Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS) reported third quarter results on Nov 5 which surprised on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.20%. It was the fourth earnings surprise in a row.

Earnings per share for the beverage company were 54 cents compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 49 cents.

Net sales, however, fell 4%. The company said it was too early to see the economic recovery translate into higher beverage sales. Liquid refreshment beverage trends remained negative in the quarter.

2009 Guidance

Dr. Pepper Snapple forecasts sales to be in the range of negative 3% to 4%. Earnings per share are expected to be between $1.92 and $1.96 per share.

The current 2009 Zacks Consensus Estimate calls for $1.95 per share.

Value Fundamentals

Dr. Pepper Snapple is a Zacks #2 Rank (buy) stock. It still has attractive value characteristics. It is trading with a forward P/E of

...

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (...

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS) rose slightly in the morning session and was trading above a short-term level of resistance at $20.83. The company has topped the consensus forecast in 3 out of the last 4 quarters with an average surprise of 4.91% or a penny per share. Dr Pepper Snapple is a Zacks#1 Rank ("Strong Buy") share.

"DPS" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (...

pSpin-Offs often make for interesting investments. There are not that common, but tend to perform well, especially in their first couple of years as a stand-alone stock. This has been written about in a few areas, and specifically by investor and author Joel span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"Greenblatt/span, as this type of stock is one of his favorite investments. Let's look at what spin-offs are and why they outperform.br /br /a href="http://www.spinoffadvisors.com/"Spin-Off span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"Advisors/span/a, a company that specializes in research and span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"portfolio/span management of spin-offs, define them as this:br /br //pblockquoteIn a pure spin-off, a parent company distributes 100% of its ownership interests in a subsidiary operation as a dividend to its existing shareholders. After the spin-off, there are two separate, publicly held firms that have exactly the same shareholder base. This procedure stands in contrast to an initial public offering (span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"IPO/span), in which the parent company ...

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS) lifted its full-year earnings guidance as it reported first-quarter EPS that beat the consensus.

Shares are up more than 2% so far today.

For 2009, the company now expects earnings of $1.70 to $1.78 per share, up from its prior view of $1.59 to $1.67. It still projects sales to decrease between 2% and 4%, but, on an adjusted basis, net revenue is expected to grow by 2% to 4%.

The consensus for this Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") company has moved up a penny to $1.67 over the past month as 1 out of 8 analysts raised his expectation.

Excluding one-time items, earnings for the quarter stood at 37 cents per share, 7 cents ahead of analysts' expectations.

Sales fell about 3% to $1.26 billion. However, net sales, as adjusted, rose 4%.

Dr Pepper Snapple is currently trading on higher-than-normal volume of

...

Greenlight CapitalGreenlight Capital | David Einhorn HoldingsThis post is being written as part of HedgeFundBlogger.com's Investment Securities Tool which analyzes the holdings of hedge fund managers.I like to track a variety of hedge funds with different strategies just to see what everyone is up to each quarter. And, while I don't necessarily go in-depth on each fund, I do like to monitor major changes to their portfolios. One main activist fund I follow is Greenlight Capital. Greenlight is a $6 billion fund ran by David Einhorn and has had an annual return of over 25%. Greenlight specializes in spin-offs and value investing. Einhorn's name has been popping up in the media a lot in recent months as he talked about his well documented short position in Lehman Brothers (LEH).So, after ...