What CEOs Are Saying: Frozen, Fried, and Scrambled
Three earnings calls from the past week include insights on frozen foods, potatoes, and, of course, eggs.
For most people, an economy under pressure shows up first at the grocery store. With restaurants having become as expensive as they are and consumer confidence tanking (March was its lowest point in three years), more Americans are eating at home. But even then, the prices at checkout are still rough.
On the other side of that equation are the big food companies, three of which we’ll check in with today. The below earnings-call takeaways reveal three businesses caught between what consumers want and what they can afford.
Conagra Brands (CAG)
Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call
Results: mixed — organic sales returned to growth at 2.4%, but adjusted EPS of $0.39 missed estimates and fell sharply year over year
Conagra makes Birds Eye vegetables, Healthy Choice meals, Marie Callender’s, Slim Jim, Duncan Hines, and about 30 other brands found in nearly every American kitchen. It is one of the largest packaged food companies in North America. Three things stood out from the call.
The frozen business recovered its lost ground
Supply constraints last year briefly cost Conagra shelf presence in frozen foods, its most important category. This quarter, 88% of the frozen portfolio held or gained volume share on both a one- and two-year basis. CEO Sean Connolly:
“We’ve restored market share following temporary supply constraints that emerged last year.”
