Campbell Soup profit climbs 31%

Campbell Soup Co. said fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 31%, helped by higher beverage sales and one-time benefits. The results exceeded Wall Street forecasts and the company raised its outlook for the rest of the year.

Profit for the quarter ended April 29 was $217 million, or 55 cents a share, up from $166 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier. Revenue grew 8% to $1.87 billion.

Excluding one-time items, earnings from continuing operations were $179 million, or 45 cents a share. On that basis, analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 41 cents a share on revenue of $1.79 billion.

The company increased its forecast for fiscal 2007 earnings-per-share growth to a range of 12% to 14%. But fourth-quarter earnings are likely to be lower than last year, the company said, because of advertising costs.

Campbell shares were unchanged at $39.50.