ConAgra Foods Inc. reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, helped by recent acquisitions and increased marketing, and the maker of Chef Boyardee pasta raised its full-year forecast.
Shares of the company, which also makes Hebrew National hot dogs and Banquet frozen meals, rose nearly 6 percent.
Net income increased to $250.1 million, or 61 cents per share, in the first quarter ended on Aug. 26, from $93.8 million, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding special items, earnings were 44 cents per share. On that basis, analysts on average were expecting 36 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company said it expected a fiscal 2013 profit of $2.03 to $2.06 per share. Its prior forecast called for growth of 6 percent to 8 percent from the $1.84 per share it earned in 2012, or a range of $1.95 to $1.99.
Shares of ConAgra were up 5.6 percent at $27.09 in trading before the market opened.
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