By Kelly Cloonan

Mondelez International forecast slower growth this year as it contends with volatile cocoa prices.

The owner of Oreo and Cadbury said Tuesday a sudden decline in cocoa prices in the last few weeks may pose some short-term pressure, depending on how competitors react and where those prices eventually stabilize.

"This could maybe give us some unexpected competitive reactions," Chief Executive Dirk Van de Put said during a call with analysts. "So we want to build in some flexibility in our guidance because we don't quite know how that is going to play out in the market."

Shares fell 4.8% to $56.63 in after-hours trading. Through the market close shares have risen 3.6% in the last year.

Despite the decline in cocoa prices Mondelez won't see any cost savings from that change this year. The company said its pipeline costs for this year are set at a higher level than current spot prices.

"There's not a lot we can do anymore," Van de Put said. "But 27 certainly will benefit from this."

Van de Put said he expects margins in Mondelez's chocolate business to increase considerably next year as a result.

The company said its guidance also factors in a number of other short-term pressures, including weak trends in its biscuits business and potential disruption in Europe due to a usual negotiation process with customers at the beginning of the year.

Mondelez guided for organic revenue to be flat to up 2% this year, decelerating from 4.3% growth in 2025. The company expects full-year adjusted earnings to be flat to up 5% on a constant currency basis.

The guidance comes after profit declined in the latest quarter, hurt by higher cocoa costs.

Mondelez posted a profit of $665 million, or 51 cents a share, compared with $1.75 billion, or $1.30 a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings per share were 72 cents, ahead of estimates of 70 cents a share according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 9.3% to $10.5 billion, topping analyst estimates of $10.31 billion.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2026 19:03 ET (00:03 GMT)

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