BUZZ-Street View: Kraft Heinz to face challenges with pricing pressures

Kraft Heinz KHC.O forecast annual profit below estimates on Wednesday as years of price hikes eat into demand for the packaged food maker's Lunchables and packaged meat

Average rating of 23 analysts on KHC is "hold" and median PT is $33, according to data compiled by LSEG

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A KETCHUP BOTTLE

Jefferies ("hold", PT: $26) believes it might be hard to sustain KHC's current performance, but raising prices in some categories can help offset the impact of inflation

TD Cowen ("hold", PT: $29) says KHC's recent execution stumbles with key U.S. retail brands and the continued portfolio's vulnerability to becoming generic and being replaced by private labels pose significant concerns

Brokerages see an increased risk of price cuts and a reset to profit margins to stabilize declining sales volumes

UBS ("neutral", PT: $31) thinks KHC's profit targets are achievable, but this depends on consistent growth in organic revenue

However, predicting this growth is challenging due to various uncertainties from a category/share perspective adds UBS

J.P.Morgan ("neutral", PT: $31) expects net pricing to be flattish to slightly positive for the year but there could be some choppiness in certain periods