ConAgra Brands (NYSE:CAG)
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ConAgra Foods Inc.'s (CAG) fourth-quarter sales grew 7.5% and the company's profits were in line with Wall Street's expectations as the company's frozen meals, tomato sauces and packaged deserts drew cash-strapped consumers.

The maker of Healthy Choice frozen meals, Hunt's ketchup and Peter Pan peanut butter projected earnings for the new fiscal year at or above analysts' expectations. But the stock recently tumbled 7% to 18.62. ConAgra shares had a run up early this week ahead of the company's profit report and some investors may have expected an earnings beat for the quarter or possibly an even higher forecast.

"The quarter was decent. Expectations may have been for even better guidance," said Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo. "The management team has delivered for the most part, but there are still doubters out there."

The company said its consumer brands should perform well since many of these appeal to the value-conscious consumer. But for fiscal 2010, ConAgra expects results at its commercial business to be roughly in line with the previous year, partly due to a difficult environment in the restaurant industry.

On a conference call, chief executive Gary Rodkin said that retailers have raised prices for some of their own private label products as some prices for some commodities have continued to rise. Rodkin said he doesn't expect to see "wholesale rollbacks" of prices for branded packaged foods. Investors had been concerned that the weaker economy and pressure from retailers might force the large branded manufacturers to cut price sharply and so hurt their margins.

Fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 13%, reflecting the absence of the company's trading operations that were sold last year and are now characterized as discontinued operations. 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 special items, rose to 41 cents a share from 18 cents.

Sales rose to $3.3 billion.

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

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

-Anjali Cordeiro; Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2200; anjali.cordeiro@dowjones.com

(Mike Barris contributed to this article)