MW Folgers coffee, Jif peanut butter parent aims to absorb some tariff costs for shoppers

By Steve Gelsi

Jelly giant's 2025 profit outlook falls short of estimates while sales growth looks in line, as margins get squeezed by tariffs and other costs

J.M. Smucker Co. managed to pass on some higher costs by hiking prices in the latest quarter, but for the next fiscal year, the maker of Folgers coffee, Jif peanut butter and Smucker's fruit preserves looks set to absorb some of those costs, such as tariffs.

The company said it expects profit for the current fiscal year, which runs through April 2026, of $8.50 to $9.50 a share, below the FactSet consensus estimate of $10.25 a share.

Meanwhile, it's projecting its fiscal 2026 sales to grow from 2% to 4% from 2025's total of $8.73 billion. Analysts project a 2.4% increase to $8.93 billion.

As a result of the downbeat profit outlook, the company expects fiscal 2026 adjusted gross margin, or profitability on products sold, of 35.5% to 36.0%, which compares with a fiscal 2025 gross margin of 38.8%.

"The company continues to operate in a dynamic and evolving external environment, including tariffs and related trade impacts, regulatory and policy changes, ongoing input inflation, and changes in consumer behaviors that impact its fiscal year 2026 outlook," the company said.

Smucker's stock $(SJM)$ fell 7.7% toward a four-month low in premarket trading on Tuesday, which puts it on track to suffer the biggest one-day, post-earnings drop in at least five years, according to available FactSet data going back to June 2020.

Smucker said it's currently juggling a number of complicating factors in addition to tariffs, including as regulatory and policy changes, ongoing input inflation and changes in consumer behaviors.

For its fourth quarter ending April 30, Smucker said gross margin fell to 38.4% from 41.4% in the same period a year ago, as higher costs and lower volumes were partially offset by increased prices.

The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted profit of $2.31 a share, down from $2.66 a share, but above the FactSet consensus estimate of $2.24 a share.

Including one-time items, such as goodwill impairment charges, Smucker reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $729 million, or $6.85 a share, compared with net income of $406 million, or $2.30 a share, a year ago.

Fourth-quarter sales fell 2.8% to $2.14 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $2.19 billion.

Among the company's business segments, retail coffee sales rose 11% to $738.6 million and retail frozen handheld and spreads were flat at $449.8 million, while retail pet foods sales dropped 13% to $395.5 million and sweet baked snacks sales sank 26% to $251 million.

Smucker said it saw higher net pricing for coffee, while prices fell for dog snacks, sweet baked goods and spreads and handhelds, such as Uncrustables sandwiches.

As of Monday's close, the stock was up 1.6% in 2025, while the S&P 500 index SPX has gained 2.1%.

-Steve Gelsi

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June 10, 2025 08:50 ET (12:50 GMT)

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