Shares of Freshpet Inc. FRPT, +3.47% were down more than 11% in after-hours trading Monday after the maker of pet foods cut its earnings forecast for the full year, acknowledging pressures from inflation and operating challenges. The company logged a net loss of $20.6 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with a loss of $7.5 million, or 17 cents a share, in the year-before period. Freshpet executives attributed the growing loss largely to an increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses, including increased media spending of $9.9 million. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting a 12-cent loss per share. Freshpet recorded adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of $3.9 million, down from $10.9 million a year prior. The FactSet consensus was for $13.2 million. Net sales rose to $146.0 million from $108.6 million, while analysts had been projecting $147.3 million. “We are encouraged by our strong consumption growth in the face of higher pricing, the acceleration in our household penetration growth, and our strong production performance that supported it,” Chief Executive Billy Cyr said in a release. “However, the combination of inflation and short-term operating challenges negatively impacted our bottom line in the quarter, and we are reflecting those factors in our 2022 outlook.” The company anticipates full-year adjusted Ebitda of greater than $48 million, while it was previously targeting more then $55 million. Freshpet continues to expect greater than $575 million in net sales for the full year. Freshpet’s stock has fallen 12.9% over the past three months as the S&P 500 SPX, -0.12% has increased 0.4%.
