Wonder Bread maker Flowers Foods shares fall after hours as forecast disappoints, more people dine out

Shares of Flowers Foods Inc.
FLO,
-9.88%
fell after hours on Thursday after the maker of Wonder Bread and Dave’s Killer Bread forecast full-year sales that were below Wall Street’s expectations, citing a “slow start to the year” and “softer category demand” following a quarter in which consumers dined out more regularly. The company said it expected fiscal 2023 sales of between $5.086 billion and $5.141 billion, below FactSet estimates for $5.18 billion. Shares fell 4.7% in after-hours trade. For its first quarter, the company reported net income of $70.7 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with $85.6 million, or 40 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose to $1.53 billion, helped by price increases, compared with $1.44 billion in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted for acquisition-related costs, restructuring charges and “business process improvement” costs, Flowers reported 38 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings per share of 38 cents, on revenue of $1.55 billion. The company said it planned to launch more products outside of bread to stoke greater demand.