it one of the largest orders Boeing has ever had.
A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.
An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.
The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
Qatar’s satellite news channel Al Jazeera long has been a powerful force in the Middle East, often taking editorial positions at odds with America’s interests in the region during the wars that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaida.
But during President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf Arab nation this week, state-funded Al Jazeera muted its typical critiques of American foreign policy.
The channel, which broadcasts in Arabic and English, broadly covered Trump’s visit in a straightforward manner, highlighting it was the first-ever trip to Qatar by a sitting American leader. Mentions of the Israel-Hamas war, which Al Jazeera often has criticized America over for its military support to Israel, did not include any critiques of U.S. policy. Instead, journalists highlighted Qatar’s role as a mediator in the war and aired comments by Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, calling for a ceasefire.
After a morning meeting with top U.S. and Qatari officials and American defense and aerospace business leaders, Trump heads to Al-Udeid Air Base, a U.S. installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East. There, he will address troops and is expected to view a demonstration of American air capability.
The president then travels to the United Arab Emirates, the final leg of his first major foreign trip. He will head first to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and then to a state visit hosted at Abu Dhabi’s Qasr al-Watan palace.
The international rights group said that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza, remain in the territory and displace hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination.”
It called on the international community to speak out against the plan. It said that the new plans, coupled with the “systematic destruction” of civilian infrastructure and the block on all imports into Gaza, were cause for signatories to the Genocide Convention to act to prevent Israel’s moves. It said states should halt weapons transfers to Israel and enforce international arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister, as well as review their bilateral agreements with the country.
Israel vehemently denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.
The group also called on Hamas to free the 58 hostages it still holds in Gaza, 23 of whom are believed to be alive.
A pregnant Israeli woman has died after she was shot and critically wounded in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank, a hospital said Thursday.
Beilinson Hospital said that doctors succeeded in saving her unborn baby, who was in serious but stable condition after being delivered by caesarean section.
The Israeli military said a Palestinian assailant opened fire on a vehicle late Wednesday, wounded two civilians. Soldiers launched a search for the attacker.
It’s the latest violence in the Palestinian territory, where the Israeli military has launched a major operation that it says is meant to crack down on militancy. The operation has displaced tens of thousands of people.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in months of violence that surged there after the start of the war in Gaza.
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
