By Anjali Athavaley
(Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co (N:CPB) on Monday reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales as markets for its soup and snack products remained sluggish.
Shares of Campbell, which owns healthy food brand Bolthouse Farms as well as Pepperidge Farm snacks, were down 3.2 percent at $43.12 in trading before the market opened.
The company said sales rose to $1.85 billion in the fourth quarter ended on Aug. 3 from $1.72 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting $1.87 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Organic sales, which exclude the effects of acquisitions and currency, fell 5 percent in the U.S. simple meals business, which includes Campbell's soup.
Chief Executive Officer Denise Morrison said the company continued to expect fiscal-year growth below its long-term targets. For fiscal 2015, Campbell expects sales growth of 1 percent to 2 percent and earnings per share of $2.45 to $2.50, excluding special items.
Fourth-quarter net income was $137 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $158 million, or 50 cents a share.
(Reporting by Anjali Athavaley; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)