Lamb Weston reported fiscal 2027 first-quarter net sales of $1.67 billion, up 1% from $1.66 billion in the prior-year period and above the company’s expectations.
Sales volume increased 2%, while price and mix declined 2%.
Net income totaled $29 million compared with $64 million a year earlier.
Adjusted net income was $103 million, unchanged from the prior-year period.
Diluted earnings per share declined to $0.21 from $0.46, while adjusted diluted EPS increased to $0.75 from $0.74.
Adjusted EBITDA totaled $286 million compared with $302 million a year earlier.
North America remained the company’s strongest-performing segment.
North America net sales increased 5% to $1.14 billion as sales volume grew 7%, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of volume growth.
North America adjusted EBITDA increased 11% to $287 million.
The gains reflected higher volumes, cost-saving initiatives, tariff refunds, and increased equity-method investment earnings.
International revenue declined 8% to $529 million.
International adjusted EBITDA declined 54% to $27 million as lower European sales volumes, higher manufacturing costs, factory underutilization, inflation, and prior-year potato crop costs pressured results.
Lamb Weston said capacity optimization efforts in North America have increased utilization by approximately 10 percentage points.
The company also ended production at its Broekhuizenvorst facility and transitioned customer fulfillment elsewhere in its network to improve international utilization and costs.
Operating cash flow totaled $235 million during the quarter.
Capital expenditures were $91 million.
Lamb Weston ended the quarter with $166 million in cash and cash equivalents and another $1.24 billion of available liquidity under its revolving credit facility.
The company returned $52 million to shareholders through dividends during the quarter.
Its board subsequently declared another quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share.
Following the better-than-expected first quarter, Lamb Weston increased several fiscal 2027 targets.
The company now expects net sales to increase at a low-single-digit rate compared with its previous forecast of flat to 1% growth.
Adjusted EBITDA guidance increased to between $1.125 billion and $1.215 billion from $1.10 billion to $1.20 billion.
Adjusted diluted EPS guidance increased to $3.05 to $3.35 from $2.95 to $3.25.
Lamb Weston continues to expect between $750 million and $800 million of operating cash flow during fiscal 2027.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are off to a solid start to the year, delivering first quarter net sales and profit above our expectations.”
“Our first quarter results were driven by continued momentum in North America where our strong customer relationships fueled sales volume growth and we continued to drive cost savings.”
“We continue to experience unexpected inflationary pressure across key input costs and freight expense. Our teams are addressing cost inflation by working with suppliers and hedging where possible.”
“At the same time, we continue to make meaningful progress advancing our Focus to Win strategy, including cross-functional efforts to sharpen our prioritization of markets and channels.”
Mike Smith, President and CEO of Lamb Weston
