Conagra Brands, Inc. (CAG) announced its third quarter earnings on Thursday, April 3. The Chicago-based company reported a decline in sales and earnings. The company’s stock declined by 2% after the report was released.

The company reported revenue of $2.84 billion during the third quarter. This was a decrease in revenue from $3.03 billion in the same quarter last year and below analysts’ estimates of $2.90 billion.

“Our third quarter unfolded largely as expected since our update in February at CAGNY, with strong consumption trends and share performance reflecting the continued resilience of our brands,” said Conagra CEO, Sean Connolly. “While shipments lagged consumption largely due to the discrete supply constraints we announced in February, we are making solid progress in restoring inventory and improving customer service levels. We continue to monitor the dynamic external environment while remaining focused on execution, and our fiscal 2025 guidance remains unchanged at this time.”

For the quarter, Conagra reported adjusted net income of $145.1 million or $0.30 per diluted share. This is a decline from net income of $308.6 million or $0.64 per diluted share at the same time last year.

The packaged foods company, which owns popular brands such as Duncan Hines, Healthy Choice and Slim Jim, reported that organic net sales decreased 5.2% due to a negative impact from pricing strategies and product mix as well as a decline in volume. The company’s Grocery and Snacks segment accounted for $1.2 billion in net sales, a 3.2% decrease from one year ago. Conagra’s Refrigerated and Frozen segment declined 7.2% to $1.1 billion year-over-year. Sales in the Foodservice segment decreased by 6.1% to $256 million. The company’s fiscal 2025 outlook remained unchanged as they continue to expect adjusted earnings per share to be $2.35 and organic net sales to decrease by 2% compared to last year.

Conagra Brands, Inc. (CAG) shares ended the week at $26.71, relatively unchanged for the week.

Lamb Weston Announces Third Quarter Results

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (LW) announced its third quarter earnings on Thursday, April 3. The Idaho-based potato processing company reported better-than-expected earnings, causing its shares to rise by almost 10% following the report.

The company reported revenue of $1.52 billion during the third quarter. This was up 4% from revenue of $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year and above analysts’ estimates of $1.48 billion.

“As a result of the actions we took in early fiscal 2025 to drive operational and cost efficiencies, we closed the quarter with sequentially improved volume trends and profitability metrics that were in line with our previously updated fiscal 2025 outlook,” said Lamb Weston CEO, Mike Smith. “Thanks to our team’s fiscal discipline and focused execution, we continue to deliver the cost savings identified in the Restructuring Plan announced in October 2024. We remain on track to achieve our goal of reducing capital spending by $250 million this year compared with the prior fiscal year.”

For the quarter, Lamb Weston reported net income of $146.0 million or $1.03 per adjusted share. This was relatively unchanged from the net income at the same time last year.

The frozen food supplier reported a 4% rise in net sales for its North America segment, reaching $986.3 million. The company’s International segment reported net sales of $534.2 million, up 5% from $510.8 million reported at the same time last year. The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2025 outlook and is expecting net sales of $6.35 billion to $6.45 billion and adjusted diluted earnings per share to be between $3.05 to $3.20. Lamb Weston declared a dividend of $0.37 per share of common stock, payable on May 30, 2025, to the stockholders of record on May 2, 2025.

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (LW) shares ended the week at $53.64, up 10% for the week.

Acuity Posts Earnings Report

Acuity, Inc. (AYI) reported its second quarter earnings on Thursday, April 3. The technology company’s stock fell by more than 4% following the release of the report.

The company’s net sales reached $1.01 billion for the second quarter, up 11% from $905.9 million during the same period last year. This was below analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion for the quarter.

“We delivered steady performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2025,” said Acuity, Inc. CEO, Neil Ashe. “We grew net sales, expanded our adjusted operating profit and adjusted operating profit margin, and we increased our adjusted diluted earnings per share.”

Acuity reported quarterly net income of $77.5 million or $2.45 per adjusted share. This was a decrease from $89.2 million in net income or $2.84 per adjusted share during the same period last year.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based industrial technology manufacturer saw increased sales throughout its two main segments. Net sales for Acuity Brands Lighting (ABL) reached $840.6 million, a decrease of $2.9 million compared to the prior year. Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS) saw growth in sales with an increase of nearly 152% to $171.5 million. For fiscal 2025, the company expects net sales to be in the range of $4.3 billion to $4.5 billion.

Acuity, Inc. (AYI) shares ended the week at $258.35, down 10% for the week.

The Dow started the week of 3/31 at 41,383 and closed at 38,315 on 4/5. The S&P 500 started the week at 5,528 and closed at 5,070. The NASDAQ started the week at 17,045 and closed at 15,588.

Treasury yields decreased throughout the week as markets reacted to the latest economic data and anticipated the latest non-farm payrolls released on Friday. Yields continued their decline at the end of the week despite the latest jobs data showing the labor market was stronger than expected.

On Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released its purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for March indicating growth in the service industry for the ninth consecutive month. The PMI measures the change in economic activity in the services sector and is used as an indicator of U.S. economic activity. The PMI for March was 50.8%, up from a PMI of 53.5% in February and above economists’ estimates of 53%.

“There has been a significant increase this month in the number of respondents reporting cost increases due to tariff activity,” said chair of the ISM Services Business Survey Committee, Steve Miller. “Despite an increase in comments on tariff impacts and continuing concerns over potential tariffs and declining governmental spending, there was a close balance in near-term sentiment, between panelists with good outlooks and those seeing or expecting declines.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of March 31 at 4.24% and traded as low as 4.00% on Thursday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.63% and traded as low as 4.44% on Thursday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment decreased by 6,000 to 219,000 for the week ending March 29. The report came just below the 226,000 claims that analysts expected. Continuing claims increased by 56,000 to 1.90 million. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly jobs report for March which indicated the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in March, from 4.1% in February. The report also noted an increase of 228,000 jobs in March, above economists’ forecasts of 140,000.

“Today’s better than expected jobs report will help ease fears of an immediate softening in the US labor market,” said head of multi-sector fixed income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Lindsay Rosner. “However, this number has become a side dish with the market just focusing on the entrée: tariffs.”

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of March 31 at 4.01% while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.42%.

Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, April 3. The survey showed that the 30-year mortgage edged down again this week.

This week, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.64%, a slight decrease from last week’s average of 6.65%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.82%.

The 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 5.82% this week, down from last week’s average of 5.89%. During the same week last year, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.06%.

“Over the last month, the 30-year fixed-rate has settled in, making only slight moves in either direction,” said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, Sam Khater. “This stability is reassuring, and borrowers have responded with purchase application demand rising to the highest growth rate since late last year.”

Based on published national averages, the savings rate was 0.41% as of 3/17. The one-year CD averaged 1.78%.

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