Key Takeaways
- Campbell’s says it is “taking decisive action” after its stock fell more than 16%, quarterly revenue dropped 8% to $2.1 billion, and adjusted earnings sank 25%.
- The company cut its dividend by 36% and expects fiscal 2027 sales to decline another 2% to 4%, with projected earnings below analysts’ estimates.
- The Thanksgiving-season slump follows last year’s viral recording of a now-fired executive insulting customers and claiming Campbell’s used “3D” chicken, which the company called “patently absurd.”
Campbell's is heading into Thanksgiving with its stock taking a beating and its financial outlook looking far less appetizing. Nearly a year after an executive's viral rant about "poor people" and "3D chicken" put the soup giant under national scrutiny, the company watched its shares tumble more than 16% in September 2026 as disappointing earnings and declining sales worsened its problems.
According to The Motley Fool (via Yahoo! Finance), Campbell's reported an 8% drop in fiscal fourth-quarter revenue, bringing sales to $2.1 billion and missing Wall Street's $2.15 billion forecast. Adjusted operating earnings fell 25% to $242 million, while the company slashed its quarterly dividend by 36%, from $0.39 to $0.25 per share.
And the company's projections offer little relief.
Campbell's CEO Mick Beekhuizen said the company is "taking decisive action" to address its financial challenges. Those measures come as Campbell's anticipates another 2% to 4% decline in annual sales for fiscal 2027, with adjusted earnings per share expected to land between $1.65 and $1.80. Analysts had projected $1.90.
The downturn comes as grocery shoppers continue dealing with higher food prices. An August analysis from Bank of America found that the U.S. food consumer price index increased 3% year over year in July, with rising costs affecting everything from chicken and eggs to cereal and beef.
For Campbell's, the timing is particularly notable. Its cream of mushroom soup has long been a key ingredient in green bean casserole, a Thanksgiving staple across the Midwest and elsewhere. The company is now approaching one of the year's biggest food-centered holidays with weaker financial results and a controversy from last November still in its recent history.
That controversy began when former Campbell's security analyst Robert Garza revealed a recording allegedly capturing Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Martin Bally making disparaging remarks about the company's products, customers, and employees.
"We have sh*t for f*cking poor people. Who buys our sh*t?" Bally said in the recording.
The executive also questioned the ingredients in Campbell's soups.
"I don't buy Campbell's products barely anymore. It's not healthy now that I know what the f*ck's in it," he continued, before adding, "I don't wanna eat a f*cking, a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer."
The recording also included racist remarks about Indian employees and admissions of marijuana use before work.
Campbell's initially placed Bally on leave before ultimately firing him. In a statement emailed directly to Complex during the controversy, the company rejected his claims about its ingredients.
"We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use,” the company wrote at the time. “The comments on the recording are not only inaccurate—they are patently absurd."
Campbell's maintained that its soups contain real chicken from USDA-approved suppliers.
