The Kraft Heinz Company 2026 Q2 Earnings Call
Review the key takeaways and the transcript of this earnings call.
- Kraft Heinz Company reported ongoing improvements in consumption rates and market share in Q2 2026, with consumption down about 2.5% in the quarter and expected to improve gradually through Q3 and Q4.
- The company highlighted strong performance in brands such as Capri Sun, Heinz, Ore-ida, Mac and Cheese, and Philly, with Heinz growing 3% year to date globally and 12% in emerging markets in Q2.
- Kraft Heinz increased its investment plan by $100 million to a total of $600 million for 2026, with about one-third of the spend realized in the first half of the year and the remainder expected evenly across Q3 and Q4.
- The company maintained free cash flow guidance and reported paying down $1.9 billion of debt in the quarter and an additional $1 billion in 2027, reflecting a strong balance sheet.
- Oscar Mayer deli fresh remains a challenge, but new packaging and product improvements in Lunchables are showing early positive signs.
- The company noted that inflation for 2027 is expected in the 4 to 5% range, which they believe is manageable through productivity improvements and incremental investments.
STOCKNOW INSIGHTS
Continue with outlook and guidance.
Log in to unlock executive comments and Q&A highlights.
Log in for the full summaryStockNow uses AI to translate and summarize earnings calls. Accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed.
Transcript
Preview the first fifteen paragraphs, organized by speaker.
Greetings, welcome to The Kraft Heinz Company Q2 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Anne Marie McGella. Thank you. You may begin.
Thank you, thank you all for joining us today. Welcome to the Q&A session for our second quarter 2026 business update. During today's call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding our expectations for the future. These statements are based on how we see things today, actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties. Please see the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in today's earnings release and our most recent SEC filings for more information regarding these risks and uncertainties. Additionally, we may refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to today's earnings release and the non-GAAP information available on our website for a discussion of our non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the comparable GAAP financial measures. Joining me today to answer your questions is our Chief Executive Officer, Steve Cahillane, and our Chief Financial Officer, Andre Maciel.
Operator, please open the call for the first question.
Thank you. As we conduct the question and answer session, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad, a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please proceed with your question.
Great. Thanks so much. It's encouraging to see some of the incremental investments starting to pay off. I know much can still change by the time we get to 2027. In the prepared remarks, you mentioned expected inflation next year in a 4%-5% range, and that Kraft will try and offset as much as possible through incremental productivity. I know you'd mentioned previously that 2026 would also be the margin trough year, so I'm trying to get a sense of whether we should read that inflation commentary for next year maybe as implying that perhaps this year won't be the margin trough. I guess some of the incremental investment now planned for the second half of this year will also have to wrap in the first half of next year, too.
Just trying to get a sense of how we should sort of read the commentary about next year in the prepared remarks.
Thanks so much. Yeah, Andrew, this is Steve.
Thanks for the question. I think what we were trying to get across in those comments was that despite the macroeconomic uncertainty, despite all the challenges that we're facing, that the inflation outlook for next year is not anything that we're fearful of. In fact, we can absolutely manage it. As always, our first line of defense is productivity. If we could cover all of the inflation with productivity, we would do that. We are looking to maintain and strengthen our margins over time, that's the way we're looking at it. It's a manageable year next year despite all of that. We like the way we've set ourselves up. It's more than halfway through the year with this incremental investment coming in. We like the setup. We like the momentum.
We like the way we're setting ourselves up for 2027, including on the COGS line.
Got it. Thanks so much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Peter Galbo with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.
Hey, good morning, Steve, Andre. Thanks for the question. I wanted to ask a little bit about just the consumption rates. I know there's a bit of noise with the inventory pull forward in Q2 that's also kind of disrupting Q3. I think if I back all that out, your consumption was something like down two in the second quarter. I think that the 3Q guidance implies it improves to something like down one in 3Q. I just want to make sure I understand that cadence correctly, and then maybe just as a follow-up, what that says about how you feel about the exit rate on the year from consumption. Are we going from this down two to down one to something improved in Q4?
I know there's comparables to think about, there's a lot in there, maybe you can just speak to the consumption more broadly and the cadence over the balance of the year.
Thanks very much. Thanks for the question, Pete.
I'll start. Andre can certainly fill in, but you're reading it right. We had obviously a first quarter that was flattered by Easter, the second quarter that reversed. We had snowstorms that we tried to adjust for in the first quarter as well. By and large, the consumption rate is improving. The amount of our business that is maintaining or holding share is also improving. We're seeing real green shoots in part of our taste elevation portfolio, certainly in Capri Sun, even in Kraft Mac & Cheese in terms of consumption rates. We hope to exit the year with the best consumption rates in the fourth quarter and enter 2027 with real momentum.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Continue the full translated transcript in StockNow.
Log in to unlock every statement, the English original, and speaker-by-speaker history.
Log in for the full transcriptCall participants
15 people spoke on this call — only 2 are shown here.
PARTICIPANT LIST
View participant details in StockNow.
Log in to see executives and analysts, their roles, and complete speaking history.
Log in to view all participantsKeep exploring