Mondelēz International Declares a Dividend of $0.19 per Share

Mondelēz International (MDLZ) has a market cap of $67.1 billion. It rose 0.98% to close at $43.08 per share on December 13, 2016. The stock’s weekly, monthly, and year-to-date (or YTD) price movements were 6.0%, 4.6%, and -2.7%, respectively, on the same day.

MDLZ is trading 2.2% above its 20-day moving average, 0.83% above its 50-day moving average, and 0.31% above its 200-day moving average.

The Fidelity MSCI Consumer Staples ETF (FSTA) invests 3.2% of its holdings in Mondelēz International. The YTD price movement of FSTA was 5.6% on December 13.

The market caps of Mondelēz’s competitors are as follows:

• PepsiCo (PEP) — $151.9 billion
• General Mills (GIS) — $38.2 billion
• Hershey (HSY) — $21.0 billion

Mondelēz International (MDLZ) declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share on its Class A common stock. The dividend will be paid on January 12, 2017, to shareholders of record on December 30, 2016.

Mondelēz International (MDLZ) reported 3Q16 net revenues of $6.4 billion, a fall of 5.9% from net revenues of $6.8 billion in 3Q15, due to the deconsolidation of its Venezuela business and currency headwinds. Revenues from Latin America, EEMEA (Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), Europe, and North America fell 29.6%, 7.3%, 3.2%, and 0.2%, respectively. Revenues from the Asia-Pacific region rose 2.5% between 3Q15–3Q16.

The company’s gross profit margin narrowed by 10 basis points due to an increase in restructuring program costs. However, this rise was offset by the deconsolidation of its Venezuela operations.

Mondelēz International’s net income and EPS (earnings per share) fell to $548.0 million and $0.35, respectively, in 3Q16, compared with $7.3 billion and $4.46, respectively, in 3Q15. The company reported adjusted EPS of $0.52 in 3Q16, a rise of 36.8% over 3Q15.

Between 4Q15–3Q16, Mondelēz’s cash and cash equivalents fell 9.8%, and its inventories rose 6.4%. Its current ratio fell to 0.63x, and its debt-to-equity ratio rose to 1.3x in 3Q16, compared with 0.82x and 1.2x, respectively, in 4Q15.

Mondelēz International made the following projections for fiscal 2016:

• organic net revenue growth of ~1.6%
• adjusted operating income margin in the range of 15%–16%
• adjusted EPS growth of ~25% on a constant-currency basis

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