DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

ConAgra Foods Inc.'s (CAG) fiscal fourth quarter profit fell 13% on continued hedging losses, though earnings excluding them more than doubled on cost cuts and rising sales.

And while the maker of Chef Boyardee pasta, Hunt's ketchup and Peter Pan peanut butter projected earnings for the new year at or above analysts' expectations, ConAgra said the first-quarter profit could be hurt by the fatal plant explosion earlier this month at a North Carolina plant that makes Slim Jim meat snacks.

Shares rose 2.6% premarket to $20.55. The stock through Wednesday was up 21% this year.

ConAgra has been hurt by hedging losses as commodity prices tumble from last year's highs, in addition to consumers cutting back on eating out. Although packaged-food makers have shown resilience in recent quarters as they have raised prices, the outlook for the industry has dimmed with growing sales of cheaper generic store brands.

The latest quarter included $31 million of mark-to-market losses while the prior year had a $41 million gain.

For the period ended May 31, which included an extra week of sales, earnings fell to $174 million, or 39 cents a share, from $201 million, or 41 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations, excluding items such as hedging impacts and debt-retirement costs, rose to 41 cents a share from 18 cents.

Sales rose 7.5% to $3.3 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings, excluding items, of 41 cents on revenue of $3.33 billion.

Gross margin jumped to 25% from 21.1%.

Sales in the consumer-foods unit - its largest - rose 14%, with volume up 7% and profit surging 40% on cost cuts and lower commodity prices. Commercial-foods sales fell 2.4%, but earnings jumped 35% as cost savings also helped that business.

For the coming year, ConAgra projected earnings of $1.63 a share to $1.66 a share; analysts projected $1.63.

-By Mike Barris, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5658; mike.barris@dowjones.com