Kellogg Faces $5 Mln Lawsuit Over Lack Of Enough Strawberries In Pop-Tarts

Cereal maker Kellogg Co. (K) is facing a $5 million lawsuit that claims that the cereal maker’s strawberry-flavored Pop-Tart does not contain enough strawberries.

According to CNN, an Illinois resident Anita Harris has filed a class action lawsuit that alleges the brand’s marketing is “misleading because they give people the impression the fruit filling contains a greater relative and absolute amount of strawberries than it does.”

The product’s ingredients list says that Pop-Tarts’ contain “2% or less of wheat starch, salt, dried strawberries, dried pears and dried apples” and 2% or less of other ingredients including citric acid, gelatin, modified wheat starch, yellow corn flour, caramel color palm oil, xanthan gum, cornstarch, turmeric extract color, soy lecithin, red 40, yellow 6, blue 1 and added color.

The lawsuit also alleges that the product’s name, “Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries,” is “false, misleading, and deceptive” because the Pop-Tart filling contains a “relatively significant amount of non-strawberry fruit ingredients” including pears and apples.

The lawsuit seeks at least $5 million.

Gold Prices Ease Ahead Of Fed Decision

Gold prices eased on Wednesday as traders cautiously awaited the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting.

Spot gold dipped 0.3 percent to $1,782.07 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.4 percent at $1,782.80.

To address growing inflationary risks, the Fed is expected to announce the start of tapering bond purchases when it concludes monetary policy meeting later in the day.

Economists widely expect the federal funds rate to be kept at 0-0.25 percent.

Investors will also look out for any clues about the possibility of interest rate hikes next year in the wake of the recent spike in inflation.

The Fed announcement is likely to be in the spotlight later today along with reports on private sector employment, service sector activity and factory orders.

The latest U.S. jobs data, including non-farm payrolls, will be released on Friday.

The Bank of England announces its policy decision on Thursday, with think-tanks divided on which way the rate decision would go.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons To Be Acquired By Atlas; Q3 Adj. Profit Rises

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) has entered into a merger deal to be acquired by affiliates of Atlas Holdings LLC, in an all-cash transaction with a total enterprise value of approximately $2.1 billion. RRD stockholders will receive $8.52 per share in cash for each share of RRD common stock. The transaction is anticipated to close in the first half of 2022.

Separately, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) announced that its third quarter GAAP and non-GAAP income from operations exceeded prior year, benefitting from higher sales and strong cost management despite supply chain challenges and inflation. The company is withdrawing 2021 outlook as a result of the pending deal.

Third quarter non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations to stockholders increased to $0.57 from $0.32, a year ago. Net income from continuing operations was $28.1 million compared to a loss of $9.1 million, last year. Earnings per share from continuing operations attributable to stockholders was $0.38 compared to a loss per share of $0.13. Net sales were $1.27 billion, up 6.4% from prior year. Organic net sales increased 5.5%.

Shares of R.R. Donnelley & Sons were up 40% in pre-market trade on Wednesday.

Skyline Champion Corp. Reveals Increase In Q2 Earnings, Beats estimates

Skyline Champion Corp. (SKY) reported earnings for its second quarter that climbed from the same period last year.

The company’s profit totaled $50.72 million, or $0.89 per share. This compares with $17.51 million, or $0.31 per share, in last year’s second quarter.

Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.62 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 62.6% to $524.23 million from $322.37 million last year.

Skyline Champion Corp. earnings at a glance:

-Earnings (Q2): $50.72 Mln. vs. $17.51 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q2): $0.89 vs. $0.31 last year.
-Analysts Estimate: $0.62
-Revenue (Q2): $524.23 Mln vs. $322.37 Mln last year.

Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. Q3 Earnings Summary

Below are the earnings highlights for Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. (INSP):

-Earnings: -$10.3 million in Q3 vs. -$10.5 million in the same period last year.
-EPS: -$0.38 in Q3 vs. -$0.39 in the same period last year.
-Analysts projected -$0.61 per share
-Revenue: $61.7 million in Q3 vs. $35.8 million in the same period last year.

-Guidance:
Full year revenue guidance: $219-$221 mln

SBI Q2 consolidated profit surges 69% to ₹8,890 crore

The bank’s net profit was ₹5,245.88 crore in the July-September quarter of previous fiscal, SBI said in a regulatory filing

The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on November 3 reported a 69% jump in its consolidated net profit at ₹8.889.84 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 on account of decline in bad loans.

The bank’s net profit was ₹5,245.88 crore in the July-September quarter of previous fiscal, SBI said in a regulatory filing.

The total income of the SBI group rose to ₹1,01,143.26 crore in the quarter under review, compared to ₹95,373.50 crore in the year-ago period.

On a standalone basis, the bank’s net profit rose 67% to ₹6504 crore as against ₹4,574.16 crore.

The lender’s total income increased to ₹77,689.09 crore from ₹75,341.80 crore in the July-September quarter of last fiscal.

The asset quality of the bank improved with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declining to 4.90% of the gross advances as on September 30, 2020, from 5.28% a year ago.

Net NPAs or bad loans too declined to 1.52% of the advances from 1.59% in the year-ago period.